PWA Pozo World Cup - Marc Pare takes the top spot on day 3

by Chris Yates on 17 Jul 2014 Day three of the PWA Gran Canaria Wind and Waves Festival saw the youths take centre stage for the second time this week as the pros spent another day on hold waiting for better conditions to materialise. A new youth - Marc Pare (Simmer) - claimed top spot in their second elimination with an accomplished display of sailing.

The opening heat of the youth’s saw an upset as Noah Vocker (Fanatic / North / Maui Ultra Fins) missed out on a place in the final. In the first elimination the fourteen year old impressed to finish second overall, but this time around it wasn’t to be as Marc Pare (Simmer) and Alexandre Grand-Guillot (Fanatic / North) booked their place in the final. Meanwhile, in the second semifinal Loick Lesauvage (Goya Windsurfing) and Arthur Arutkin (Fanatic / North) defeated Niklas Herrera Hattisen (Goya Windsurfing) and Tim Van Dam Sanchidrian (Starboard / Severne) to also progress.

In the youth final Arthur Arutkin was unfortunately disqualified for having the incorrect streamer, guaranteeing a new winner, whist throwing the door wide open for the three remaining sailors. Eventually Marc Pare was crowned the victor after the sixteen year old was able to land a clean backloop and a perfectly executed forward, whilst linking together a fluid wave. Loick Lesauvage and Alexandre Grand-Guillot finished second and third respectively.

After the completion of the youth’s the majority of the competitors hit the water at some point through the afternoon, but the conditions never quite reached competition standards. At 5pm the sailors were released for the day. We had a quick chat to a few of the sailors whilst they were on hold: Jules Denel (JP / NeilPryde) injured his ankle yesterday after a one-footed backloop went wrong, here’s what he had to say on the matter: 'It doesn’t feel great at the moment, but I’m definitely going to try and sail.'

Steffi Wahl (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg) on her comeback from injury: 'I recently suffered a broken foot, not from windsurfing, but playing ice hockey of all things. Before the event here in Pozo I went to Denmark for a week and also arrived a week early here. Usually I only arrive a few days beforehand, but with the injury I wanted to get as much time on the water as possible. Last week we had some good sailing conditions and also some really good surfing on the North coast. It’s still only five months since I broke my foot, so I’m not feeling 100% confident with it yet, but I’m really hoping we get some good conditions before the end of the week.'

With a long period south swell - 14s in the morning increasing to 16s in the afternoon - expected to hit Gran Canaria tomorrow there has been much debate about what conditions this should produce in Pozo. Opinions vary depending on who you speak to but both Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) and Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) seemed optimistic that we would get some conditions tomorrow. Moreno said: 'I think we will probably have waves when the tide is lower, we just need some wind to go with them.', whilst Swift added 'I have a good feeling about tomorrow and I’m pretty confident we’ll get something done.'

The skippers’ meeting has once again been called for 9:30am with the action commencing from 10am if conditions allow.