The 2008 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam – Day Two

Six more epic slalom races round off a successful second day of competition in Fuerteventura.

In Brief

In the men’s fleet, Antoine Albeau (Starboard, NeilPryde) further cemented his event lead by winning two out of the three men’s races. Hot on his heels, Kevin Pritchard (Starboard, Gaastra, MFC, Dakine) snapped up his first victory of the event in the remaining race.

In the women’s fleet, Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou, The Loft) stamped her authority on the day’s proceedings, by winning two out of the three women’s races. Marking a return to form, Karin Jaggi (F2, North Sails) emerged victorious in race four but remains seventh overall following her early disastrous results.

Men’s Fleet

Race 2: Premature starts for Taty Frans (Starboard, North Sails) and Ludovic Jossin (F2, The Loft) signalled the end of their progress in the first of the day’s eliminations. Also slipping up, Ross Williams (Tabou, Gaastra) and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (NeilPryde) uncharacteristically failed to qualify for the semi finals.

Progressing into the finals, Jimmy Diaz (North Sails) produced the goods when they were required, walking away with victory in the losers final. In his wake, Julien Quentel (Starboard, NeilPryde) claimed second place and Arnon Dagan (Fanatic, Gaastra) third.

The final witnessed another display of Albeau’s dominance. He stole the show to walk away with his second successive race win. Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) and Dunkerbeck (North Sails, T1) mopped up second and third respectively. Maynard (RRD, NeilPryde) and Pritchard struggled with the conditions, finishing ninth and tenth respectively.

Race 3: Volwater, Pritchard and Allen (Tabou, Gaastra) stumbled in the semi finals, when they failed to make the race final. Taking their positions in the losers final, Pritchard recovered to take the win. Volwater also found his form to finish in second, and Dan Ellis (Fanatic, MauiSails) climbed the ranks in third. Allen was left down in fifth.

In the final, the top three positions remained unchanged from the previous race, with Albeau looking comfortable in first, Buzianis rewarded for his consistency in second, and Dunkerbeck sneaked across the finish line to pip Sylvain Moussilmani (F2, Simmer) to third place.

Race 4: The first round of heats passed without major upset, as all the big names successfully advanced into the semi finals. Looking solid as a rock, Buzianis took the early lead in his semi, and a sniff of victory saw him tear away to claim the win. Volwater had another poor result by his standards, failing to make the top six and in turn, the winners’ final.

Benoit Moussilmani (F2, Simmer) took top honours in the losers final, followed by Volwater in second, who’d done just enough to stay in the top ten overall.

In the winners final, Pritchard screamed out the gates to command the race around the four gybe marks. Albeau made it his business to chase down the speeding American, but Pritchard had no intention of letting his lead slip. On the finish line, Albeau had to settle for a rare second place, leaving Pritchard to take the victory, and a massive psychological boost after he failed to make the previous two race finals. Maynard also bounced back to finish in third place, bumping him up to eighth overall.

Women’s Fleet

Race 3: Ghibaudo continued her run of dominance from the previous day, to cruise to her third race win in a row. Chasing her down in second was Jaggi, who’d clearly put her shaky first day performance behind her. Offringa (Starboard, NeilPryde) also sailed a solid heat to award her, her highest place finish so far, in third.

Moving down the ranks, Lee Korzitz failed to make the final, and then also failed to finish in the losers final, meaning she’d have to make do with fifteenth place.

Race 4: Korzitz stuttered again in the day’s second race. Successfully making it through to the final, she proceeded false start, as did rival Offringa. The pair had to settle for joint last place.

Improving, Jaggi turned up the heat to sail to victory in the final. Not far behind, Ghibaudo added a second to her near perfect run of results, and unsung racing talent Nagoshi (Simmer) nailed a third place finish.

Race 5: After qualifying for the final, Jaggi seemed to drop off the boil with a disappointing seventh place finish. Super consistent Ghibaudo continued her run of top notch results, adding another first to her impressive hoard, and Iballa Moreno (North Sails) showed up on the radar to storm home in second.

Nagoshi was rewarded for her efforts, playing a sensible game, and not pushing too hard. When the dust settled, she emerged in third place. More impressively, her consistency rewarded her with second place overall for the event so far. Not bad for a freestyler.

Sailor of the day

Kevin Pritchard earns the honour of sailor of the day for exposing cracks in Albeau’s almost impenetrable defences. Pritchard knocked the seemingly unbeatable Frenchman off his thrown to claim victory in the men’s fourth race, and give the top spot a rare breather from Albeau’s clasp.

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled for 10.30am, with the racers hitting the water from 11.00am onwards. Be sure to tune into pwaworldtour.com to follow all of day three’s trials and tribulations. On the site you’ll be able 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

For more information please contact the PWA office via [email protected]

© PWA / Andrew Buchanan