Fly! ANA Yokosuka PWA World Cup
Day two of the 2017 Fly! ANA Yokosuka PWA World Cup always looked light on the forecast and that’s exactly how the day played out. During the morning the wind did briefly increase - prompting an attempt at running the first foil exhibition race of the week, but unfortunately by the time the sailors had made their way to the committee boat the wind had already dropped.
With the wind remaining on the light side a fun SUP Race was held to keep the crowds entertained during the afternoon, which saw 24 sailors competing in 4 Teams of 6:
- Team 1 - Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), Mathilde Zampieri (Gun Sails), Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic), Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde), Tadanori Nakai (Tabou / MauiSails / Mystic), Haruhiko Komura (Starboard / Severne)
- Team 2 - Anissa Mohrath (Tabou / GA Sails), Marianne Rautelin (Patrik / LoftSails), Esther de Geus (JP / Point-7), Lawrence Carey (Fanatic / NorthSails), Akiro Kudo, Alexandre Rouys (Starboard / Severne)
- Team 3 - Nimet Tulumen (KA Sail), Ayako Suzuki (Tabou / GA Sails), Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne), Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde), Tomohiko Suzuki (Fanatic / NorthSails), Toru Sakai (Patrik / S2Maui)
- Team 4 - Oda Johanne (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins), Yuki Sunaga (LoftSails), Ingmar Daldorf (Tabou./ GA Sails), Koji Kano (RRD / MauiSails), Jay Lee (Goya Windsurfing) and Tomonori Anami (Starboard / Severne)
Team 2 and 3 successfully booked their places in the final, but it was Team 2 who made the better start and they soon shot into a significant lead thanks to Alexandre Rouys, who inflicted plenty of damage on the opening leg and it looked for all the world like they had the tie sewed up. However, Amado Vrieswijk reduced the lead and then disaster stuck for Team 2 as Lawrence Carey tried to dive onto his board for a speedy getaway, but the kiwi completely missed his board. This slightly opened the door for the beast - Sebastian Kornum - but he still had a lot of work to do. The Dane turned on the afterburners and by the time they reached the mark, Kornum, was close enough to put Carey under pressure and he cracked as he fell at the buoy to allow Kornum to paddle down the final reach to claim an unlikely victory for Team 3.
With the conditions showing no sign of improvement the sailors were released for the day at 5:15pm. Hopes are now pinned on tomorrow, which looks as though it could be a wet and windy Saturday on the current forecast with winds of 25-37 knots being predicted. However, the amount of rain accompanying the wind is of concern with up to 9mm of rain being forecast at 1pm. That weather system still looks very volatile, so it’s going to depend on how it tracks as to what conditions present themselves, but hopefully, there will be some opportunity to kick start the racing. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 9am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 9:30am (GMT+9) - if conditions allow.
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