ROUND 1

Mr. Phil Horrocks from the UK must have thought this was his lucky week as Heat 1, Day 1 and he killed it beating Kevin Pritchard, John Skye & Julien Taboulet to get to the semi-finals. But after that he just missed out on reaching the final and came 6th in the Losers Final. Of course, Pritchard the younger stepped up a gear, made the final and then won it with Nicholas Akgazciyan in second, Antoine in third. Nicolas is a tidy sailor and simply fell less than the others even though he wasn’t the quickest.

Round 2

Sort your spocks out boys!! Yes, we know you were on 7m sails and wide, thick boards and big fins, but come on, you guys are professional – what’s the problem?! Kevin reached the final again and led the pack from the start until that first spock – crash and burn – to allow brother Matt to overtake who then fell in on his spock. The deadly French weapon that is Mr. Albeau saw his opportunity and snuck past after just about forcing his 7m plus sail around his spock. Phew! Round 2 to Antoine. Although to prove that they can spock the big kit, here’s a fine example from Kevin & Antoine.

Round 3

It just wasn’t happening for (still) young Robby Swift. He was struggling with his spocks (weren’t they all) but Robby took it personally and was seen practising in the mornings and after racing to get them right. They eventually did come right but too late on in the event to make a dent in the top 5 rankings – where he should have been after last year’s performance. This time it was Pete Volwater who won the final mainly because he found speed and was aggressive with it. Matt Pritchard came second and Vidar Jensen third but his brother Orjan had less luck and crashed at the sausage as can be seen in this clip with Volwater leading.

Round 4

Remember that sketchy forecast? It finally arrived and the Thursday and Friday of this week long event were spent soaking up the rays and watching the World Cup. Saturday morning looked promising as sailors arrived to the beach to find the possibility of not using their 7m sail and maybe doing a Le Mans beach start which pleased the ‘non-racers’ who were all struggling (through a lack of experience) with the normal boat starts.
Now had they started early, like 8am, it may have happened but the scheduled 10:30am start was too late and before you could say, ‘It’s nearly 5m weather’, the wind died. Three in the afternoon and it enticed the sailors back out. This was not Vidar Jensen’s day. He was over early in heat one of the start of Round 4. Fair enough, but the race was abandoned and his OCS still counted - gutted! In fact only Heat 3 was not cancelled which allowed Albeau, Kevin, Ross Williams and Dinoy Guadagnino into the semis. The rest had to wait till the final day to complete their heats.

Round 4 Completed

The Leader Board going into the final day had Kevin at the top, followed by Antoine, Matt, Nik Baker, and Pete Volwater. Any of these riders could win the event and Kevin knew it which is maybe why he felt the pressure and didn’t make the final. Nik Baker finally got the first he deserved for perseverance with Albeau knowing all he had to do was to beat Matt Pritchard to keep his podium position alive. Shout out for Ross Williams who we all know is darn quick. He finished fourth in round 4 and if he could only sort his spocks out on both tacks, he would be in that top five. Watch his speed here over the start line with Baker in second followed by Matt Pritchard & Robby Swift.

Round 5

It may have been 16:00 on the last day with most sailors thinking about how to get them selves and their kit to Lanzarote, but the organisers wanted to get one more round in. Kevin was clearly upset after not making the round 4 final and spent the first reach overtaking every one in sight and made all his spocks and jumped all the sausages.

Kevin needed to win this to win overall. You would have thought brotherly love would of seen Matt let off steam a bit to give Kevin that chance but oh no, not on the race course. It was a photo finish which went to the younger Pritchard giving him the title although using your pause button you can see how close it was. Baker got third and Albeau, who crashed his last spock, came fourth.

Footnote: The Spock Master

We know we have been slating the sailors for not making their spock, which shows the spock is still a tricky little number especially on big kit. So we must congratulate Taty Franz who was the only sailor who could come out of his spock quicker than when he went it. As Nik Baker said, ‘Tatty was on my tail on the ‘spock’ run but I knew he had that spock to do so I was surprised when I looked behind me to see he had done his spock and was even closer!’

