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Matteo Iachino in a league of his own as Italian completes superb hat-trick

After a frustrating start to Day 6 of the Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam, the wind eventually stabilized and filled in to provide an excellent afternoon of racing in 10-16 knots — allowing a further two races to be completed.

Title Race

Matteo Iachino further reinstated his title winning credentials today with the Italian destroying the field again to complete a superb hat-trick. This deservedly gives him a commanding lead at the top of the event rankings — with Julien Quentel 8.9 points behind in 2nd place. This swings the title race further in Iachino’s favour with his main rival Pierre Mortefon currently back in 9th place after a disastrous day, which saw the Frenchman miss out on both winners’ finals. Mortefon hasn’t finished outside the top 4 so far this season, so could discard this result if required, but he will be determined to reduce the deficit over the next 4 days with a windy forecast to come.

Men’s Slalom Elimination 2 - Winners’ Final

Marco Lang and Matteo Iachino made the best starts to Heat 16, and it was the Italian who held the lead as they entered the first gybe ahead of Lang and Ross Williams. Like yesterday, Iachino continued to extend his advantage over the remainder of the course and he was soon claiming clinical back-to-back victories to take command of the event. Meanwhile, Lang, held his nerve to secure the best result of his career in 2nd followed by Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and Bruno Martini who also recorded his best result in 4th. Williams dropped a gybe to slip out of the top 3 and to add insult to injury Julien Quentel finished one place ahead of him, which could yet prove pivotal in the stakes for a place on the overall podium.

In the opening quarterfinal, Quentel produced an amazing comeback. The man from Saint Maarten collided with Kurosh Kiani at the first mark, but somehow managed to fight his way back into the top 4 to book his place in the semifinals alongside Jordy Vonk, Arnon Dagan and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel.

Men's Slalom Elimination 3 - Winners’ Final

It was that man again — Matteo Iachino — who made the best start and he bagged the lead as they rounded the first buoy once again. However, he didn’t have things all his own way, this time around with Taty Frans and Vincent Langer putting him under heavy pressure on the 2nd and 3rd reaches. However, Iachino remained cool and gradually he broke away from the chasing pack to clinch an emphatic hat-trick, which puts him in complete control at the end of the second day of racing. Langer took home 2nd place, which was well received by the home crowd, while Julien Quentel once again weaved his way back through the fleet to take 3rd ahead of Frans and Williams, who finished 4th and 5th respectively.

In Heat 12, Iachino and Steven Allen had safely booked their place in the semifinals and it looked as though Casper Bouman and Malte Reuscher would also be cruising into the next round. However, as the two of them approached the finish line they collided into one another. This left a few moments of deliberation as sailors must cross the finish line in the sailing position, but fortunately for them, they had already crossed the line.

Elsewhere, Ingmar Daldorf enjoyed a fine day. The Dutchman qualified for the losers’ final of Race 2 before finishing 6th in Elimination 3, which sees the 26 year old rise to 10th in the event rankings.

The forecast looks excellent for tomorrow with strong northeasterly winds of 22-26 knots being predicted. This will hopefully allow the men’s freestyle double elimination to be completed, which will decide the 2016 PWA Freestyle World Champion and as things stand Amado Vrieswijk is on course to lift his first world championship trophy, unless 6-time freestyle world champion Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo can beat him twice. The Venezuelan will first have to win Heat 50 to have any shot at a 7th world crown. If the conditions are still suitable after the completion of the freestyle double the slalom will be resumed. Skippers’ meeting times for tomorrow as follows:

Freestyle - 8 AM — 1st possible start - 8:30 AMSlalom - 10 AM — 1st possible start - 11 AMWave - 10 AM — 1st possible start - 10:30 AM


Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com tomorrow to follow, what should be a pulsating day of action, as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Slalom - After 3 Races

1st Matteo Iachino2nd Julien Quentel3rd Ross Williams4th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel5th Bruno Martini6th Marco Lang7th Vincent Langer8th Finian Maynard9th Pierre Mortefon10th Ingmar Daldorf

At the halfway point of the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA World Cup, a result has been gained for all three disciplines, after the opening slalom race of the event was completed today in winds of 10-15 knots, which saw most sailors reaching for their 8.6m² and medium boards. Matteo Iachino made the perfect start as he claimed the first bullet to extend his lead at the top of the overall rankings — for now at least.

