Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam

October 7, 2016 Created by Chris Yates

Day 8: So close, but no discard

Day 8 of the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam saw flukey winds, but for a couple of hours there was enough breeze to resume the fourth elimination of the slalom — allowing a further 12 heats to be completed before the conditions deteriorated meaning the discard doesn’t come into play quite yet.

Slalom

Men’s

Elimination 4

The majority of the top seeds safely negotiated their way into the quarterfinals, but youth world champion — Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic) — and Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde) failed to qualify from Heats 6 and 8 respectively.

Reigning world champion — Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) — won his second round heat, but was then knocked out in the quarterfinals after he finished 6th in Heat 11. Albeau was clearly frustrated after struggling to leave opening gybe, but the wind was deemed to be suitable — meaning the event went from bad to worse for the 23-time world champion as he has only qualified for one winners’ final, which leaves Albeau in a lowly 19th place.

Elsewhere, current event and world tour leader — Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) — escaped a spot of bother in Heat 12 after finding himself out of the top 4 as they rounded the opening buoy. However, the Italian soon manoeuvred his way through the fleet to secure 3rd place, while Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails), Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) and Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Challenger Sails) all advanced to the semifinals as well.

After the completion of Heat 12 the wind dropped and after several hours spent on hold the sailors were released at 4:30pm. The northeasterly winds continue tomorrow and there should be more racing on offer. Skippers’ meeting for all fleets will be held at 10am with a first possible start of 10:30am for the wave/freestyle and 11am (GMT+1) for the slalom. 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.

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