Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

Event Preview: The world’s fastest sailors head for the tropical paradise of New Caledonia for the grand stand finale of the 2015 PWA Slalom World Tour

After a furious season of slalom the 2015 PWA Slalom World Tour will reach its nail biting climax in the tropical paradise of New Caledonia, where this year’s world champions will be decided and crowned with the Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup running between the 24th-29th November. 

Noumea, New Caledonia, is part of the French Polynesia, located deep in the southwest Pacific Ocean - 750 miles east of Australia. New Caledonia boats the biggest lagoon in the world and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008, making New Caledonia a magnet for recreational boaters and ocean lovers alike, and provides the perfect, yet challenging, slalom conditions thanks to its trade winds, which usually blow anywhere between 10 and 30 knots. The lagoon spans an impressive 44,000km — with crystal clear waters dotted with islets, which has seen Noumea becoming renowned for its outstanding marine biodiversity. Anse Vata beach will provide the perfect, pristine, stage for the conclusion of the 2015 PWA World Tour. With the wind frequently blowing all day this is as much a test of stamina as it is of top speed and the world’s fastest sailors will have to be on their toes throughout as the chop will be eagerly waiting to catch any unsuspecting sailors rail. Who’s going to come out on top?

Ones to Watch

Women’s

Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) enters the final event of the year with a commanding lead having won both events so far this season. The 24 year old has returned to the full slalom tour for the first time since winning it in 2011, due to finishing her studies, and is firmly on course to collect slalom world title No.2 — knowing that a 7th place finish or better will guarantee her the title and cap an outstanding year for her, which has seen her collect an incredible 8th freestyle world crown, while also securing her place on the prestigious podium in the waves for the first time in her career. Barring disaster you can expect to see Offringa completing 2015 in style.

Behind Offringa there is a ferocious battle for the remaining places on the overall podium with 4 women — Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360), Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne), Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne) and double world champion Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) — all currently tied for 2nd place with 4,002 points each. 

With no discard available the pressure will be firmly on to consistently perform at the top of their game with any mistakes likely to be punished. Whoever beats who will likely be rewarded with a place in the illustrious top 3, although Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails), who finished 2nd in Alacati, will be hoping to have a say in the proceedings as she isn’t far behind in 5th with 3,936 points.

Also in the mix will be Maria Andrés (Fanatic / North), who finished 4th here last year, as well as Mio Anayama (Starboard / NeilPryde) and Ayako Suzuki (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic). 

It’s also worth keeping an eye out for local sailors Stephane Bouquillard, Océane Lescadieu (Starboard / Loft Sails), Granier Lilou, Tuesday-Lou Judd and Delphine Riper, all of whom will be looking to take full advantage on home waters.

Men’s

Title Race

After a long, hard fought season only three sailors remain standing in the battle for the 2015 PWA Men’s Slalom World title — Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North), who leads the rankings heading into the final event of the year, reigning world champion Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North).

Iachino has been in scintillating so far this year and after winning his maiden event in Costa Brava the young Italian claimed another victory at the last slalom event in Sylt. Iachino is now on the verge of a first world title, but faces a stern final test if he wants to succeed with Albeau being his biggest danger.

Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North) looks ahead to the final event of the year: “I’ve been at home getting ready and relaxing trying to get in the best mood for the last event. I’m feeling good and prepared and I think this race will be really interesting. The forecast looks promising!”

The scenario for Albeau isn’t too dissimilar to the finale of last year’s world title race and AA still just about has his destiny in his own hands as victory in New Caledonia would guarantee him an incredible 4th world title in a row. In the event that Albeau was to win here and Iachino finish 2nd the two sailors would be tied on points, but Albeau would take the title on tiebreak. However, if Iachino is able to beat Albeau by just one place then the 25 year old will walk away from the 2015 season with top honours.

While it may be an outside chance, Pierre Mortefon, is still just about in the title race. If the Frenchman was to win the event and Iachino finished 6th or worse and Albeau 5th or worse then Mortefon would pip both of his rivals to the world crown.

Meanwhile, Mortefon, almost has the final place on the heralded podium sewn up with Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) being the only sailor who has the potential to overtake him. A 4th place finish or better would guarantee Mortefon 3rd place, whilst if Mortefon was to finish 6th Williams would still need to finish 2nd or better in order to claim the final place on the podium. In simple terms Williams has to beat Mortefon by 4 places or more to secure 3rd, if Mortefon finishes outside the top 4.

Away from the title race and battle for the podium, Ben Van Der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails), will be hoping to defend his event title. The flying Dutchman claimed his maiden event victory here last year and will be looking to end the season with a bang. Van Der Steen currently lies in 6th place with the potential to overtake fellow teammate Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) in 5th. 

The top 10 is currently completed by Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne), Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde), Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails) and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7), although the likes of Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde) and last year’s vice-world champion Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) will be hoping to force there way into the top 10.

The final event of the year promises to be an enthralling affair with the world’s fastest sailors battling it one last time for 2015 and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Who do you think will reign supreme and capture the glory? And who will crash and burn? There’s only one way to find out and that’s by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com — here you’ll be able to follow the warp speed slalom as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker.

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