The 2008 Ulsan PWA World Cup – Day Four
Hopes turn to the final day of competition, as day four fails to deliver enough wind to get competition started.
Cagla Kubat tunes up
The Mayor of Ulsan arrives
Jinha from above
The penultimate day of competition got off to a slow start, as competitors prepared to endure another test of their patents on the beautiful but windless Jinha beach. The wait was broken up with a visit from the Mayor of Ulsan Metropolitan City, Honourable Mr Maeng Woo Park, who came to soak up the events vibrant atmosphere, and chat with the PWA’s Chairman, Jimmy Diaz.
As the morning drifted into the afternoon without any change in conditions, hopes of the thermal wind blowing, started to dwindle. With the windless wait continuing, we took the opportunity to ask a cross section of the PWA what they do while competition is on standby.
Race Director, Juan Antonio Aragon:
“I’ve been preparing all the equipment; checking the boats over, making sure they have enough fuel, and the buoys have the right lengths of rope. After that I’ve been checking the wind to see if we have the minimum possible conditions. I check both the strength, and the amount the wind is shifting. I never get to relax!”
2007 PWA Slalom World Champion, Antoine Albeau (Starboard, NeilPryde):
“I spent the morning back at my hotel. I watched a tonne of movies, then grabbed some lunch. This afternoon, I’ve been down here on the beach just chilling out, and chatting with the guys, we’re all just waiting for the wind you know!”
PWA Photographer John Carter:
“I’ve had a disastrous day, since there’s no wind and not much going on, I thought I’d do an interview with two big stars. It took 40 minutes, and at the end of it I realised I hadn’t pressed record, so that was just a disaster! For the rest of the afternoon I’m going to try and get some portrait shots of the sailors.”
Slalom Competitor, Christoph Pressler (Starboard, Severne, DaKine):
“I’ve been translating some board tests I did for my sponsor, from German to English. And after that, Jesper (Orth) the leader of the Severne race development department had some of the 2009 prototype sails, so we rigged those and checked them out.
Later on I’m probably going to go for a run.”
The sailors continued waiting until early evening, but with the wind never threatening to blow more than a couple of knots, race director Juan Antonio Aragon released them at 6.00pm.
The final day gets going with the skippers meeting at 10.00am, and a first possible start to competition at 10.30am. The forecast shows promise, so it looks like things will come down to the wire on the final day of competition. Be sure to follow every stroke of action here, at www.pwaworldtour.com to:
* Use our live ticker service
* Check elimination ladders
* View results
* Watch amazing video action clips
* Read the daily news summaries
* Browse awesome action photo galleries
The event has a dedicated website at www.pwaulsan.com, and you can view the equipment registered by each competitor here. For more information please contact the PWA office via [email protected]
© PWA / Andrew Buchanan
