Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam

Day 9: Patience is a virtue as the 4th elimination is finally completed

After a frustrating day, which saw countless cancellations due to the unstable nature of the wind, the final four heats of Elimination 4 were eventually completed in the early evening, bringing the discard into play for the slalom fleet.

Men’s

Slalom

Elimination 4

Winners’ Final 

Heat 16 had to be cancelled on the first attempt due to a shift in the wind making it impossible for the sailors to make the first mark. Upon the restart, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7) made the best start, but it was his teammate Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) who stole the lead from Finian Maynard (99NoveNove / Gun Sails) after the first mark with an amazing gybe. However, unlike the previous three races, Iachino didn’t disappear into the distance as Costa Hoevel battled back to earn his first bullet of the season, which sees the Argentinian rise from 4th to 2nd in the event rankings. Meanwhile, Iachino secured 2nd place, which he can discard, while Maynard recorded his best result of the season with 3rd. Behind the top three, Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) once again fought his way back through the fleet as he overtook three people at the second buoy with a great gybe to take 4th — this leaves Quentel in 3rd overall at the moment with Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses) being relegated to 4th as things stand heading into the final day.

Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) secured a decisive victory in Heat 15 to finish 9th overall in Race 4 ahead of Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails), Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails) and Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails).

Pierre Mortefon would have been hoping to use this race to discard one of his previous results, but unfortunately for the Frenchman in the second semifinal, Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) seemed to gybe into the back of him at the first mark causing Mortefon to stall and ultimately miss out on a place in the winners’ final with Frans securing 4th place. As the two sailors crossed the line Mortefon’s emotions were evident with plenty of shouting, but he remains 9th in the rankings here.

After the racing had been finished a conch blowing contest was hosted by Brian Talma (Naish / Naish Sails) with Barbados, who sponsor the event giving away a trip to Barbados. Graham Ezzy (Tabou / Ezzy), Leon Jamaer (JP / NeilPryde) and Klaas Voget (Fanatic / NorthSails / MFC) all competed, but it is Voget who walks away with the free trip.

The forecast for tomorrow shows the chance of there being wind early in the morning with 18-19 knots from the north-north-east being predicted. With this in mind the freestyle fleet will meet at 8am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 8:30am — the slalom fleet will meet at 10am with a first possible start at 11am (GMT+1). Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

To stay up to date with all the latest developments from Sylt — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Slalom - After 4 Races

1st Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7)

2nd Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7) 

3rd Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti)

4th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses)

5th Finian Maynard (99NoveNove / Gun Sails) 

6th Bruno Martini (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360)

7th Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails)

8th Vincent Langer (Fanatic / NorthSails)

9th Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails)

10th Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic)

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