Catalunya PWA World Cup

Day 2: Arnon Dagan strikes first in Costa Brava after a day of surprise results and tough racing

Day two of the Catalunya PWA World Cup saw a bright and sunny start to proceedings, which gave the whole event site a much more positive outlook about today’s chances of wind, after yesterday’s more unsettled weather. With the normal weather system restored it wasn’t long before the sea breeze started to kick which allowed racing to be underway before 2pm. Conditions proved to be tricky and unforgiving with the lighter winds meaning that any mistake was severely punished. At the end day two Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde) leads the way after clinching victory, but it was a day of two halves for the Israeli as he went from winning race one to exiting the second elimination in the first round.

Elimination One


Winners’ Final

The first winners’ final of the week was completed at the second time of asking after both Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde) and Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) both jumped the gun. Upon the restart it was Arnon Dagan that was able to break into an early lead as he rounded the opening mark ahead of Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North), Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Nicolas Warembourg (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic). The Israeli executed a textbook gybe at the second to further extend his lead and from here he wouldn’t be caught as he claimed the first bullet of the week in emphatic style, whilst the remainder of the top four stayed the same.

Upsets

The first race also saw plenty of upsets as several big names fell early. Andrea Cucchi (Starboard / Point-7), Maciek Rutkowski (Patrik / Point-7), Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic), Finian Maynard (99NoveNove / Avanti), Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) and Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Point-7) all fell in the first round. Elsewhere in the opening round Pablo Ania (Fanatic / North) and Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne) did well to advance into the quarterfinals as did Ethan Westera (Starboard / GA Sails), who also managed to go one better by qualifying for the semifinals.

The upsets continued with Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7) being disqualified alongside Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) in heat 9 for premature starts, before Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) also took a shock early exit in the quarterfinals, whilst Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails) also suffered the same fate after just missing out in fifth place. Marco Lang (Fanatic / North) looked as though he was going to safely advance into the semifinals - and maintain his excellent early season form - but he dropped his third gybe meaning the Austrian missed out. 

Elimination Two

The opening round of the second elimination was also completed before the wind became to light and patchy for the competition to continue. However, just like the opening race there has already been a number of upsets, but the biggest without doubt came in heat 8 as Arnon Dagan, who won so convincingly in elimination one, crossed the start line early to be disqualified. 

With the conditions deteriorating in the early evening the sailors were released at 6:20pm and they will meet again tomorrow morning at 10:30am for the skippers’ meeting. The first possible start for tomorrow will be 11am. The forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look too dissimilar to today so hopefully we will see more racing tomorrow. As always you’ll be able to follow everything as it happens by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com.

Results After Elimination One - Catalunya PWA World Cup

1st Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)

2nd Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North)

3rd Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)

4th Nicolas Warembourg (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic)

5th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails)

6th Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne)

7th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)

7th Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde)

9th Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun Sails)

10th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)

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