2001 Ireland PWA Wave Grand Prix Day 5

Jason Polakow (Neil Pryde/JP) and Karin Jaggi (Arrows/F2) clinched today’s competition in near perfect down the line wave riding, on the fifth day of the Ireland Wave 2001.

Jason Polakow (Neil Pryde/JP) and clinched today’s competition in near perfect down the line wave riding, on the fifth day of the Ireland Wave 2001.

After heavy rain and strong winds last night, this morning saw a lull in the weather before it kicked in again around mid morning with a steady 15-20kts south-westerly cross offshore. Competitors agreed today’s conditions were much better than yesterday’s despite the initial lack of early morning breeze.

In the final, Jason Polakow was up against Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Neil Pryde/Proof) which left Kevin Pritchard (Gaastra/Bic) fighting it out with Peter Volwater (Arrows/F2) for third position in the loser’s final.

Both Polakow and Dunkerbeck began on the same wave at the same time, which turned out to Polakow’s best wave. Dunkerbeck pulled out all the stops with his technical mastery and despite catching some of the bigger waves and riding them right up to the inside, he didn’t use them to his best advantage. Jason’s trademark style of aggressive vertical wave riding and his better aerials of the lip clinched first position for him today.

Polakow said of his win, “ I am absolutely thrilled with the result, the wind was really offshore and we had real glassy waves which made for great down the line wave riding. We usual do so many jumps in wave competition so it made a real change to do something different. Bjorn is a tough competitor and it was a really tight heat. I am just crossing my fingers that there will not be any wind tomorrow so today’s single elimination results stand.

Dunkerbeck said of today’s competition, “I can’t complain. We didn’t expect any wind and it just got better and better, we even had sun. I was OK at the beginning of the heats but I concentrated on the bigger waves and got better and better. These conditions were not my favourite as the wind was still light and the waves were not very powerful therefore light sailors prefer it.”

In the women’s final, Karin Jaggi (Arrows/ F2), up against Daida Ruano Moreno (North/Mistral) put in a strong and very convincing performance riding as well as some of the men had during the day. Jaggi’s more regular style and good wave selection won her today’s event.

Karin was overjoyed with her win and said, “My first heat was easy which gave me time to try things out and not really take any risks. I was quite nervous going into the final but then I got my first good wave and it gave me more confidence. I got into a flowing feeling and had a choice of waves. It all came together and worked out perfectly.

Peter Volwater battled it out with Kevin Pritchard to take third position and Iballa Ruano Moreno (North/Mistral) came third in the women’s.

As the day progressed the wind remained constant allowing the competition to progress to the double elimination, where the first quarter of the competition was completed.

Tomorrow, the final day of competition gives the remaining sailors the chance to contest Polakow and Jaggi’s win.

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