La Torche PWA Grand Slam

Day 3: A lot of fun, but no official games

The early skippers’ meeting didn’t pay off this first thing this morning as extremely light winds greeted the crew and the sailors. However, with the long period swell continuing to pump there was still potential later in the day with the wind forecast to swing slightly more south — less offshore.

Around 1pm the wind picked up and Klaas Voget (Fanatic / NorthSails / MFC) was the first sailor to sneak out on to the water, quickly followed by Camille Juban (Quatro / Simmer / MFC) and Philippe Mesmeur (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic).

The German tucked into a couple of waves, which teased more of the fleet out on to the water, while also prompting Head Judge, Duncan Coombs, to try and begin the qualification round.

The sailors in the first heat of the qualification round — Diony Guadagnino (AHD / Loft Sails / MFC), Alexandre Grand-Guillot (Fanatic / NorthSails), Justin Denel (Simmer / Simmer), Clement Bozec (Fanatic / NorthSails) — were given 35 minutes to try and find their best two waves, but about half way through, the heat was cancelled due to the conditions deteriorating.

Over the course of the afternoon there was still a few fun ones to be had, but with the conditions being more of a lottery than anything, the competition remained on hold before the sailors were released shortly before 5pm. A couple of hours later the official opening ceremony was held in front of a packed out crowd. 

The forecast for tomorrow predicts winds of 23-33 knots from the east, so it’s going to be a case of waiting to see whether there is enough angle in the wind to allow for competition. Like today, the sailors will meet at 8:30am tomorrow morning with a first possible start of 9am (GMT+1). Make sure you stay tuned into www.pwaworldtour.com to stay up to date with all of the latest developments from La Torche.

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