Event Summary: A familiar face surrounded by two, new, potential stars of the slalom world

The final day of the PWA Catalunya World Cup witnessed a mammoth final elimination, which took 4 hours to complete due to the gusty and shifty winds. After a long and largely frustrating afternoon, Antoine Albeau eventually powered to victory in Race 4 and more importantly this clinched the overall event victory for him. The reigning world champion’s first event victory of the year sees him return to the top of the overall rankings too. A grueling day was eventually completed shortly after 7 PM to conclude another fantastic event on the beautiful shores of Costa Brava.

End of a fantastic event

Antoine Albeau was able to claim two bullets, as well as a 3rd and a 4th place to cement his place as the King of Costa Brava. The reigning world champion became the first man to stop his arch nemesis Björn Dunkerbeck from claiming the title for the first time in three years. Albeau demonstrated his perfectly timed starts time and time again, along with a phenomenal top speed to blow the competition out of the water.

Björn Dunkerbeck managed to recover from a disastrous first round exit in the opening elimination to fight back to 4th place. The most successful windsurfer of all time started his recovery with a 7th and a 10th place, before showing what he is truly made of to take home 2nd place in the final elimination, which allowed him to discard a 44.5 point score, which then saw him fly up through the rankings.

Björn making it to the finals

The Flying Dutchman Ben van der Steen was able to back up his 3rd place finish in Korea with a solid 6th place this week with a gritty display of sailing. Van der Steen now sits in 4th place overall in the rankings, perfectly poised to make an attack for the top in Turkey. Cyril Moussilmani is similarly positioned and showing the kind of consistency that is required to finish in the Top 5 and above overall.

Alberto Menegatti came into the event as the leader of the tour, but a combination of bad luck and a major error - sailing to the wrong mark in the opening elimination - cost him dearly. The Italian finished 8th overall and still finds himself in 3rd place overall. Menegatti reaffirmed his title winning credentials with another bullet in Elimination 3, so it remains to be seen whether his mistake in the first race comes back to haunt him, come the end of the season.

Tricky conditions

The remaining winner of a race this week was Finian Maynard - who stole the show in the second elimination. Maynard lit a trail a blaze as he hunted down Patrick Diethelm to move into the lead, and once in the lead he was in complete control of the race.

An Injection of New Blood

Whilst one of the stalwarts of the slalom world, Antoine Albeau, claimed his familiar place at the top of the podium, this year's Top 3 was dominated by an influx of new - youthful - blood as Julien Quentel and Matteo Iachino claimed second and third place respectively, proving that it is possible for the “next generation” of slalom sailors to already strive for the top of the rankings. Quentel, 27 years old, equaled his second place finish, which he achieved here last year to claim successive podium places in Costa Brava. Meanwhile, Iachino claimed his first ever podium finish to significantly improve his previous best result - 11th in Sylt last year. This may prove to be a pivotal moment of the season as younger sailors truly start to believe that they can crack the years of experience, which is so often associated with slalom in order to be successful.

It’s also important to realize the potential of the likes of Maciek Rutkowski, 21 years old, who also enjoyed his best result in a Winners’ Final as he finished 7th in the first elimination of the week, whilst Enrico Marotti, 22 years old, was able to claim 9th in the final elimination of the week, to prove that there is plenty of young talent coming through the ranks and starting to blossom, which should hopefully entice more young sailors to consider slalom as a discipline to pursue.

2013 PWA Catalunya World Cup Rankings:

1. Antoine Albeau

2. Julien Quentel

3. Matteo Iachino

4. Björn Dunkerbeck

5. Micah Buzianis

6. Ben Van Der Steen

7. Arnon Dagan

8. Alberto Menegatti

9. Andrea Cucchi

10. Cyril Moussilmani

Where’s Next?

The next stop on the PWA World Tour sees the wave sailors feature for the first time this year. Once again, they will be returning to the howling shores of Pozo to perform gravity defying stunts, as well as destroying the lip of the wave. The contest will be taking place between the 9th to the 14th July!

The penultimate day of the PWA Catalunya World Cup proved to be a largely frustrating affair as winds of 5-13 knots teased the competitors for the duration of the afternoon - so despite several sailors checking the conditions - the wind never quite materialized enough to resume the racing. The sailors were eventually released shortly after 7 PM, and now all attention is firmly focused on tomorrow’s forecast in order to complete Elimination 4, to try and gain a discard.