The Ladies

They only had this one event to prove that women’s Super X is just as entertaining to watch as the men’s. Let again, as in most recent PWA competition, three stood out; the Morenos and Karin Jaggi. In fact, Daida was so confident that she was giving looping tips to the other girls, like Astrid Muldoon who was consistently fast and had good starts but her loops let her down. At least they didn’t have to do spocks! Karin had a problem with the sausages. On too may occasions she was leading out front but would come a cropper on the jumps allowing one of the Morenos to sneak past. Junko Nagoshi was a solid fourth or fifth in the races as she has a good flat water loop and a racing background to see her through the starts. Daida led the Leader Board from Day 2 and it stayed that way with Karen in second. At the bottom of the fleet, there were certainly some entertaining wipe outs, as you can see in the video, but fair play, the girls all got around the course, throwing themselves into back slapping spin loops.

Rounds 1 & 2

Kevin Pritchard started where he left off. A cracking start in the round one final allowed him to lead with Baker chasing. When Nick dropped his spock, Kevin had it in the bag. Albeau came third, Pete Volwater fourth (sounds familiar) and Cyril Moussilmani in fifth – about time the Frenchman was up there after a good result in 2005. Cyril really sorted his act out in round two to win whilst Kevin, ever too eager, was over early and sent back to the beach. Robby Swift’s practise in Costa Brava was paying off and he seemed more confident, aggressive and earned his third place in round two. Nik Baker was Mr.Consistent Safety Spoker and got the second again.

Round 3

Round three didn’t start till lunchtime on the second day but it was worth the wait. In the final Antoine was leading up until the first mark with Kevin in second who overtook Cyril but then got his angles wrong and went too far downwind. Baker sneaked up the fleet taking advantage of Antoine crashing his spock and good ole Cyril speeds ahead again to overtake Baker and win! That’s two in a row for Cyril, three seconds in a row for Baker.

Round 4 & 5

No international racing background for Taty Frans but this guy is naturally quick and of course has the slickest spock in the game, remembering that these guys were still on 7m sails and chunky boards. He won the first heat to make the final but then couldn’t match the speed and tactics of the big boys who yes, all crashed their spocks, but were far enough ahead to keep the lead. Matt Pritchard won this one, Antoine in second, Kevin third, Taty fourth.

We’re still on day two as the organisers squeezed another round in starting at four in the afternoon. Cyril had a shocker and didn’t even qualify for the final, blowing his overall second place. The Pritchard’s were up there of course but they really lost ground on their spock crashes as well as Baker. Albeau was rocketing along and Taty was showing the rest how to spock properly which gave them a first and second respectively. Matt limbered home in third.

Round 6

Antoine struggled today and only just made the final due to the light winds. Taty, who was really coming into his own, got an over early and was bitterly disappointed. However, Antoine found some speed come the final and led with Robby Swift then Kevin. Swift crashed his spock, again just at a crucial moment then got wiped out by Volwater on one of the sausages. Meanwhile, Matt Pritchard, after an appalling start, rips through the fleet and gets a second with younger brother Kevin in first. Swift, somehow fights his way back to third, Albeau fourth.

So after 3 days and 6 rounds the Leader Board has Kevin, Antoine, Matt, Baker and Cyril Moussilmani in the top 5.

Round 7

The loop returns!! The wind was just about enough at four in the afternoon to include one loop into the course along with two spocks, three jumps and five downwind legs. John Skye won the Losers Final, finally getting himself into Super X winning mode on his small ish sail (His 7.8m was stolen in Gunicho!) In the final Antoine wins easily, Taty again up there in second and Volwater third. Where’s Kevin? Back in eight – feeling the pressure? Well now going into the last day, it was Antoine leading overall…

Round 8 & 9

Well this wasn’t supposed to be the last day, but with the organisers wanting the prize giving at the huge Saturday night party – it was!! The final of round eight was again Albeau and Kevin leading with everyone crashing their spock, the one who recovers the best – winning. This time it was Antoine with Matt second and Kevin third. So Antoine & Kevin were level. If the event had finished then, there would have been two Super X Champions for 2006.

So no surprise that Antoine wanted another round and pushed for the final race close to five in the afternoon in the dying winds. Kevin knew he had to win and Antoine had to do badly, so it didn’t help when Kevin was over early in the final basically giving Antoine the title. Matt tried to restore Pritchard pride and won the final 2006 Super X heat. Taty came second and in fact Antoine had an awful heat by his standards and came sixth. But it didn’t matter; he had won the event and got that Super X Title.