Steve Pallier of the Dakhla Festival in deepest southern Morocco reports that Dakhla’s peninsula in on fire!
Racing starts at Dakhla, by Jean Souville
Incredible, unforgettable, magic, unreal and even awesome could be the first words you have in mind if you want to resume today’s action here in Dakhla. Just because once again, the local magic was on to deliver a great show in windurfing, surfing and stand up paddling. Wind, perfect waves and champions that do not have any regret of their trip to take advantage of worldclass conditions ! Resume of an incredible day..
Windsurf/kitesurf : Dakhla’s bay on a good day…
He prefered to expect the best conditions to launch this race. And it was worth it. Today, Philippe Bru is a happy man because after a 40km downwind run from the north of the lagoon, the fleet of windsurfers and kitesurfers could make it safely down to the « Camping Moussafir » beach, enjoying a great race format. 40km of pure downwind is not a simple affair, even for champions who are used to train in even harder conditions. In 15/20 knots of wind and about 1h after the start launched right under the « Dragon Island », Frenchies Gerald Pelleau and Bieuzy Mauffret crossed the finish line, ending respectively 1st and 2nd in front of Slovenian Tine Slabe in the windsurfing category. 1st woman is the Caledonian Sarah Hebert. In the kitesurfing division, french speed champion Alex Caizergues takes the 1st place while Fabienne d’Ortli wins in the women category. Local Sofiane Hassouni is the first Moroccan kitesurfer while Fayçal Hmidi is the 1st local in windsurfing. Tomorrow is supposed to be more windy. So when we ask Philippe Bru if he’s going to launch the longest windsurfing race in the world (90 km), he has only one answer : « if the conditions allow it, Inch’Allah ! ».
Website – http://www.dakhla-festival.com/
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/Festivaldedakhla
Twitter – http://twitter.com/festivaldakhla
You Tube – http://www.youtube.com/user/dakhlafestival
Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/dakhlafestival
***NEWSFLASH***
Please note that due to a decision of the race direction, the Long Distance ‘s ranking is changing.
1/Diony Guadagnino
2/Bieuzy Mauffret
3/Gérald Pellleau
4/Tine Slabe
5/Alain De Gendt
6/Jochen Krauth
Locals
1/Fayçal Hmidi
2/Jaouad Mali
3/Youssef Gournit
Women
1/Sarah Hébert (New-Caledonia)
2/Faustine Merret (France)
3/Marion Raïsi (France)
4/Maria Andres (Spain)
