The 2010 Catalunya – Costa Brava (Spain) PWA Slalom World Cup –
Event Summary
Dunkerbeck settles a score, and Jaggi strengthens her lead, after an
action packed few days on the Catalunyan coast.
The wind gods blessed the racers in Costa Brava with some awesome
conditions on both day one and day three of competition, allowing two
of the PWA’s longest standing legends to take control of their
respective fleets at the event, and move into pole position in the
overall rankings.
Fifty-nine men competed in a full round of high-octane slalom on the
first day, which saw Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic)
take the early lead. A second elimination was also started, but the
wind dropped off in the early evening causing the racing to be
cancelled for another day. The women’s fleet saw twenty-one fast and
furious females competing in the biggest fleet the PWA has seen for
over a year. And, in a similar fashion to the men, the women managed
to complete one full round on the first day, which saw Valerie
Arrighetti nee Ghibaudo (Tabou, Loft, Mystic) take first line honors
and the event lead.
Day two was the first without wind, meaning the world’s best had to
wait until day three to resume the second elimination. The third day
saw big swells and gusty winds which enabled the men to race through
the early round heats, but just as the finals were about to start,
the wind dropped yet again. However, the women managed to squeeze in
a full round of racing, which saw Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne)
claiming victory.
The remaining three days of competition were frustratingly spent on
hold with the wind refusing to blow consistently enough for any world
cup competition to take place.
Men
Day one saw the mighty Dunkerbeck dominate the fleet on his Severne
Reflex 8.6 and Starboard iSonic 111. He flew off the start line in
every race, and won his early round heats with a convincing margin.
By the time the winner’s final came round, he was full of confidence
and was without doubt one of the fastest racers on the water. His
speed helped him to achieve an early lead with the 2009 world
champion, Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde) trailing in his wake. At
mark three, following a not so perfect gybe, it looked like Albeau
might overtake Dunkerbeck, but he put the pedal to the metal and
raced off ahead to take the bullet.
With the conclusion of race 2 unable to take place, and both Albeau
and Dunkerbeck having qualified for the winner’s final, they were
awarded equal points for that race. This meant Dunkerbeck’s first
race win put him on the top of the podium, for the first time since
Sylt 2008, with Albeau having to settle for second.
Flying Frenchman Cyril Moussilmani scraped through his early heats in
race one, but managed to put in an excellent performance in the
winner’s final to finish just behind Dunkerbeck and Albeau. He then
qualified for the final of race 2, which earned him the final spot on
the podium for the event.
Women
Costa Brava marked the return of the 2009 slalom world champion,
Valerie Arrighetti to world cup competition, and with it, a
convincing first race victory ahead of nearest rival Karin Jaggi.
Jaggi failed to let this bother her too much, and following a little
bit of drama in an early round heat on day three, where she fell at
the final mark, evened the scores with Arrighetti by taking the
winner’s final of race 2.
This left Arrighetti and Jaggi on equal scores for the event, but due
to the tie break rules, Jaggi claimed the crown. The young freestyle
world champion, Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra) posted a
consistent set of results to take the final place on the podium.
Hot Heats
Despite a lengthy period on hold, the spectators were treated to some
extremely exciting racing late in the afternoon on day three. A
fairly sizeable swell was running which made for some interesting
inside mark roundings, and a few unexpected launch ramps that had
many of the sailors airborne on various legs of the course whether
they liked it or not.
The young Italian racer, Alberto Menegatti (Starboard, Simmer) sailed
a flawless first round heat of race 2, to swiftly proceed through to
the next round. He then scraped through the quarterfinals by the skin
of his of teeth, claiming a fourth position to just carry him
through. Then in the semi finals, racing in a fleet full of the
world’s greatest racers, including Dunkerbeck, Williams, Buzianis,
Maynard, and Allen, he sailed the heat of his life to beat all of the
stars in the tough conditions and claim his righteous place in the
winners final.
Luck Of The Legends
The evening of day three could have been a complete disaster for the
highest ranked sailors in the world. First off Dunkerbeck’s mast
snapped moments before his heat, but, as if by magic, mark three
began to drift which bought the legend plenty of time to hitch a ride
in and switch to another set of gear.