Volkswagen Festival

Although there was no competition today, there was still an amazing atmosphere surrounding the event area as the crowds arrived for the weekend and a Volkswagen Festival took place at 5 PM with an impressive 564 VW Camper vans turning up to mark the 10th anniversary of the festival.

Day 4 of the PWA Catalunya World Cup saw the wind arrive much earlier than the opening three days of the competition, which enabled the conclusion of two more eliminations. The competitors endured a grueling day - spanning 7 hours - after they began competing shortly after 11 AM. Finian Maynard claimed the first bullet of the day - his first of the season - before Alberto Menegatti reaffirmed his title winning credentials with his second victory of the season in Elimination 3 after a thrilling finish with Micah Buzianis.

Menegatti wins Elimination 3

Men's Elimination Two - Winners’ Final

Josh Angulo and Finian Maynard both made flying starts to the winners’ final, but it was Björn Dunkerbeck who showed phenomenal speed to burst into the lead by the first mark. However, being maxed on his 9.6m² and going at full tilt meant that the Terminator ran wide in the opening jibe allowing Maynard, Patrick Diethelm and Angulo all to overtake. Dunkerbeck then found himself in dirty wind which cost him dearly as from that point onwards he was only able to fight back into 7th place. Meanwhile, the battle at the top was an exciting affair as Diethelm broke into the lead after the exit of the first jibe. The Swiss maestros' time at the front didn’t last long though as Maynard turned on the afterburners, combined with a brilliant jibe to storm into the lead after the third jibe - a position he wouldn’t relinquish as he claimed the first bullet of the day. Diethelm managed to hold on to second place, whilst Antoine Albeau managed to overtake Angulo to claim third place.

Men's Elimination Three - Winners’ Final

The second winners’ final of the day proved to be the most exciting heat of the day, with Alberto Menegatti and Micah Buzianis at the forefront of the action. The Italian crossed the line in first place, but Buzianis started with more speed marginally behind him. By the opening mark, the American’s greater speed across the line had proved pivotal as he now held the lead. Buzianis looked as though he was cruising to victory, but Menegatti was gaining on the American on each reach. Buzianis still held the lead after the final jibe, but Menegatti continued to reel him in. Last year’s 3rd place finisher tried to force Menegatti upwind but the Italian continued to rapidly gain on him until it came down to a nail biting photo finish - which Menegatti crucially clinched by a board length as they crossed the finish line. Julien Quentel took on Antoine Albeau in the battle for 3rd and Quentel eventually came out on top, leaving the reigning world champion to settle for 4th place, but still safely at the top of the overall event rankings.

Menegatti jibing ahead

Elsewhere in the third elimination there were a few shocks in the opening round. First of all, Ross Williams, who had been showing terrific speed, made a massive error as he went over the line early to be disqualified from Heat 1. Other upsets saw the likes of Andrea Rosati, Jimmy Diaz and Pascal Toselli all take early exits.

It wasn’t plain sailing in the quarterfinals either as further shocks occurred. Patrick Diethelm, who finished second in Race three - was knocked out in Heat 10 after being a little too eager to cross the start line. Furthermore, Cyril Moussilmani also took an early exit after narrowly missing out in 5th place. Andrea Cucchi and Steve Allen also failed to qualify for the semifinals on this occasion.

Men's Elimination 4

The fourth race was started, but fluctuant winds made it impossible to finish more than the three heats, which were completed thus far, and the top seeds involved in the opening three heats, were successfully able to navigate their way into the quarterfinals.

Tomorrow’s skippers’ meeting will be held at 10:30 AM with the action commencing at 11 AM if conditions allow. As we’ve seen throughout the week so far the local effect plays a much more significant role in the wind from the forecast, so we are very likely to be racing again tomorrow.

The third day of the PWA Catalunya World Cup saw winds ranging from 7 to 20 knots as two wind directions hit the "Golf de Roses" over the course of a few hours. Costa Brava was transformed from a Starboard tack slalom paradise into a Port tack slalom heaven in the same afternoon. The sea breeze enabled a further 6 heats to be completed. Shortly after 3 PM, it looked as though the racing was over for the day, before the local southern "Garbi" wind kicked in. Unfortunately, it only made a brief appearance, meaning that only a further three heats were completed before the end of the day.

Björn cruising in Costa Brava

Heat 6 - the first heat of the day - was eventually completed just before 2:30 PM, after the wind eventually settled down sufficiently to allow suitable racing conditions. Alexandre Cousin made a fantastic start and the Frenchman took full advantage of his perfectly timed start to finish the heat in first place ahead of Pieter Bijl, Andrea Cucchi and Björn Dunkerbeck. The Terminator successfully defended off the attack of Ben van der Steen to book his place in the quarter finals. The remaining two heats of the opening round saw no major upsets as the top seeds made in through unscathed.

