Photos courtesy of PWA/John Carter
| |
|
|
| The return of Surf-Slalom!! Well it certainly was for the first two days allowing the heavyweight sailors to win race after race. However the wind lessened off as the week drew on allowing for all shapes & sizes to do well. Flat though, it wasn’t! The sailors either had to deal with logo high swells on the outer reefs or very choppy and confused water on the inside. These conditions made for some spectacular errors with sailors falling off usual bomb proof gybes resulting in a real mixed bag of results. However as the week drew on, the usual suspects came through with the unusual situation that the winner never actually won one of the thirteen rounds! |
|
| |
| To view video: |
 |
or |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Top 5…
Antoine Albeau Overall Position 1st Equipment Information Sails: Neil Pryde RSR 7.8, 8.4, 9.0, 9.8
Board: Starboard iSonic 111 & 133 Event Story Antoine must have been cursing his choice of sail size, remembering that you can only register 4 sails and 2 boards per event. His smallest was a 7.8m and in the 4.7m weather of Tuesday & Wednesday, even the big Frenchman was chicken strapping his way downwind, sheeting out like your grannies knickers on a blustery line. But he did hang on and had a steady week, never actually winning a round from the 13 in all, but getting enough top5 finishes to take the overall win. Now he is in Pozo where last year he won every round bar one. Just let's hope he’s registered a sail below 7.8m this time! |
|
|
Kevin Pritchard Overall Position 2nd Equipment Information Sails: Maui Sails TR3 6.6, 7.6, 8.4, 9.2
Board: Starboard iSonic 101 & 122 Event Story Kevin won the first event in Ulsan, Korea but then in Costa Brava he was doing really badly, finishing in the late teens and disqualified in one race. On the last day however he pulled it together came out 6th overall. So the pressure was on in Lanzarote to make a big impact and regain his overall title lead. His opening races were poor but he got a third in Round 7 on the second day and then, come the lighter winds from Round 8 onwards, KP was off, winning Round 9 & 10. But he’s going to need even more than that to beat Antoine and have a chance at the World Slalom Title for 2007. |
|
|
Bjorn Dunkerbeck Overall Position 3rd Equipment Information Sails: North Sails Warp 6.8, 7.8, 8.3, 9.0
Board: T1 RS 69 & 79 Event Story What we love most about Bjorn is his modesty. On winning Round 3 he told the PWA website; “ The race was just straightforward and I certainly proved that my pace is superior and sped all the way home without any trouble”. Don’t you just love him! However, in the lighter breeze from Round 8 onwards, his pace was far from superior and Bjorn became frustrated with a OCS in Round 10 and losing in the semis in Round 11. However, that didn’t stop him in typical fashion changing things around on the last day and winning the second to last Round. With half of the fleet in the final race being caught OCS (over the start line) and sent back to the beach, Bjorn kept his nerve and won quite convincingly on his 8.3m North. |
|
|
Micah Buzianis Overall Position 4th Equipment Information Sails: Neil Pryde RSR 7.2, 7.8, 8.4, 9.0
Board: JP SL3 109 & 119 Event Story Round 1 saw epic surf-slalom conditions as the waves crashed over head high on the outer reefs. You could either gain several places by surfing down one of these or get totally wiped out and find yourself swimming home with bits of carbon. But it was in these conditions that Micah excelled and the fleet were blown away by his speed in Round 1 expecting it to be his week, but for the remaining races on ‘big Tuesday’ he failed to reach the final stages and came 14th in the long distance race. Micah was 8th going into the last day but with a 5th, 2nd and then a 4th, he pulled himself up to fourth overall – not bad going! |
|
|
Cyril Moussilmani Overall Position 5th Equipment Information Sails: North Sails Warp 6.3, 6.8, 7.8, 8.3
Board: Fanatic Falcon 90 & 105 Event Story To analyze Cyril race stats; out of 13 rounds, he made it into 10 finals and finished in the top 5 in five of those races. That says it all; super consistent. Cyril has been a top Formula sailor, he is up there in the waves, pretty darn quick on the speed course, not bad at freestyle either – this guy has done it all but has never taken a World Title. Slalom is probably his strongest discipline now and if he can find a little bit extra then he would be a serious contender for that crown. |
|
|
Worth a Mention…
Dan Ellis (20th) for winning the long distance race after an emotional day. He was due to be at his Grandmothers funeral but couldn’t go because of this event. Instead of wallowing in his pity, he stepped it up and won his first ever PWA Slalom Round in the long distance race.
Ross Williams (14th) for, like Dan, winning his first ever round of PWA Slalom. Ross has been working hard on bringing Tabou/Gaastra slalom gear up to pace and it’s nice to see a European Formula Champion cut it with the slalom boys.
Arnon Dagan(10th) for having a shocking week (in his words) then winning the last round and pulling up his overall ranking to 10th.
Team Moussilmani: In the last race all three brothers made it into the final with Benoit finishing just ahead of Cyril then Sylvain. Overall results: Cyril 5th, Sylvain 16th, Benoit 21st.
Ricardo Campello(35th) for trying! In between freestyle heats, Ricardo dusted off his slalom board and headed to the start line. He was not as successful with his pin end starts as he was with his air flakas but he did get to the Losers Final once so fair play.
RESULTS LANZAROTE SLALOM TOP 10 1. Antoine Albeau
2. Kevin Pritchard
3. Bjorn Dunkerbeck
4. Micah Buzianis
5. Cyril Moussilmani
6. Finian Maynard
7. Peter Volwater
8. Pieter Bijl
9. Jimmy Diaz
10. Arnon DaganPWA SLALOM OVERALL AFTER 3 ROUNDS 1. Antoine Albeau
2. Micah Buzianis
3. Kevin Pritchard
4. Pieter Bijl
5. Cyril Moussilmani
6. Jimmy Diaz
7. Finian Maynard
8. Peter Volwater
9. Ben Van Der Steen
10. Arnon Dagan |
NEXT PWA Slalom: Pozo, 9-18 July
All photos courtesy of PWA/Carter. |
