La Torche PWA Grand Slam

Day 5: Dieter Van der Eyken wins tow-in qualification

The swell continued to pump on Day 5 in La Torche with the biggest waves of the week so far, but there was barely a breath of wind on offer meaning the main contest remained on hold for another day. 

During the afternoon a tow-in contest was held to keep the crowds entertained, but it proved quite challenging, to say the least, with the massive set waves causing carnage — eventually resulting in the jet ski being overturned, which led to a delay meaning the final will be completed tomorrow. 

The sailors were given two opportunities each to land their best manoeuvre and Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) racked up the highest points of the day - 8.93 points - with a sick pasko to qualify in first place ahead of Leon Jamaer (JP / NeilPryde) — who landed a perfect ponch — Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne) — who landed an air flaka and the final qualifying place was claimed by Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) — who advanced with a one-handed ponch. 

Tomorrow is the first day of the slalom and they will be registering between 10am-11am tomorrow morning. The skippers’ meeting for the wave fleet will be held at 10am (GMT+1) tomorrow morning, but realistically it looks like being another lay day with almost zero winds forecast. In the event of no wind the tow-in final will be held at 4:15pm. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow all of the action live via the live stream.

Recap of Slalom Title Race

The PWA Men’s Slalom World Tour will reach it’s climax here in La Torche and after five hard fought events only two sailors remain standing in the fight for the 2016 world title — Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails). By the end of the event there will be a brand new world champion with both sailors trying to achieve a maiden world crown.

To Iachino, this scenario will feel all too familiar as the Italian entered the final event of last year holding the lead as well but seemingly cracked under the pressure in New Caledonia. However, having being faced with this position once already he should be much better equipped to write the record straight and earn his first world title. Iachino’s latest victory in Sylt has given the 26 year old some additional breathing space with Mortefon only managing a 9th place finish in Germany.

Title Race Scenarios

— Iachino is guaranteed a minimum points total of 10,203 points for the season as he currently has a 7th place discard. This means even without sailing Mortefon requires a top 3 finish to deny the Italian as 4th (2001 points) would only bring Mortefon level on 10,203 points — the Frenchman would then miss out on count-back for the second successive season.

— In the event that Mortefon was to :

- win the event - Iachino would need to finish 4th or better to secure the title

- finish 2nd - Iachino would need to finish 5th or better to secure the title

- finish 3rd - Iachino would need to finish 6th or better to secure the title

— All other scenarios would see Iachino crowned the 2016 PWA Men’s Slalom World Champion

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