The 2019 PWA slalom world tour kicks off this week on the southern coast of France. "Le Jai beach" in Marignane is known for its windy Mistral winds in the spring, and for hosting French tour events. With six events on the schedule this year, it will undoubtedly be exciting to follow the action all of the way through the season.


Severne is represented with a strong team consisting of over 10 riders across the women’s and men’s fleets. To get an early inside view of what is going on, we caught up with last year’s vice-world champion Matteo Iachino along with Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Tristan Algret and Oda Johanne:


Matteo Iachino (2018 PWA men's slalom vice world champion)

The first event in France for many years. What are you expecting from this event?



It's exciting to be here in France racing in one of the biggest markets in the world. I expect good conditions here. Its a popular spot with lots of people slalom sailing, so I´m looking forward to lots of good racing.

Are you ready to race?


Definitely. 
I can’t wait!

What have you been up to this winter?



I´ve been in Tenerife the whole winter, and I´ve spent time with the team in Tarifa getting tuned up before coming here. So I´m excited to get this season started.

Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (2018 PWA men foil world champion)


The first event in France for many years. What are you expecting from this event?



It's great to be back in France for the first event of the year. There is a huge racing community and especially here at Le Jai, the home spot of many top sailors.

Are you ready to race?



I feel really comfortable and fast with the new gear. So I am anxious to get on the water to race.

What have you been up to this winter?



This winter I was in Australia, at the Severne headquarters. We started the R&D of the new sails with Matteo there.
It was great to be there in Perth.

Tristan Algret (2018 PWA men's slalom 10th overall)

The first event in France for many years. What are you expecting from this event?

I´m super happy on the behalf of the nautical club here in Marignane. I know they have been working hard to get this event up and running. I´m expecting lots of good racing here. This spot is known to be a windy place, so I´m sure we´ll get lots of action.

Are you ready to race?



Definitely!

What have you been up to this winter?



I´ve spent time at home on Guadeloupe. Then I´ve been on Tenerife and then onwards to Tarifa. So I´ve spent lots of time on the water, and I´m excited to start racing.

Oda Johanne (2018 PWA women's freestyle 3rd overall)

The first event in France for many years. What are you expecting from this event?


When I signed up for this event I was never really sure if I would make it on time as I had to get my self from Bonaire to Norway /(changing from freestyle to slalom gear) and I had to repack in a few hours. My bags were delayed, but in the end, I did make it to France! I have heard that the spot is pretty hard to sail when it´s windy. I am looking for a slalom challenge and I want to push my slalom sailing a lot in the next years. I think we will have all different conditions, so I have all my Mach sails from 5.0-8.6 ready to rock!

What have you been up to this winter?



Before Christmas, I was 2 months in Brazil then 1 month in Tarifa (I joined a foil and slalom pro training there a few days in-between all the freestyle training). Great fun and I learned a lot from those races.

How has it been to switch from freestyle to slalom in such a short time?



To switch from freestyle to slalom is actually easier than I would expect. I would not like to do it the other way around, so this is perfect as my main focus this year is freestyle and I am just so hooked on it and so motivated to learn new tricks.  I had a great time on Bonaire and I knew that it will be a discipline change right after the event. I feel like Bonaire was a mission accomplished getting a podium finish and I can relax a bit and just push hard in slalom. I have nothing to lose, only a lot to learn. The lighter wind days on Bonaire I was training slalom with the legend Sarah-Quita. We took the tuning to the next level and it was great fun feeling the improvement in my speed, starts, and gybes around marks.

You can follow all of the live action by visiting www.pwaworldtour.com and stay up to date with the latest from the Severne team by following our Instagram channel @severnesails