Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam – Event Summary

by Andrew Buchanan on 31 Jul 2008
Ten days of intense high wind competition sees a World Champion crowned, one of racings biggest players drop out of contention through injury, and a shake up of the both the race and freestyle ranks after a historic showdown on Sotavento beach.

Taking centre stage for the first five days of competition, the 50 strong men’s and 15 strong women’s race fleets hit the water to kick-start the final event on the Canaries leg of the PWA World Tour.

Hosting the action was the world famous Rene Egli Windsurfing Centre, which sits in prime position just a stones throw from the waters edge. The idyllic location, with its white sands and azure backdrop proudly boasts a wealth of heritage, being one of the most enduring fixtures on the PWA world tour, with a history of epic contests stretching back over more than twenty years.

Men’s Race 1: Christening the racecourse, competition launched into action. The final of competitions first race was dominated by Antoine Albeau (Starboard, NeilPryde), who needed little more than the first reach before he sat untouched at the front of the fleet. In second place, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (NeilPryde) pieced together a solid heat to fend off Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde, MFC), who was hot on his heels round marks three and four. A blistering final blast to the finish rewarded him with second, close behind Buzianis took third.

Women’s Races 1 & 2: The women’s fleet completed two races over the course of the first afternoon, which witnessed a return to form for Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou, The Loft). The legendary French racer looked like she may have dropped off the pace, following a disappointing 7th place overall at the last women’s slalom event in the Costa Brava.

Not one to be underestimated, Ghibaudo dominated both races to claim back-to-back first place finishes. In a similar style, Lee Korzitz, racing in her second ever PWA slalom event, managed to muscle her way to finish second in both races. A surprise result was Karin Jaggi (F2, North Sails), who kicked off the event with a shocking last place in the first race, and fifth in the second.

Men’s Race 2: Another display of Albeau’s dominance saw him steal the show and walk away with his second successive race win. Buzianis and Dunkerbeck (North Sails, T1) mopped up second and third respectively. Maynard (RRD, NeilPryde) and Pritchard (Starboard, Gaastra, Dakine, MFC) struggled with the conditions, finishing ninth and tenth respectively.

Women’s Race 3: Ghibaudo continued her run of dominance to cruise to her third race win in a row. Chasing her down in second was Jaggi, who’d clearly put her shaky performance behind her. Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, NeilPryde) also sailed a solid heat to award her with her highest place finish so far, in third.

Moving down the ranks, Lee Korzitz failed to make the final, and then also failed to finish in the losers final, meaning she’d have to make do with fifteenth place.

Race 3: Volwater, Pritchard and Allen (Tabou, Gaastra) stumbled in the semi finals, when they failed to make the race final. Taking their positions in the losers final, Pritchard recovered to take the win. Volwater also found his form to finish in second, and Dan Ellis (Fanatic, MauiSails) climbed the ranks in third. Allen was left down in fifth.

In the final, the top three positions remained unchanged from the previous race, with Albeau looking comfortable in first, Buzianis rewarded for his consistency in second, and Dunkerbeck sneaked across the finish line to pip Sylvain Moussilmani (F2, Simmer) to third place.

Women’s Race 4: Korzitz stuttered again, having successfully made it through to the final, she proceeded to false start, as did rival Offringa. The pair had to settle for joint last place.

Improving, Jaggi turned up the heat to sail to victory in the final. Not far behind, Ghibaudo added a second to her near perfect run of results, and unsung racing talent Nagoshi (Simmer, Dakine) nailed a third place finish.

Men’s Race 4: In the winners final, Pritchard screamed out the gates to command the race around the four-gybe marks. Albeau made it his business to chase down the speeding American, but Pritchard had no intention of letting his lead slip. On the finish line, Albeau had to settle for a rare second place, leaving Pritchard to take the victory, and a massive psychological boost after he failed to make the previous two race finals. Maynard also bounced back to finish in third place, bumping him up the ranks.

Benoit Moussilmani (F2, Simmer) took top honors in the losers final, followed by Volwater (North) in second, who’d done just enough to stay in the top ten overall.

Women’s Race 5: After qualifying for the final, Jaggi seemed to drop off the boil with a disappointing seventh place finish. Super consistent Ghibaudo continued her run of top-notch results, adding another first to her impressive hoard, and Iballa Moreno (North Sails) showed up on the radar to storm home in second.

Men’s Race 5: In a fresh 15-30 knot wind, the first round of heats followed a relatively predictable path to the semi finals. Moving into the race final, all the big names stood poised to do battle.

Accelerating off the start line, Maynard showed why he’s one of the fastest men in windsurfing, 'I had a real good start, the water was nice and flat and the wind wasn’t gusting too much. My 7.8m seemed to be the right choice, and after taking the lead on the first reach, I held onto it right to the finish line'. This marked Maynard’s first victory of the event so far. Behind him, Kevin Pritchard in second, and Benoit Moussilmani in third. Surprisingly, Albeau never threatened the podium positions, and ended up taking an uncharacteristic sixth place.

Race 6: Ludovic Jossin (F2, The Loft), Martin Ten Hoeve (Fanatic) and Benoit Moussilmani didn’t help their causes by false starting in the opening round. Jamie Hawkins (Exocet, NeilPryde) also fell victim to his own over enthusiasm, false starting in the subsequent semi final.

Moving into the final, Albeau tightened his grip, but not enough to stop Dunkerbeck from passing him, and sailing to his first race win. Albeau had to settle for second place, having never threatened Dunkerbeck, and Allen found his form to bag a solid third position finish.

Women’s Races 6 & 7: Ghibaudo was untouchable in her familiar first position, claiming two more back to back victories in races 6 and 7. Offringa and Jaggi also dialed into the conditions. Jaggi’s experience rewarded her with a third and a second, and a similarly impressive performance handed Offringa a commendable second and fourth.

Ex RSX racer, Korzitz also continued her run of solid results, finishing third in race seven.

Men’s Race 7: With the entire fleet hitting the water, fifty one racers jostled for position before a mammoth rabbit start to christen the first full fleet race of the event. The spectacular format tests competitors’ physical endurance, as well as tactical know how. In this case, the man with both qualities was seasoned victor, Albeau.

Breaking away and aided by clean wind, Albeau consolidated his lead as the race progressed, and ultimately won in style by a whopping margin. Fighting their own battle, Buzianis, Pritchard and Dunkerbeck were never far apart.

Eventually separating them, the final race section of tighter gybes rewarded Pritchard with second place, Dunkerbeck third, and Buzianis fourth.

Men’s Race 8: The second full fleet race turned things on their head. Poor starts by many of the big names saw Albeau finish in 21st, Pritchard, 16th, Dunkerbeck 17th, and Maynard failed to complete the race after sustaining an injury from a catapult on the start line.

Ever consistent, Buzianis remained deadly focused, and was rewarded with first position, with opportunists Volwater and Cyril Moussilmani (Fanatic, North Sails) padding out the podium in second