Men’s Slalom Elimination One

Matteo Iachino and Pierre Mortefon came into the event tied on points — with Iachino ahead on count-back — and both of the title contenders successfully navigated their way into the winners’ final, making for an extremely exciting first final with whoever beating who taking control of the title race.

Men’s Slalom Elimination One - Winners’ Final

Heat 16 was completed at the second time of asking after reigning world champion Antoine Albeau was disqualified after jumping the gun. Upon the restart Iachino grabbed the lead from the word go and safely rounded the first mark ahead of Antoine Questel and Ross Williams, while Mortefon was stopped in his tracks as the Frenchman hit a piece of chop after unhooking ready to enter the first gybe, leaving him at the back of the pack. Over the remainder of the course Matteo Iachino extended his advantage as the 26 year old made the best possible start. Antoine Questel secured second place, while Julien Quentel out maneuvered Williams to take 3rd, which has more significance with the two sailors extremely close in the battle for the final place on the overall podium. Meanwhile, Mortefon did brilliantly to fight his way back through the fleet into 5th place.

The losers’ final also saw a dramatic start as Vincent Langer, Sebastian Kördel and Andrea Cucchi were all disqualified for premature starts. Marco Lang made the best start on the second attempt and the Austrian led from start to finish to claim 9th in the first race with Bruno Martini completing the top 10.

In the opening race of the week there were also plenty of upsets with Malte Reuscher, Jimmy Diaz and Ben Van der Steen all being eliminated in the second round, while Pascal Toselli — making his first appearance since dislocating his shoulder in Fuerteventura — Arnon Dagan, Taty Frans and Cedric Bordes all missed out on a place in the semifinals.

Jules Denel was making his first appearance on the slalom tour for several years and the Frenchman advanced through the first couple of rounds before being eliminated in Heat 11.

Meanwhile, in Heat 2, Nico Prien did superbly to make the second round after having to sail his heat with no starboard tack harness line. The German still held his own to earn 2nd place, while Ingmar Daldorf, Michal Aftowicz and Andrea Ferin also advanced.

Men’s Slalom Elimination Two

The second elimination was started but only two heats could be completed before the wind became too gusty and light to continue. 18 year old Peter Nors who was making his debut on the world tour advanced from Heat 3.

With the conditions becoming borderline the decision was made to switch back to the foil exhibition races, which provided a great show for the spectators, close to the shore. A further 4 races were completed today and after the discard, Antoine Albeau has shot to the top of rankings, but Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and Sebastian Kornum are just 0.7 points behind.

The forecast for tomorrow looks windy again with the east-north-east winds continuing, which should provide more racing. The skippers’ meeting for all disciplines will be held at 10 AM with the action commencing from 11 AM (GMT+1) — if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Slalom - After 1 Race

1st Matteo Iachino2nd Antoine Questel​3rd Julien Quentel4th Ross Williams​5th Pierre Mortefon6th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel7th Finian Maynard8th Antoine Albeau9th Marco Lang10th Bruno Martini

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Foiling Exhibition - After 5 Races

1st Antoine Albeau2nd Gonzalo Costa Hoevel3rd Sebastian Kornum4th Mateus Isaac5th William Huppert6th Alexandre Cousin7th Maciek Rutkowski8th Antoine Questel9th Benjamin Auge10th Cedric Bordes11th Matteo Iachino

The forecast delivered on Day 4 of the Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam, which allowed a full day of explosive freestyle to be completed in 15-25 knots of wind. At the end of the day, Amado Vrieswijk is now on the verge of earning his first world title after he produced a stunning performance to win the single elimination in style.