Into the quarterfinals and it was the usual suspects who managed to successfully qualify from Heat 9 - which saw only seven sailors competing after Pierre Mortefon missed his heat. The penultimate quarterfinal proved to be a chaotic affair after Alexandre Cousin dropped his jibe at the 1st mark, causing a several sailor pileup. Fortunately for Andrea Cucchi and Björn Dunkerbeck, they both managed to miss to carnage and enjoyed an easy passage into the semifinals from there on, whilst Pascal Toselli and Pieter Bijl managed to grab the remaining qualifying places. Heat 12 was a very tough heat, packed with several big names, but in the end it was Antoine Albeau, Ross Williams, Arnon Dagan and Josh Angulo who were able to advance as they ended the hopes of Antoine Questel, Jimmy Diaz and Ludovic Jossin. Questel will be left ruing his luck as the first attempt to run Heat 12 saw the race canceled at the 4th jibe mark - when the Frenchman was comfortably leading.

Questel overtakes!

The first semifinal was dominated by Patrik Diethelm after the Swiss Maestro stormed across the line with a perfect start to lead from start to finish with an accomplished display. Also joining him in the winners’ final will be Julien Quentel and Finian Maynard, but there was no place in the final for Alberto Menegatti after Cédric Bordes showed good pace and was able to overtake the Italian giant on the final reach, with Menegatti underpowered on his 7.8m².

The final heat of the day - the second semi-final - saw two arch-rivals go head-to-head as Antoine Albeau and Björn Dunkerbeck battled it out for a place in the winners’ final. The two heavy hitters of slalom both made great starts and they played cat and mouse with each other over the duration of the course. Eventually, it was Albeau who crossed the finish line first, but Dunkerbeck will be more than happy to have successfully booked his place in the winners’ final, after a disastrous Elimination 1 by his standards. Meanwhile, Britain’s Ross Williams put yesterday’s error behind him to claim his place in the final, as did Josh Angulo.

Björn jibing ahead of the pack

Unfortunately, the wind dropped just before the conclusion of Elimination 2 and at 6 PM, the call was made to end the day with the deteriorating wind conditions. Tomorrow promises to be an excellent day on the water with the best forecast of the week - on paper - thus far. Tomorrow’s skippers’ meeting has been called for 10:30 AM with the action commencing from 11 AM if conditions allow. Stay tuned!

The local thermal effect kicked in once again on Day 2 of the PWA Catalunya World Cup as the remainder of the opening elimination was completed, under glorious sunny skies and winds ranging from 7 to 14 knots. Reigning World Champion - Antoine Albeau - sailed a flawless elimination and was duly rewarded with the first bullet of the week, firmly stamping his name at the top of the event rankings. However, it was truly a day to forget for Alberto Menegatti.

Tiki team

Men's Elimination One - Winners’ Final

With the current tour leader, Alberto Menegatti surprisingly missing from the winners’ final due to jibing around the wrong mark in Heat 12, Antoine Albeau was presented with the opportunity to take control of the title race and the Big Frenchman duly obliged as he seized the early initiative by claiming the first victory of the week. Albeau didn’t have it all his own way though as Matteo Iachino came flying out of the blocks, whilst Maciek Rutkowski did well to slam on the breaks to avoid going over early. Iachino's lead didn't last long though as Albeau broke into first place by the opening mark, ahead of the Iachino, Cyril Moussilmani and Pieter Bijl. Over the remainder of the course, Albeau sailed brilliantly to open up a substantial lead over his closest rival Iachino, and after safely navigating the final mark he was left to enjoy the final reach before crossing the finish line. The Top 4 remained unchanged, meaning that Iachino finished in second followed by Cyril Moussilmani and Bijl in third and fourth respectively.

A Moment of Madness

The incident that everyone has been talking about today involved Britain’s Ross Williams and the current tour leader Alberto Menegatti. The duo were both involved in the final quarterfinal and looked as though they were both comfortably going to qualify for the semifinals as they held first and second place respectively. However, as the pair headed down the second reach, Williams initiated his jibe much too early and rounded the wrong mark, unfortunately - from Menegatti’s perspective at least - the Italian also followed Williams around the same mark to leave everyone on the beach and on the water in disbelief at what they were watching. None more so than the head of Point-7, Andrea Cucchi, who benefited from both Williams’ and Menegatti’s disqualifications to qualify for the next round, even though he probably would’ve probably preferred to see his main man advance. Also benefiting from the pairs' mistake was Jimmy Diaz who eventually went on to book his place in the winners’ final, whilst Steve Allen qualified for Heat 14 as well.

