Lucy Horwood and Dan Ellis are leading the Asian Windsurfing Tour (AWT) rankings after round 4 here in Saipan, Micronesia, giving Fanatic and North a double at the top.

With just one stop left on the 2005 “Fosters AWT” to be held in Ulsan Korea at the end of May its looking good for the UK to take top honours.  The tour so far has taken them to 4 amazing locations with tough competition all the way. Lucy has fought off all the female competition, which was the most fierce here in Saipan to take all the available first places.  Dan is in top spot counting 2 firsts and 2 seconds so far on the tour.

The previous stop on the tour, The Enevron Boracay Funboard Cup, was held on the Philippians Island of Boracay.  Boracays shores are covered in palm trees and white sand with constant 15-25knt winds blowing from November to April. 67 competitors entered the event in which 8 rounds of slalom where held.  After 4 gruelling days of down wind slalom Dan Ellis and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel from Argentina shared all the bullets, but with 5 to Dan 3 it was Gonzo who took the win.  In the Womens fleet Lucy had a slightly easier time taking all the honours but with a solid show of sailing in a strong field she finished respectably inside the top 10 over all.

Here in Saipan, a tiny Micronesian island out in the Pacific a slightly smaller fleet turned up but the competitions was just as fierce.  In the Pro Mens fleet the battle for top spot was once again between Gonzo Costa Hoevel and Dan Ellis.  Dan managed to take a couple of hard earned wins but in the slightly lighter winds than Boracay it was not enough to stop Gonzo taking first at the event.  In the Womens fleet the competition had really hotted up for Lucy with Japans top 2 Pro women turning out to compete.  However they were not enough to stop the onslaught of the UK’s top slalom racer and Lucy made it 4 out of 4 so far on the AWT.         

Lucy and Dan will be heading back home for a couple of days before going to Egypt for the Club Dahab Slalom Week where they will be passing on all there tricks of the trade (its not too late to book your place).  They will also be looking forward to the final stop of the AWT where if the other events are anything to go by Ulsan Korea will be another amazing windsurfing location.