Men’s Freestyle - Single Elimination

With Sylt being the final stop of the freestyle world tour there was plenty at stake, particularly for Amado Vrieswijk, who came into the event leading the title race. The 20 year old is aiming to win his first world title, so he could’ve been forgiven for any nerves. However, rather than buckle under the pressure, Vrieswijk seemed to revel in the spotlight and he saved his biggest performance for the final where he faced his main rival — Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo. Vrieswijk came flying out of the starting blocks and unleashed an incredible double air culo, before planing out of an air kabikuchi to build an unassailable lead.

The final was almost the title decider as whoever won the final, between Vrieswijk and Gollito, would sit at the top of the overall rankings, so after victory Vrieswijk is now on the verge of collecting his first world crown. Gollito will now have to hope for enough wind to allow the double elimination to be completed, and even then, he will need to defeat Vrieswijk twice in order to deny the Bonairean.

Fine Margins

The title race was just centimeters from swinging in Gollito’s favor today as Nicolas Akgazciyan would have actually beaten Vrieswijk in Heat 22B if his pushloop hadn’t been adjudged to be performed outside of the competition area. As a result, Akgazciyan was eliminated rather than Vrieswijk and he remains on course for the world title.

Elsewhere, Dieter van der Eyken secured the final place on the podium after defeating Adrien Bosson in the battle for 3rd and 4th.

Meanwhile, Sam Esteve produced the biggest upset of the day as the young Frenchman claimed the scalp of Steven Van Broeckhoven in Heat 12A with a hugely impressive performance oozing style, power and height through all of his moves. Unfortunately, Rick Jendrusch suffered a dislocated shoulder while competing today and everyone from the PWA wishes him a speedy and successful recovery.

Men’s Freestyle - Double Elimination

The double elimination began almost immediately after the completion of the single and the first round has been completed. Thomas Traversa entering the freestyle always had potential for creating upsets and in Heat 30A TT ended the hopes of Max Matissek and he will now face Steven Van Broeckhoven in the next round.

Both Mattia Fabrizi and Antoine Albert have made the perfect starts to their comebacks by winning their opening couple of heats. Fabrizi first defeated Rasmus Oegelund before beating Yegor Popretinskiy with an efficient display, while Albert dispatched of Jamie Howard and Marco Lufen with a textbook spock-culo being the pick of his moves.

Shortly after 5pm the wind began to fade and the sailors were released at 5:30 PM. The forecast for tomorrow shows moderate to fresh easterly winds, so the plan will be to begin the racing. The skippers’ meeting for the slalom has been called for 9 AM tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10 AM. The freestyle and wave fleets will meet at 10 AM for their skippers’ meeting. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Result 2016 PWA Grand Slam Sylt — Men’s Freestyle Single Elimination:

1st Amado Vrieswijk2nd Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo3rd Dieter Van der Eyken4th Adrien Bosson5th Yentel Caers5th Philip Soltysiak

With the wind remaining light for the second day in a row Day 3 of the Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam saw the competitors remain on hold, but the crowds still flocked to the event site in the thousands to soak up some of the early autumn sunshine. With the contest on hold we decided to take a look at how the title race would shape up if the wave result was to stay as it is.

Women’s Wave

Reigning world champion Iballa Moreno would gain control of the title race for the first time this season if things remain as they are. Iballa started off the season with a 3rd place in Pozo, but responded in the perfect manner by claiming victory in Tenerife. Having won the single elimination here this means Iballa and Daida Moreno would be tied on 6,234 points, but Iballa takes the lead having beaten Daida more times this season. However, the title race still remains balanced on a knife’s edge with two events left to go in La Torche, France, and Maui, Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Sarah-Quita Offringa would hold control of 3rd place in the overall rankings. The 25 year old defeated Amanda Beenen in the battle for 3rd and 4th here, which would further extend her advantage — Offringa has accumulated 6,102 points compared to Beenen’s 5,970.

