Racing in Formula Kite Short Track format at Day 1 of SWC - Hyeres

by International Kiteboarding Association on 26 Apr 2017 Over 500 sailors from 52 nations opened their quest for World Cup honours, personal best performances and bragging rights as the second event of the 2017 series got underway in Hyères, France.

Events cannot be won on the first day in sailing but they can certainly be lost. So, in a stable eight - eleven knot south easterly breeze, it was vital that those aiming for the top honours laid down a marker with consistent race results.

French racers Nicolas Parlier and Axel Mazella dominated their respective blue and yellow fleets in the Foiling Formula Kiteboarding. The pair won every single race, beating World Champion racers Maxime Nocher (MON) and Florian Gruber (GER).

There has been some seriously close racing already on the 'Olympic' short track course, and once the fleet will be split into gold and silver the action will be skyrocketing.

Apart from the leaders in each group, racing for the runner-up places has been even more tight, and the action will fully unfold once we split the fleet into gold and silver on Thursday and Friday.

On the womens side of things, women's Formula Kite World Champion and US Rolex Sailor of the year Daniela Moroz (USA) sits just outside of the top 10 but will have another shot tomorrow to make the gold fleet and the Medal Races on the weekend.

Racing continues with the qualifying series on Wednesday 26 April and the final series on Thursday and Friday, before the all deciding medal races on Saturday afternoon.
World Sailing will be live on YouTube on Saturday at 15:30 with three final races.

Top Five after six races (One discard)

1. Nicolas Parlier (FRA, Ozone) - 5 pts
2. Axel Mazella (FRA, F-One) - 5 pts
3. Maxime Nocher (MON, Enata) - 10 pts
4. Martin Dolenc (CRO, Flysurfer) - 14 pts
5. Toni Vodisek (SLO, Ozone) - 15 pts

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