Hydrofoil Pro Tour - Finals off to a slow start

by Bernie Kaaks on 26 Nov 2016 The famous Fremantle Doctor teased officials and riders alike on the first day of competition in the final round of the Hydrofoil Pro Tour hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of WA in Rockingham, in Perth’s south. A gentle north westerly wafted over the course area for most of the day, finally giving way to the south westerly Freo Doctor at about 3pm, but only at 10 knots.

Officials managed to get two races completed before the breeze once again became unstable and racing was called off for the day.

World number one, Frenchman Nico Parlier, confirmed his class by winning both the first two races. Not very far behind him though, was Britain’s young gun Ollie Bridge, who in turn was followed by the flamboyant Italian Ricci Leccese. These three placed in the same order in both races. Leccese startled the finish team by performing a huge, exuberant aerial on crossing the line, emulating a similar display by Parlier moments earlier.

A measure of the spread of global talent in this emerging high performance class is the fact that the first nine riders on the leader board all represent different countries.

American Daniela Moroz was clearly best of the female riders, posting a score of 33 from her two races, followed by Britain’s Steph Bridge with 60 points at this early stage of the championship.

Two Australians share local honours. Young gun Mani Bisschops with placings of 20 and 13 shares the spot on the table with new National champion Andy Hansen who placed 19th and 14th.

Weather experts have promised more breeze for the second day of competition so organisers will no doubt try to recover some of the backlog from the first day, when six races were scheduled but only two completed.