Day 4 of the 2018 Fly! ANA Yokosuka PWA World Cup started with much promise as winds of 15-25 knots greeted competitors. However, those strong winds didn’t stick around for long, which meant only a further 7 heats in the men’s slalom could be completed by the end of the day.
Slalom
Men’s
Elimination 2
Enrico Marotti (RRD / NeilPryde) faced a second round exit in the opening elimination, but made no mistake in the opening heat of Elimination 2 as he claimed a clear cut victory ahead of Brazil’s Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde), France’s Benjamin Augé (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg) and Japan’s Tadanori Nakai (Tabou / S2Maui) – all of whom advanced into the second round.
In Heat 2 Bruno Martini (RRD / Point-7 / AL360) led from start to finish to comfortably qualify for the second round, but Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / GA Sails / Chopper Fins) was slightly fortunate that the heat was cancelled first time around as he was out of the qualification places. However, on the rerun, the Frenchman made no mistake to take second ahead of William Huppert (Fanatic / NorthSails) and 52-year-old Haruhiko Koumura (Starboard / Severne).
Ramon Pastor (I-99 / Loftsails) made the best start to Heat 3, which saw the Spaniard hold the lead as the fleet rounded the opening mark and from there he never looked back. The top 4 was completed by Tomonori Anami (Starboard / Severne), 51-year-old Akihiko Yamada (Patrik / Loftsails) and Koji Kano (JP / S2Maui).
The final heat of the first round saw Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails) claim a comfortable victory ahead of 18-year-old Martin Møller Honda (Starboard / NeilPryde), Luka Mratovic (RRD / RRD Sails) and Tomohiko Suzuki (Fanatic / S2Maui), who did brilliantly to deny Wojtek Brozozowski (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg) a place in Heat 8. That heat couldn’t be completed due to the unsuitable wind conditions, but disaster struck for Frans as the Bonairean was disqualified for a premature start. Frans’ return to life on the PWA Slalom World Tour isn’t going to plan so far with two consecutive second round exits. And looking at the forecast it may prove very difficult to recover from now.
After rounding the opening mark in Heat 5 the top 4 consisted of Enrico Marotti, Mateus Isaac, Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) and Cyril Moussilmani (I-99 / Severne). However, while the front 3 would all make it safely away from the second buoy, Moussilmani slipped to the back of the pack and with no cancellation flag to save him the Frenchman was left to face a second round exit. That allowed Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) to come from the back to escape a second round exit himself as he clinched the final qualifying position, while last year’s world No.9 – Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) – also suffered a shock second round exit.
Marco Lang’s (Fanatic / NorthSail) first elimination may not have gone to plan after he was eliminated in the quarterfinals, but the Austrian began his comeback today by winning Heat 6 ahead of Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne), Bruno Martini and Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde).
Heat 7 proved to be the final heat of the day and it was won by Tomonori Anami, who produced an excellent performance to book his place in the quarterfinals. Australia’s Steve Allen (Patrik / Severne) finished second, while Andrea Ferin (RRD / Challenger Sails / AL360) did well to weave his way back through the fleet to earn 3rd. Meanwhile, another Japanese sailor – Nori Asano (Fanatic / S2Maui) – clinched the last qualifying place into the quarterfinals for a result that was very popular with the local people.
The forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look too promising with cyclonic winds predicted through the day. However, as the forecast showed today, anything can happen, so you never know tomorrow could still produce some racing. The sailors will meet again at 9am on Monday morning with the action commencing from 10am (GMT+9) onwards.
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Current Ranking 2018 Fly! ANA Yokosuka PWA World Cup – Women’s Slalom
*After One Elimination
1st Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)
2nd Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360)
3rd Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails)
4th Lilou Granier (Starboard / Severne)
5th Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Point-7)
6th Esther de Geus (Fanatic / NorthSails)
7th Jenna Gibson (Fanatic / NorthSails)
8th Maëlle Guilbaud (Patrik / Loftsails)
Current Ranking 2018 Fly! ANA Yokosuka PWA World Cup – Men’s Slalom
*After One Elimination
1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)
2nd Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne / Shamal Sunglasses)
3rd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins)
4th Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins)
5th Pascal Toselli (JP / Loftsails / Chopper Fins)
6th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)
7th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Shamal Sunglasses)
8th Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails)
9th Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails)
10th Maciek Rutkowski (I-99 / Challenger Sails)
Current Ranking 2018 Fly! ANA Yokosuka PWA World Cup – Men’s Foil
*After Two Eliminations
1st Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne/ Chopper Fins)
2nd Julien Bontemps (JP / NeilPryde)
3rd Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)
4th Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde)
5th Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / GA Sails / Chopper Fins)
6th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti)
7th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails)
7th Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails)
9th Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)
10th Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne / Shamal Sunglasses)