Albeau also had a lucky escape when the wind began to drop, and he
was out on gear that was too small during in his semi final heat. He
was left out the back and struggling to maintain his usual speed, but
just as he rounded the final mark in sixth position, the wind dropped
below 7 knots, causing the heat to be cancelled. Needless to say, he
didn’t make the same mistake again, and went straight in to grab the
biggest gear he could find to win the re-run.
Tie Break Rule Explained
Throughout the final half of the event, Arrighetti and Jaggi were
equal first due to them both having scored a 1st place and 2nd place
finish, and therefore having accumulated 2.7 points each. In this
situation Part 1 section 13.4 (event scoring: ties) of the PWA
rulebook applies. This states that in the event of a tie in total
points of an individual discipline the tie shall be broken.
The rules state numerous ways in which a tie shall be broken.
Firstly, who has beaten the other more times, then if that doesn’t
do it, who has the highest number of firsts, seconds, thirds etc. If
the tie still remains, then it goes on to who discarded a better
result, then a sail off between the competitors can be permitted if
reasonably possible. And finally, if the tie still remains between
competitors ranked in the top 3, the tie is broken in favour of the
highest finishing position in the last race or elimination.
Jaggi and Arrighetti had beaten each other an equal amount of times,
they had an equal number of firsts and seconds, there was no discard,
and a sail off was not possible, so it went right to the wire. Jaggi
beat Arrighetti in the last race, and therefore took the crown.
Men’s Results
1st Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic) 5.2pts
2nd Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde) 6.5pts
3rd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard, North) 7.5pts
4th Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde)13.5pts
5th Ross Williams (Tabou, Gaastra) 16.5pts
6th Sylvain Moussilmani (Starboard, Simmer) 17.5pts
7th Benoit Moussilmani (Starboard, Simmer) 18.5pts
8th Kevin Pritchard (Starboard, Gaastra, DaKine) 18.5pts
9th Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic, North) 19.5 pts
10th Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra) 20.5pts
Women’s Results
1st Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne) 2.7pts
2nd Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou, Loft, Mystic) 2.7pts
3rd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra) 7pts
4th Alice Arutkin (Starboard, North) 9pts
5th Lise Vidal (Exocet, North) 9pts
Overall Rankings
Men
Costa Brava has certainly made the title race much more exciting in
the men’s fleet. Dunkerbeck’s win and Albeau’s second place
finish mean that they’re now on equal scores overall in the
rankings. Dunkerbeck is currently in the lead however due to the tie
break rules.
Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde) has also snuck ahead of Jimmy Diaz
(Starboard, North) after posting a more consistent set of results.
The biggest surprise is that last year’s runner up, Finian Maynard
(RRD, Gaastra) has slipped down to ninth, after a PMS in the race one
final, and a shocking result in the semi finals of race 2 saw him
scrape into the loser’s final in Costa Brava. There’s still plenty
of events left to go though, and everything to play for!
1st Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic)
2nd Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)
3rd Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde)
4th Jimmy Diaz (Starboard, North)
5th Sylvain Moussilmani (Starboard, Simmer)
Women
Following two consecutive wins, Karin Jaggi now stands head and
shoulders above the rest of the crowd in the women’s rankings. If
Alaçati is the final women’s racing event of the season then a 4th
place or higher would see her claim back the overall world title for
2010. However, if Sarah-Quita Offringa wins in Alaçati, and Jaggi
only manages a 5th, Offringa would snatch the title from her.
1st Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne)
2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra)
3rd Alice Arutkin (Starboard, North)
Live GPS Tracking
When the action was smoking hot here in Catalunya you could follow
the world’s fastest windsurfers as they hammered their way round the
racecourse at breakneck speeds. If you missed it at the time, check
out this link HERE where you can replay some of the racing.
Stay In The Groove
For more information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with
every piece of the action, click on www.pwaworldtour.com
Here you can use our:
• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins
• Check live elimination ladders
• View results
• Read daily news summaries
• Browse awesome action photo galleries
Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via
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