The wind teased the competitors for much of Day 4, but unfortunately despite several hours of effort only a further two heats were able to be completed in the men’s first elimination. There were short periods of wind, but with the breeze continuing to blow offshore the wind remained very patchy, which made racing tricky to say the least.
Slalom
Men’s
During the morning the 3rd men’s quarterfinal – Heat 11 – was completed at the third time of asking, having been cancelled for the first time on Day 2. Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) and Valentin Brault (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Chopper Fins) were then disqualified from the rerun after jumping the gun, which left only 6 sailors vying for the top 4 positions. Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / Duotone) looked confident as he led from start to finish to book his place in the semifinal, while he was joined by Julien Quentel (Patrik / Gun Sails), Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne), who produced an excellent gybe at the first to leapfrog Antoine Questel (I-99 / S2Maui), while Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) grabbed the final qualifying place. The Dane did well to overtake Questel heading to the third buoy and with the Frenchman under pressure he dropped his gybe allowing Kornum plenty of breathing room over the remainder of the course.
It was also a case of third time lucky for Heat 12. Andrea Rosati (RRD / RRD Sails) and Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde) both had to slam on the breaks before the start to avoid going over early and that left Rosati with no way back. However, Isaac produced a brilliant comeback as he secured 4th place after Damian Arnoux (Simmer / Simmer Sails) clipped Arnon Dagan (Future Fly / NeilPryde) at the first gybe, which cost the Israeli a place in the next round. Bruno Martini (I-99 / Challenger Sails) claimed a clear cut victory to book his place in the top 16 as did Ethan Westera (Tabou / GA Sails) and reigning world champion – Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde).
The wind then dropped again and despite waiting until 7pm it never returned. Tomorrow morning offers the chance of moderate offshore winds again, so the sailors will meet again at 8:30am for the skippers’ meeting with the racing commencing from 9:30am (GMT+2) onwards – if conditions allow.
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