Menegatti will now be praying for more wind in order to bring a discard into play, however if that doesn’t happen then today’s trivial mistake could prove to be one of the defining moments of the season - which could ultimately cost the 28 year-old a maiden world championship title.

Ben van der Steen power jibing

Men's Elimination Two

The second elimination began shortly after 3 PM and the opening five heats were completed before the wind started to deteriorate, which eventually drew the day to a close at 17:15.

Pierre Mortefon took full advantage of the resail of Heat 1 to book his place in the quarterfinals by winning the heat. Originally, the Frenchman had found himself outside of the crucial Top 4, before the heat was canceled due to a wind shift. On the second time of asking, Mortefon made no mistakes and won it.

Alberto Menegatti showed that his mistake in Elimination 1 hadn’t affected him mentally as the Italian successfully came out on top in Heat 2 ahead of Cyril Moussilmani, Oliver-Tom Schliemann and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel. Steve Allen suffered a surprise early exit in race two as he finished sixth in Heat 3, having found himself in the losers’ final of the first race. Croatia’s Enrico Marotti continued to look dangerous and seriously quick on the course as the 22 year-old successfully navigated his way through the opening round, to secure another place in the quarterfinals. Despite Heat 6 starting, it could not be completed due to the wind rapidly diminishing. This means that when the action returns tomorrow, Heat 6 will be the first heat to be sailed.

The forecast for tomorrow is slightly better than today, which means we should see more nail biting racing on day 3 of the PWA Catalunya World Cup. As always you’ll be able to follow all the action live by tuning in to the PWA website.

Relax after the race

The inaugural day of the PWA Catalunya World Cup saw the competitors registering for the upcoming competition between 10 AM and 11 AM. With a less than promising wind forecast, combined with a very quiet start to the day, not everybody was expecting to be competing come the afternoon. However, as the skippers’ meeting took place at 13:00, the wind gradually started to increase as the local thermal effect kicked in. Shortly after 14:45 the first heat of race one was underway in winds ranging from 7-10 knots. A stop-start afternoon was eventually concluded at around 17:30 with five heats being completed - there were however a number of casualties in the opening round as the marginal winds made for very tricky racing conditions.

All eyes on Menegatti

The biggest news of the day involved Björn Dunkerbeck in the opening heat of the day - who was one of the aforementioned casualties above. The Terminator was in the crucial Top 4 at the third mark, but light winds then haunted Dunkerbeck as he failed to get back on the plane, which saw him drop out of the qualifying places. Dunkerbeck wasn’t the only surprise exit from Heat 1 though, as Gonzalo Costa Hoevel also fell victim to the light winds after jibing underneath Micah Buzianis, only to find himself in a no-wind zone and unable to get planing again. In the end, Oliver-Tom Schliemann finished at the front of the pack with Buzianis, Casper Bouman and Peter Volwater all qualifying too.

A very upset and hugely frustrated Björn Dunkerbeck speaking after Day 1:

“I got to the first mark in second place, but after that, the wind became lighter and getting going was hardly possible - of course that was nice for the lighter guys. With some rule changes, which have been implemented this year, this will happen more often - sailing in these lighter wind conditions...! Good or bad I guess it will make other windsurfers win!”

Björn wasn't so lucky on Day 1

On a day where the conditions were marginal, it was no surprise to see the sailors pushing their starts extremely hard to try and guarantee their survival into the next round, however as you would expect their were a number of premature starts today - the first of which came in Heat 2 with Enes Yilmazer jumping the gun. Upon the restart, Patrick Diethelm, Ben van der Steen, Matteo Iachino all did well to advance, but sixteen year-old rookie - Coen Swijnenburg - couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to life on the PWA World Tour as he booked his place in the quarterfinals at the first time of asking.

Heat 3 needed several attempts to be completed. First of all, Cédric Bordes and Taty Frans were both disqualified for crossing the line a little too early, before the heat was then canceled due to unsuitable wind conditions. At the third time of asking, Kurosh Kiani was the next and final sailor to be disqualified for a PMS. Eventually, the French trio consisting of Antoine Questel, Tristan Algret and Damien Le Guen all qualified along with Finian Maynard.

Starboard ahead of the pack!

