2014 Costa Brava PWA World Cup – Day 2

Day 2: First blood Alberto Menegatti

A slow and sunny start to the day led to the wind starting to build around lunchtime and by 14:20 the first elimination had been resumed in 8-13 knots. The winners’ final was completed just in time as Alberto Menegatti (Starboard / Point-7) claimed the first victory of 2014.

Read the full report from Day 2 on the PWA website.

Tomorrow’s action will kick off bright and early with the skippers’ meeting being called for 7am. The latest forecast promises the infamous Tramontana wind – which last appeared here back in 2011, producing exhilarating slalom with gusts of up to 50 knots – so tomorrow should see frantic, adrenaline fuelled racing with a first possible start at 07:30am.

2014 Costa Brava PWA World Cup – Day 1

Day 1: The opening round of race one completed before the wind halts play

The inaugural day of the 2014 PWA Catalunya World Cup saw a hazy and chilly start, however it wasn’t long before bursts of sunshine started to burn through the cloud and 6 heats were completed.

Dunkerbeck reflects on day one:

“The wind started off pretty good 10-12 knots and sunny, up until my heat no. 6 it was on the limit but ok, then a cloud came, the wind dropped and changed angle, so even on my 10m2 Severne reflex 5 and 130 Litre Starboard I was underpowered. I’m really happy with the sail but in no wind there is a limit…! A few heats later the day was called off for not good enough wind for slalom! Looks like there will be Tramontana in a few days… I really hope to get some better wind for windsurfing soon (;-))) AND SOME FUN SLALOM!”

Head to PWAWorldTour.com for a full recap of Day 1

Slalom Sail Tuning with Antoine Albeau

NeilPryde slalom team spent three months in Maui this winter preparing for the PWA slalom season ahead. They created a short video series documenting their experience and providing racing tips and tricks for slalom windsurfers. In Episode 1, Antoine Albeau talks us through racing sail tuning.

DEEP – Maciek Rutkowski

Maciek Rutkowski is probably one of the most versatile windsurfers on the planet. Before his 21st birthday he’s locked in top20 World Tour results in 3 different windsurfing disciplines. But would he rather be right on top in one? Take a little sneak peak into his mindset and a bigger sneak peak into his action from a few of the first sessions of 2014.

GA Sails Slalom Team in Tenerife

Gastra takes on a new brand and new look GA Sails. The GA Sails slalom team: Ross Williams, Ben Van der Steen and Cedric Bordes visited El Medano in Tenerife this winter to test new GA Sails the Vapor and Phantom.

Kurosh Kiani – Change

Check out Kurosh Kiani’s latest video update.

Over the winter, I went into hiding for a little while. I had a tough year throughout 2013 and needed for new things to happen. I changed my equipment sponsors and now embark on a total new time with completely new equipment and a new mindset. I spent the winter months on the island of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands.

During these months I had lots of time to get everything back in order, and at the same time, I had time to reflect and put together this little clip to shortly tell a bit about how I feel about it all and what my deal is now.

Luckily I had a little bit of help getting a couple of clips together and as I am setting out to proper start my training times, I managed to put it all together to this short episode of my Kiani TV series. It is done completely from the heart. Nobody over my shoulders asking for specific things, just my own stuff.

See you out there in 2014!

15th Vietnam Fun Cup

A clip from the 15th annual Vietnam Fun Cup at former PWA venue Jibes Beach, Mui Ne, Vietnam, won by Albert Pijoanne Monne and Lucy Odillo Maher!

Windfoil Backloop

What if you could backloop while your friends are sitting on the beach waiting for the windÉ Check out this windfoil back loop.

SMILE LAUGH AND RIDE

Sometimes it’s just about kicking back and having a good time. French slalom rider Estelle Barre does just that and brings us this feel good clip. Enjoy.

Matteo Iachino Signs to North and Fanatic

Official Press Release from Fanatic and North Sails International:

We are happy to announce that with Matteo Iachino from Italy, a very talented windsurfer has joined our International Windsurfing teams for Fanatic & NorthSails.

His name is well known is the Slalom scene and he for sure has a great talent to make it to the top of the rankings. Matteo will be charging the race season on our renowned Falcon Slalomboards!

Matteo Iachino:
“I really wanted to join an experienced windsurfing brand and to have top boards top in our sport. And now I’m in this team and I can’t ask for more. I tried all Falcon Slaloms and was quite stoked how easy and fast they are. Fanatic´s Product Manager Daniel Aeberli is a good friend of mine, he helped me a lot during these years and I believe in him and in the great job he´s doing for Fanatic.”

Daniel Aeberli, Fanatic Product Manager:
“Matteo is one of the most talented upcoming Slalom guys on the PWA tour. Following him since the start of his professional career gave me the possibility to see him develop his skills and Racing. He is a great personality and has the right attitude and motivation to make it all to the top of the Slalom scene. For us at Fanatic he is the perfect guy for our young and dynamic Slalom crew. The time has come to boost our 2014 Falcon line to the next level. A big welcome to Matteo.”

Leucate with Antoine Questel

Slalom sailor Antoine Questel finished an impressive 7th overall on the PWA Slalom World Tour. Earlier this year Antoine was training in Leucate along with Pierre Mortefon, Tristan Algret and Nicolas Warembourg.