Men’s Wave

Alex Mussolini came into the event as Victor Fernandez’s closest contender, with Philip Köster ruled out for the season, and he has applied maximum pressure possible, at this point, by winning the single elimination, while Fernandez could only finish 4th. This has seen Fernandez’s lead reduced, but the 2010 world champion still holds a commanding lead with 6,210 points to Mussolini’s 6,102 points.

The biggest mover would be Thomas Traversa, who would rise from 6th into joint 3rd — on 5,954 points — with Jaeger Stone after finishing 2nd to Mussolini in the single elimination. Without any major upsets, it looks as though the Frenchman and Australian will be the other main threats to Fernandez’s title charge — with Dany Bruch and Robby Swift back on 5,724 points and 5,723 points respectively.

After a couple of light winds days, the forecast looks promising for tomorrow with 20-24 knots winds from the northeast being predicted — meaning the slalom or freestyle fleets will likely take center stage. Tomorrow will see another early start with the following skippers’ meeting times:


Freestyle: 8 AMSlalom: 8:30 AMWave: 10 AM

Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

After yesterday’s full day of competition today saw an early skippers’ meeting, but unfortunately it didn’t pay off with light offshore winds greeting the competitors. Over the duration of the morning the waves improved with the tide on the push tempting quite a few sailors out for a surf in the pumping swell.

During the course of the day the wind swung more cross-off shore and several sailors including Ricardo Campello and Victor Fernandez were able to tuck into a few North Sea nuggets.

For a brief period the wind did threaten to kick in raising the possibility of some slalom, but the breeze soon dropped back, so to keep the crowd entertained an exhibition foiling race was held, which saw 12 sailors fighting it out. With winds of 5 to 6 knots there should have been enough for foiling, but the strong current made things tricky and after the first mark the majority of the fleet stopped flying. This left Alexandre Cousin with an unchallenged lead after the first and he claimed a decisive victory over Williams Hupert, Maciek Rutkowski and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel.

With less happening today than an action packed first day we thought we’d see what a few people made of yesterday’s competition:

Alex Mussolini reacts after winning yesterday’s single elimination: “I cannot believe it! Won the single elimination here in Sylt! Thanks a lot to my sponsors RRD and Godzilla Surf Shop for the support and to all my friends for the messages!! Also thanks to Omar Sanchez, Moritz Mauch and Pablo Ramirez for their support on the beach. Thanks to my love Vicky Zaro for your love, without you this dream could not be possible!”

Thomas Traversa: “Wow… Second place in the single elimination of the Wave World Cup here in Sylt. It’s such a special moment to sail the final with my mate Alex Mussolini aka "the Sylt Monster" and it was even more special to have Sophia and our little Lola cheering on the beach — this was priceless for me! Also thanks to Antony [Ruenes], Cedric [Bordes] and Ross [Williams] for the great help and support…”

Dany Bruch had mixed emotions after yesterday: “Sooo... I finished 5th yesterday and I’m happy but not happy… This is the second time this year that I lost by 0.something… and yesterday by less than half a point against Victor [Fernandez]. Yes, all the work is going in the right direction, but I’m desperate to break through into the very top positions! Thanks to all my sponsors.”

The forecast for tomorrow looks as though it will be windy in the morning with 15-17 knot winds from the south-south-west on offer. With this in mind the skippers’ meeting times have been called for as follows:

Freestyle: 8 AMSlalom: 8:30 AMWave: 10 AM

Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action live via the PWA live stream.

Result Foiling Exhibition Race:

1st Alexandre Cousin2nd William Hupert3rd Maciek Rutkowski4th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel5th Mateus Isaac

The opening day of the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam saw the wave fleet take center stage as the wind and waves arrived as predicted. The conditions proved tricky at times and the infamous Sylt shore-break claimed several victims along the way — resulting in several broken masts — but ultimately for the first time in 4 years a result was gained for both the men’s and women’s wave fleets with Alex Mussolini and Iballa Moreno claiming respective victories.