Nicolas Warembourg and Valentin Brault were involved in a fierce battle during Heat 4 as the compatriots battled it out for the final qualifying position. As the duo headed for the finish line, it was neck and neck, but Warembourg just managed to edge the tussle to book his place in the next round. Joining him are Arnon Dagan, Antoine Albeau and Pieter Bijl.
The final heat of the day - to be completed at least - witnessed Jordy Vonk become the latest sailor to mistime his start, but Sebastian Kordel wasn’t complaining as he flew across the start line in first place upon the restart. From there, the young German made no mistakes to build a significant lead over Ludovic Jossin, Maciek Rutkowski and Julien Quentel who all escaped from Heat 5.

With the wind becoming increasingly fickle as the early evening approached, no more heats were completed today despite both Heat 6 and 7 getting underway. Unfortunately, the wind deteriorated before the completion of Heat 6, which resulted in the cancellation of the heat.

Tomorrow offers a more promising forecast than today, so hopefully we will be able to see the conclusion of Elimination 1 at a minimum. The skippers’ meeting tomorrow has been called for 10:30 AM with the action commencing from 11 AM - if conditions allow. Tune in to the PWA World Tour website to keep up to date with all the action.

Good job guys!

After Korea, the second installment of the 2013 PWA Slalom World Cup is just a week away - so with this in mind, we take a look back at the previous five years of fantastic competition to see who the likely front runners are and if history will repeat itself, or will there be some shocks in store? There’s only one way to find out... and that’s by tuning in on the 11th June to see how the action unfolds!

The elite of the slalom world are furiously preparing for another colossal battle on the stunning white sand beaches and beautiful blue waters of Costa Brava, Spain, as they ready themselves to take on either the idyllic sea breezes or the howling Tramontana winds which can whistle down through the majestic Pyrenees mountain range in excess of 35 knots - creating nail biting slalom conditions which pushes the sailors to their limits.

2008:
Looking back to 2008, it was the reigning World Champion Antoine Albeau who managed to hold his nerve in the terrifying and testing Tramontana winds. The big Frenchman literally blew away the rest of the competition as he claimed victory in all three races which were completed, and in doing so he rightfully secured his place at the top of the podium. Behind him was the ever competitive 2000 World Champion Kevin Pritchard - who also claimed the PWA Wave World title in 2006 - whilst the most decorated sailor in windsurfing history, Björn Dunkerbeck completed the podium.

2009:
In 2009, the idyllic southern sea breezes which are so often associated with Costa Brava during the summer months returned, but on this occasion only with enough consistency for one full elimination to be completed. Once again, Antoine Albeau sailed flawlessly to be crowned the King of Costa Brava ahead of Britain’s Ross Williams and Australia’s Steve Allen.

2010 & 2011:
Since 2010, there’s only been one name on the top spot in the formidable shape of Björn Dunkerbeck, who has now claimed an illustrious hat-trick of Costa Brava event victories, with Antoine Albeau being made to play second fiddle in 2010 and 2011. Cyril Moussilmani showed his class in 2010 to claim third place, whilst the flying Dutchman Ben van der Steen held that honor on the coveted podium two years ago.

2012:
With wind on everyday last year, the 2012 PWA Catalunya World Cup saw six adrenaline-fueled races as Björn Dunkerbeck produced a simply outstanding performance to win three eliminations to secure the event victory as well as securing the aforementioned hat-trick. However, Antoine Albeau had to settle for third place on this occasion as his fellow compatriot Julien Quentel showed that he’s a real contender for the title in years to come by muscling his way into second place.

2013:
If you were a betting man, you’d probably have to put your money on either Antoine Albeau or Björn Dunkerbeck for the event victory this year - given the fact that between them they have won every event here since 2007 - a formidable record! However, Alberto Menegatti, will have different plans in mind! The Italian claimed his first ever event victory in Korea last month and as a result he currently sits proudly at the top of the rankings. Menegatti showed blistering pace and the ability to hold his nerve under pressure in Korea. With confidence at an all-time high, he has the potential to stop the two heavy hitters of slalom again.

Of course the likes of Ben van der Steen, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Micah Buzianis, Ross Williams and the extremely strong French contingent consisting of Cyril Moussilmani, Julien Quentel, Antoine Questel and Cédric Bordes will all fancy their chances, but we will look at that in more detail over the coming days...

The PWA Catalunya World Cup will be running from the 11th to the 16th June, make sure you don’t miss any of the fantastic action by tuning to the PWA World Tour!

- Text and pictures are courtesy of the PWA World Tour -