2002 Fuerteventura Grand Prix Freestyle Day 3
The day started off very well with the first women’s heats but then all of a sudden the wind turned offshore and very gusty just before the women’s semi final. The head judge decided to put up the AP flag, a red and white banner indicating that the competition is on stand by.
The wind didn’t get back properly until it was called off at 5 p.m. so we don’t have any competition results today. But no problem, the forecast for tomorrow, the last day of competition, is very good and the riders took their time to relax and chat in the big tent at the beach or simply go for a swim.
We asked some of the riders about the competition in general and their performance so far:
Vidar Jensen (Drops/North Sails):
"I am very happy with my second place so far at the competition, even more because the level of sailing is so high. I had an almost two weeks break after my ankle injury in Pozo but I almost fully recovered. I sailed more Freestyle than last year, which pays out now. I was surprised with the performance of Ricardo Campello (JP/Neil Pryde) he was sailing very well and in a very constant way, which is normally not the strength of the young riders".
Josh Stone (JP/Neil Pryde):
"We are at a turning point in our tour, the tour is turning young. We always said: it is going to happen but now it is happening!! It is a bummer but in the positive way: yes I would call it a positive bummer!! It is the beginning of a new era and it is very important for the sport."
Matt Pritchard (AHD/Gaastra):
On his 29th birthday Matt made a wish: "All I wanted for today was the final…but it seems not to happen today. What the competition is concerned it is getting more and more interesting as it is important to sail constantly, pulling out big moves and link them together and try not to fall… That was my mistake the first day I fell off too much. It was very gusty and I maybe had a too big sail but you have to be lucky to catch the right sail here it picks up quickly sometimes."
Antoine Albeau (AHD/Neil Pryde)
"As we have already seen in Pozo there are about 10 potential winners in the water, which makes it extremely interesting. I didn’t train too much Freestyle since I was very busy with Formula Racing and I just learned the Swayze in Pozo. I think it is very positive to have 4 or more Freestyle Grand Prix events this year because we will have all kinds of different conditions. I will go to all of them for sure, even if I reduce the amount of races a little bit compared to last year. Last year I did all in all 23(!) competitions …"
(We think that must be a World Record!)
Nik Baker (Mistral/ North)
Relaxing day today, but I would have rather had a contest, because there is a discard after four eliminations and tomorrow is the last day so we will only be running maximum three eliminations and I need a discard for a good result here. It was tricky and gusty yesterday but I started off very well but then I fell off a lot and didn’t do any clew first moves and Julien Taboulet (JP/Neil Pryde)was sailing well and beat me 2:1. Well tomorrow is another day and I will try my best."
Angela Peral Martinez: (Naish/Neil Pryde):
The seventeen year old girl from Tarifa is very happy to compete here as she says it is her second (after Pozo) World Cup and it is highly motivating for her to sail with the World’s best riders. I will go back home and will sail a lot and try to come back next year with a lot of new moves.
Karin Jaggi (F2/Arrows)
"This is one of the best organized contests on tour and I like it since I come here for so many years an I have real good memories also when I did the speed events. I am happy with my performance of the first day but I kind of messed up my second final because I was too much in the water. I am however very pleased about the increase of the level of sailing of the women and it is a big step for us."