Women’s Wave - Winners’ Finals

Both Iballa Moreno and Daida Moreno looked to be in their usual clinical form in the early stages and they both deservedly qualified for the winners’ final after defeating Sarah-Quita Offringa and Amanda Beenen in the semifinals — setting up another all Moreno Twins final, which saw a duel of few opportunities with the wind dropping back. Daida made the better start opening a 2 point lead in the jumps after stomping a radical tabletop forward to earn 7.5 points, but Iballa hit back in the waves to secure the No.1 spot — for now at least.

Meanwhile, Sarah-Quita Offringa claimed a clear-cut victory against Amanda Beenen in the women’s losers’ final to take home 3rd place.

Men’s Wave - Winners' Finals

Alex Mussolini defeated current world tour leader Victor Fernandez in the semifinals to set up a tie against Thomas Traversa who claimed a narrow victory over Jaeger Stone. Mussolini opened proceedings with a perfectly executed one-footed backloop, but Traversa soon took the lead after linking a decent wave and a clean backloop of his own. However, Mussolini hit back with the best wave of the heat consisting of a smooth taka and a backside air to secure victory. Both sailors end the opening day knowing that they have guaranteed themselves their best results of the season no matter what happens.

Last Chance Saloon

Both Jaeger Stone and Victor Fernandez made last minute escapes today to avoid earlier than anticipated exits. Stone hit back in the dying seconds of Heat 9B to defeat John Skye while Fernandez repeated the same escape against Dany Bruch in Heat 14B. The two sailors then met later in the elimination, in the battle for 3rd and 4th, and it was Stone who claimed the final place on the podium after producing more trademark aggressive wave riding.

Elsewhere, the opening heat of the single elimination saw last minute comebacks as well with Robby Swift edging past Pablo Ramirez by just 0.01 of a point, while Moritz Mauch produced an outstanding last wave to turn the tide on Jules Denel.

Upsets

Heat 3 produced a couple of big upsets with Adam Lewis and Ricardo Campello both being dumped out of the first round by Dieter van der Eyken and Kenneth Danielsen; with the Dane advancing with the highest single wave score after he and Campello finished tied on 14.62 points. Danielsen then defeated Dieter van der Eyken in the next round to end the day in joint 5th place.

Klaas Voget produced the other main upset of the day as he took down the 2013 world champion — Marcilio Browne in Heat 11A — which was well received by the home crowd. Voget then bumped into Mussolini, who was in unstoppable form, but after a disappointing couple of events — he returns to the top 5 alongside Danielsen, Swift and fellow countryman Bruch, who clocked up the highest scoring wave of the day against Camille Juban, earning 8.5 points.

The forecast for looks as though there’s the possibility of cross shore winds tomorrow morning so the wave and freestyle fleets will meet at 8 AM with a first possible start at 8:30 AM. Meanwhile, the slalom fleet will meet slightly later at 10 AM with the action commencing from 11 AM (GMT+1) — if conditions allow. Tomorrow also shows a lot of rain, so we will have to wait and see how that affects the wind. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Result 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam — Women’s Wave Single Elimination

1st Iballa Moreno2nd Daida Moreno3rd Sarah-Quita Offringa4th Amanda Beenen5th Lina Erpenstein5th Alice Arutkin5th Steffi Wahl5th Justyna Sniady

Result 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam — Men’s Wave Single Elimination

1st Alex Mussolini2nd Thomas Traversa3rd Jaeger Stone4th Victor Fernandez5th Robby Swift5th Kenneth Danielsen5th Klaas Voget5th Dany Bruch9th Moritz Mauch9th John Skye9th Dieter Van der Eyken9th Antoine Martin9th Marcilio Browne9th Leon Jamaer9th Camille Juban9th Alessio Stillrich

- Text and Pictures by PWA World Tour.com / Chris Yates & John Carter -