French take titles at RS-X Board Cadiz Race

by ISAF Media on 3 Oct 2005 Olympic gold medallist Faustine Merret (FRA) and Mistral World Champion Nicolas Huguet (FRA) took the titles at the RS:X Cadiz Race in Spain over the weekend.

With over 100 windsurfers competing, the event was by far the largest for the new RS:X board to date and provided a fascinating glimpse at the future of Olympic windsurfing.

As well as the action on the water the RS:X Cadiz Race has also seen plenty going on behind the scenes. Two-time Olympic medallist Mike Geberhardt (USA) has played a important role in the development of the RS:X board and now represents male sailors on the RS:X Management team. He has been in Cadiz over the weekend, conducting a clinic with the competitors on Saturday morning and taking part in meetings with both sailors and coaches.

As one of the keenest windsurfing brains around, he was quick to notice what he considers to be some of the keys issues for success on the new board. At the end of racing on Sunday he commented on what he had seen, 'the downhaul and outhaul settings are very critical for this board – you can´t just jump on it and sail it,' he explained, 'This board very specifically needs the right amount of power and you can´t go over and you can't go under, that was the biggest thing I noticed.'

The Raceboard World Championship, begins again in Cadiz on Tuesday (report ISAF Event media)

Men, Final Overall leaders:
1 FRA Nicolas HUGUET 1 3 1 2 (6) 7
2 NED Joeri VAN DIJK 3 2 2 1 (5) 8
3 FRA Nicolas LE GAL 4 1 2 4 (15) 11
4 POL Max WOJCIK 2 3 1 (19) 6 12
5 GBR Nick DEMPSEY 1 (10) 7 5 2 15
6 FRA Julien BONTEMPS 13 (OCS) 4 2 1 20
7 GBR Leo MCCALLIN 6 11 4 4 (13) 25
8 FRA Samuel LAUNAY 4 7 (26) 7 7 25
9 ITA Federico ESPOSITO 3 4 13 6 (18) 26
10 POL Piotr MYSZKA 7 (27) 5 10 4 26

Women, Final Overall leaders:
1 FRA Faustine MERRET 3 3 4 8 18
2 ESP Blanca MANCHON 2 11 1 9 23
3 GBR Bryony SHAW 7 1 9 6 23
4 ITA Flavia TARTAGLINI 1 6 14 3 24
5 BUL Irina KONSTANTINOVA 5 10 5 4 24
6 FRA Anne-Sophie LE PAGE 8 14 8 2 32
7 ISR Lee KORSITS 12 7 12 10 41
8 UKR Olga MASLIVETS 4 4 19 15 42
9 POL Zofia KLEPACKA 9 5 17 12 43
10 ITA Laura LINARES 19 16 15 1 51