As promised the racing sprung into life on the second day of the 2017 Waterz Hvide Sande PWA World Cup, which allowed the opening two races for the Men’s and Women’s fleets to be completed in winds of 8-20 knots. Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) couldn’t have wished for a better start as he came flying out the blocks to win both eliminations, while Lena Erdil heads up the women’s rankings after also making a strong start.
Women’s
Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) leads the event at the close of play after making an excellent start to proceedings, which saw the 28-year-old open her account with a well-taken bullet before backing it up with a solid second place.
Erdil goes into day 3 with a two point lead over Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), who had a slow start to the final in Elimination 1 meaning she had to settle for 4th place, before instantly hitting back with a clinical victory in the second elimination to keep herself firmly in contention and is now perfectly poised to pounce tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) currently completes the top 3 on 6 points after 2nd and 4th place finishes, while fellow French woman Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) is still in the running in 4th.
One of the performances of the day has to go to Jenna Gibson (Fanatic / NorthSails), who was making her debut on the world tour and she hit the ground to take 3rd place in her first ever race. Unfortunately, the 20-year-old was then involved in a pile up in the second winners’ final resulting in a 10th which sees her sitting in 5th place in the current rankings. The Brit looks as though she is ready to make an instant transition to life on the world tour and could well challenge for the podium.
Esther de Geus (JP / Point-7) and Maélle Guilbaud (Patrik / LoftSails) came into Denmark tied in joint 3, but both will want to quickly shake off their results from the first day of competition here as both suffered disappointing results – with de Geus finishing 7th and 14th, while Guillbaud had similar results with 8th and 12th places.
Men’s
Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) won the first ever event here last year and the Italian made a strong stake to successfully defend that crown as he produced a flawless display to win both of the eliminations completed today, which gives the reigning world champion a significant lead heading into the third day, as the rest of the usual suspects endured an indifferent day. At the close of play Iachino holds an 11.6 point advantage and his rivals will either need a mistake from Iachino – or wait for the first discard to come into play after race 4 for a chance to close the gap.
Ups and Downs
As mentioned aside from Iachino – who was the only man to qualify for both winners’ finals – the rest of the fleet suffered a mixed bag of results.
– Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins) is currently Iachino’s closest challenger in second after finishing 3rd and 9th.
– Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails) currently completes the top 3 after finishing 11th and then 3rd. The German seems to enjoy himself on Danish waters with the 26-year-old earning his first podium finish here in 2016 and he could well repeat that feat yet.
– Current world tour leader – Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) – suffered a shock semifinal exit as he narrowly missed out in 5th place and this represents the Frenchman’s worst start to an event this year, but you still wouldn’t count him out from staging comeback – especially the stronger the wind gets.
– Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) finds himself in 5th place after the opening two races. The 31-year-old made a solid start to proceedings, but then gave himself far too much to do in the semifinal of Elimination 2 and despite a valiant effort he just missed out in 5th place.
– Bruno Martini (RRD / Point-7 / AL360) made a flying start to the event as he opened with a brilliant second place behind the Iachino, but has since seen the wheels come off after suffering an unfortunate quarterfinal exit in race 2 after Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails) dropped his gybe leading no escape for the Italian – before then facing a second round exit in Elimination 3, which leaves him in joint 15th place with Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) The two sailors actually have the exact same counting results at the moment, but the Brit hit back with a 2nd place after a shock quarterfinal exit from the opening race and he is still in the running for Elimination 3.
Maciek Rutkowski (Tabou / GA Sails) was one of the most consistent performers of the day and that consistency sees him rewarded with a 6th place in the current event rankings after the pole navigate his way into the winners’ final of the opening race – where he finished 8th. Rutkowski was then disqualified from the semifinal of Elimination 2 after a premature start, but sailed excellently in the losers’ final to claim 10th place.
Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde), Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Chopper Fins), Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Chopper Fins), Mateus Isaac (Goya Windsurfing / Point-7) and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins) complete the top 10 at this stage. The latter will feel slightly aggrieved with his disqualification from the 3rd elimination after thinking there was a break – only to try and rush to the start of his heat to then be disqualified for sailing through the start line the wrong way with 15 seconds to go.
The forecast looks excellent for tomorrow with wind strong winds predicted for the entry of the day from the south-south-west in the region of 20-33 knots, which should see another busy day of action on the water. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10:30am (GMT+2). Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.comto follow all of the racing live.
To stay up to date with all the latest developments from Denmark — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.
Current Ranking 2017 Hvide Sande PWA World Cup – Women’s Slalom
*After Two Eliminations
1st Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360)
2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic)
3rd Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)
4th Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails)
5th Jenna Gibson (Fanatic / NorthSails)
Current Ranking 2017 Hvide Sande PWA World Cup – Men’s Slalom
*After Two Eliminations
1st Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7 / Shamal Sunglasses)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins)
3rd Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails)
4th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)
5th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti)
6th Maciek Rutkowski (Tabou / GA Sails)
7th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)
8th Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Chopper Fins)
9th Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde)
10th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins)