RRD TEAM IN SYLT

Check out the RRD in Sylt.

ANGULO MOVES INTO FIRST AT THE PWA SYLT WORLD CUP

Day 5: The perfect day for Angulo as he storms to the top of the event rankings

The fifth day of the GP Joule PWA Sylt World Cup saw the wind return as a further two slalom eliminations were completed in chilly, but beautiful weather. The offshore winds made for tricky racing in 7-15 knots of breeze, but there were still some exhilarating battles over the course of the day. Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun Sails) continued his fantastic form this week as the secured another bullet and a second place to move to the top of the event rankings, whilst Alberto Menegatti (Starboard / Point-7) hit back in race four with his first race victory of the event.

Men’s Slalom

Elimination Three

Winners’ Final

Josh Angulo timed his start to perfection in the opening winners’ final of the day as he crossed the start line in first place. Angulo then built on his brilliant start as he held the lead ahead of Alberto Menegatti, Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde) and Kasper Larsen (Starboard / Loft Sails), whilst Cedric Bordes (Tabou / Gaastra) and Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) collided with each other, but both sailors did well to stay upright. Over the remainder of the course Angulo showed blistering speed and perfect gybes – which he pumped out of – to storm to his second victory of the week. Behind him Quentel once again demonstrated that he is one of the quickest sailors on the tour as he fought his way into second place, with Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Dagan completing the top four, leaving Menegatti to settle for fifth place.

Elsewhere in race three there were several upsets in the opening round – the first of which came in heat three as Jordy Vonk (Patrik / Loft Sails) – who was ninth at the beginning of the day – narrowly missed out on a place in the quarterfinals after finishing in fifth place, whilst Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne) was also knocked out. Heat four was eventually completed at the fifth attempt – after a combination of a false start and the wind dropping on several occasions – but in the end Finian Maynard (RRD / Avanti) and Ludovic Jossin (Patrik / Loft Sails) both took earlier than planned exits, whilst Chris Pressler (Starboard / Severne) did well to clinch the final qualifying place. The drama wasn’t finished there either as Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) also failed to escape from heat five, before Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Chris Benz / Dunkerbeck Eyewear) was disqualified for sailing in the wrong heat – heat seven when he was supposed to be in heat eight.

Further drama ensued in the opening semifinal as Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) crashed into Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Loft Sails) on the exit of the third gybe – at the time both sailors were qualifying for a place in the winners’ final, but neither qualified after the collision – instead Julien Quentel and Peter Volwater (Fanatic / Avanti) benefitted as they finished in third and fourth place respectively.

Elimination Four

Winners’ Final

Josh Angulo made another blistering start to the second winners’ final of the day as he once again crossed the line in first place, however this time around he couldn’t quite hold his lead into the first mark as Alberto Menegatti came flying down the opening reach to take the lead ahead of Angulo, Steven Allen and Antoine Albeau. With clean wind and acres of clear water ahead of him, Menegatti extended his lead over the chasing pack to claim his first victory of the week, which moves him up to fourth place overall for the event. In the meantime Angulo cemented his place at the top of the rankings after finishing in second place with Albeau and Julien Quentel finishing third and fourth respectively.

Just as in race three there were further upsets in the first round of elimination four – firstly Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) failed to qualify from heat one. The Frenchman entered the first gybe in the lead, but after struggling to get back onto the place he ended up finishing in seventh place. Jordy Vonk, meanwhile, suffered his second first round exit of the day in heat two, whilst Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra) was also knocked out in heat three after catapulting and finishing in fifth place. Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North) was the final upset in the opening round as he finished heat eight in sixth place.

The forecast for tomorrow is predicting strong winds, with gusts of up to 29 knots being predicted. With this in mind it looks as though the freestyle sailors will take center stage for the first time this week, depending how the conditions materialize, whilst there is still the potential for some high wind slalom as well. The skippers’ meeting for the freestyle and slalom fleets will be held at 10am with the action commencing at 10:30am, whilst the wave sailors will meet at 1pm. Don’t miss any of the explosive and radical action by tuning into the PWA livestream at www.pwaworldtour.com.

Results After Four Eliminations – Men’s Slalom

1st Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun Sails)

2nd Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)

3rd Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)

4th Alberto Menegatti (Starboard / Point-7)

5th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

6th Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne)

7th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Loft Sails)

8th Micah Buzianis (JP / MauiSails)

9th Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic)

10th Matteo Iachino (F2 / Challenger / AL360)

The Contest – Kurosh Kiani

Kurosh Kiani is back with another great episode of Kiani TV where he takes a look at the World Cup competition scene.

In August, I spent a couple of weeks in Turkey preparing and then competing in the PWA world cup in the town of Alacati. In this months episode “The Contest” I try to portray the stuff that happens during a contest, all compressed into a combination of action and talks with two good friends and among the best windsurfers in the world: Ross Williams and Arnon Dagan.

We reflect on everything from arrival to departure and the things that go in between worth talking about. Mixed with some action from the hours spent training and the actual competition moments, I hope that this will give everyone who clicks by to watch an insight of what you go through in an action packed world cup week. Arrival, setting up, racing, crashing, heat of the moment and so on.. Check out the rest yourself.

PWA Alacati World Cup – Day 6 Video

Check out the wrap up video of the final day at the 2013 PWA Alacati World Cup.