Slalom in Giappone… day 1!

Primo giorno di gara in Giappone per la Fly! ANA Windsurfing World Cup, tappa PWA che ha riportato l’elite dello slalom nel paese del sol levante per la prima volta dopo 24 anni.
La gara in programma da oggi, 11 maggio fino al 16, nello spot di Tsukuihama beach della cittadina di Yokosuka è al momento (16,45 locali) in stand by perchè il vento, previsto abbastanza forte nel tardo pomeriggio, sembra per ora essere parente di quello che i riders, uomini e donne, hanno “rimediato” in Korea la settimana scorsa … le speranze però ci sono!
Rimanete sitonizzati sulla gara…

Photo © PWA/Carter

Fly! ANA PWA World Cup
Slalom elite return to Japan for first time in 24 years​…
The second and final stop of the Asian leg of the 2017 PWA Slalom World Tour sees the best slalom sailors in the world returning to Japan for the first time in 24 years. Tsukuihama Beach will be in the windsurfing limelight for the next 6 days with the Fly ANA! PWA World Cup running between the 11th-16th May.

Reigning World Champion – Matteo Iachino

After the first event of the season there’s still plenty of questions to be answered with just the one elimination being completed in the women’s division, but hopefully the wind God’s will be more generous in Japan than they were in South Korea. Tsukuihama Beach, Yokosuka City, is situated approximately 80km southwest of Japan’s capital Tokyo. Yokosuka blends city life with the sea, while also being a Naval Port. Yokosuka occupies most of the Miura Peninsula and is bordered by the mouth of Tokyo Bay to the east and Sagami Bay on the west, which provides a beautiful backdrop. As Tsukuihama Beach is almost completely protected it should provide great flat water racing conditions. As well as its maritime connections Yokosuka is also famous for it’s locally grown produce and there is even a tourist farm where you can pick your own strawberries, sweet potatoes or tangerines depending on the time of year.

Ones to Watch – Women’s
Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) holds the early season advantage heading into the second event of the year after the 25-year-old made the perfect start to her title defence by claiming the open victory of the year ahead of Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360).

Current world tour leader – Sarah-Quita Offringa

Erdil looked extremely quick on the straights and almost caught Offringa on the opening reach in Ulsan, but couldn’t quite do enough in the opening battle of the year, but even at this early stage of the season it looks as though it could develop into another fight for the title between Offringa and Erdil as they rivalry intensifies.

Lena Erdil

The prestigious podium was completed by Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) in South Korea as the 25-year-old made a bold start to the season with her best performance since 2015. Now it will be interesting if she can sustain that level over the rest of the season and possibly even apply pressure on the top two.

Marion Mortefon

With two-world titles to her name – Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) – certainly can’t be written off, but she already faces an uphill battle to add to her previous world titles after missing the winners’ final in South Korea. Expect to see an immediate reaction from Cousin Questel as she looks to get her season back on track.

Delphine Cousin Questel

Esther de Geus (JP / Point-7) and Nimet Tulumen (KA Sail) both spent the winter training in Tenerife and both were rewarded with their best results so far as they finished 4th and 8th respectively.

Esther de Geus

Meanwhile, Maëlle Guilbaud (Patrik / LoftSails) and Oda Johanne (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) also recorded their best performances on the world tour after finishing 5th and 6th.

Maëlle Guilbaud

The Japanese quartet of Fujiko Onishi (99NoveNove / Point-7) – 4th overall last year – Yuki Sunaga (LoftSails) – 6th for 2016 – Ayako Suzuki (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) and Mio Anayama (Starboard / MauiSails) will also be hoping to produce a big performance on home waters.

Start line action – Yuki Sunaga

Elsewhere, you can expect to see Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Point-7) and Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Point-7 / Mystic) bounce back from disappointing starts to the season.

Fulya Ünlü

Ones to Watch – Men’s
Even though it was not possible to complete an elimination in South Korea, we still learnt a few things heading into the second event of the year, and it looks as though the usual suspects will be battling it out for top honours again over the coming season with five out of the eight sailors who qualified for the winners’ final – which was not completed – coming from last years overall top 10:
– World champion Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7 / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) – who crept under the radar slightly as he quietly went about his business while on his way to the final.

Matteo Iachino

– Vice-world champion Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins) – who had shot into the lead in the winners’ final and will be disappointed that it was cancelled as even at that early stage it looked as though he would be hard to catch. The Frenchman looks set for another title run in, in 2017.

Pierre Mortefon

– Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) – 4th in 2016 – who again used his excellent gybing and pace to recover from seemingly tricky situations with a minimum amount of fuss.

Julien Quentel

– Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) – 6th in 2016 – admitted he didn’t time his starts as well as he could have, but was delighted with being able to slice his way back through the field.

Taty Frans

– Cyril Moussilmani (99NoveNove / Severne) – 8th in 2016 – eventually escaped from the heat of doom.

Cyril Moussilmani

The other sailors to qualify for the incomplete winners’ final included:

– Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails), who looked very impressive when winning his semifinal ahead of Mortefon and the German will no doubt be a threat again here in Japan.

Sebastian Kördel

– Maciek Rutkowski (Tabou / GA Sails), who backed up the rumours that he’d been flying over the winter by making it all the way to final. The Pole will be gutted, as will the rest of the sailors, that the heat couldn’t be completed as that would have bettered any result he managed last season.

Maciek Rutkowski

– And Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails), who despite still recovering from a shoulder injury looked blisteringly quick and the Austrian should be in the mix again over the next six days.

Marco Lang

Last year’s world No.3 Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) will undoubtably be challenging for the top five and beyond again. The Brit was eliminated in the quarterfinals in South Korea, but that can be ignored as he was underpowered in Heat 9 and before that he’d barely missed out on the top 10 for the last two seasons.

Ross Williams

Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) looks in potentially menacing form coming into Japan. The 23-time world champion was qualifying for the final in virtually every attempt to run Heat 14 in South Korea, until a premature start in extremely light winds saw him eliminated. AA also sounded quietly confident when talking to him and he’s apparently happier with this year’s setup.

Antoine Albeau

Elsewhere, Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails) looks to have stepped up his game again over the winter and he too comfortably qualified for the semifinals, while also being in the top 4 during several efforts to complete the semifinal. The Dutchman showed excellent pace and he’ll be hoping he can continue that here.

Jordy Vonk

Seamless Transitions
Ben van der Steen (Patrik / Gun Sails) looks to have made a smooth transition on to his new equipment after changing sponsors during the winter as he too made the top 16. As has Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / GA Sails / Chopper Fins), who changed sail brands over the winter. The Frenchman won his second round heat as well as his quarterfinal before jumping the gun in the semis.

Ben van der Steen

You can also expect to see Argentine Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins), Israel’s Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde), France’s Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / LoftSails / Chopper Fins) as well as many more challenging for the top ten and beyond, while 18-year-old Basile Jacquin (Starboard / Point-7) will be hoping to continue the form which carried him into the semifinals.

Pascal Toselli

Also keep an eye out for the local Japanese sailors who will be hoping to use their home waters to their advantage to cause a few upsets a long the way.

Overall Ranking 2017 Women’s PWA Slalom World Tour – After One Event
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Lena Erdil (Starboard./ Point-7 / AL360)
3rd Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails)
4th Esther de Geus (JP / Point-7)
5th Maëlle Guilbaud (Patrik / LoftSails)
6th Oda Johanne (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
7th Yuki Sunaga (LoftSails)
8th Nimet Tulumen (KA Sail)
= 9th Ayako Suzuki JPN61 (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)
= 9th Maria Shapkina (Starboard)