Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

Day 3: More upsets and epic racing as Noumea continues to deliver and Albeau begins to battle back

Day 3 of the 2015 Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup saw another exhilarating day of racing as winds of 15-25 knots greeted the competitors. After yesterday’s dramatic racing today saw further upsets and surprises as Noumea continued to put the cat among the pigeons with it’s challenging choppy conditions testing the mettle of the world’s fastest sailors.

Women’s

Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) recovered from a slow start, which saw her finish 9th in the opening elimination of the day, to maintain her position at the top of the event rankings. The two-time world champion was able to claim 3rd in Race 4, before ending the day on a high as she claimed the final bullet of the day, which is her 3rd victory out of the 5 eliminations completed so far and her victory in Race 5 was enough to take her back to the top of the event rankings after Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) had temporarily held the lead during the afternoon. 

However, Cousin does not have much margin for error to maintain her lead with Sarah-Quita Offringa, just 0.3 of a point behind the leader after enjoying a fine day, which saw the Aruban gem claim two bullets and a 2nd place. After today’s performance Offringa is now surely unstoppable in her quest for a 2nd slalom world title as she now holds a 20.6 point advantage over Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne) in 7th — A 7th place finish or better guarantees Offringa the title and based on how she has been performing so far this week it is hard to see her finishing the final event of the season outside the top 2.

Meanwhile, Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / AL360 / Mystic), still occupies a solid 3rd place, which would currently see the Turk complete the overall podium. Erdil was disqualified from the opening winners’ final of the day, but responded perfectly as she secured a 2nd and 3rd place in the remaining two eliminations.

As things stand Erdil holds a 7 point advantage over Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails) and an 11 point advantage over Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne), both of whom are Erdil’s biggest rivals for the podium, so Erdil is currently in the driving seat.

Men’s

Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) started his recovery to get his title challenge back on track in the perfect fashion as he claimed his first bullet of the event in Race 3. However, after taking a step forwards it was then a case of two-steps back for AA in the very next race after being eliminated in the quarterfinals. Albeau was not willing to lay down without a fight though and he hauled himself back into contention by clinching another bullet in the final race of the day, which could prove crucial in deciding the title race. At the end of Day 3 Albeau rises to 8th in the overall rankings and is only 6.2 points off 4th place, which is the minimum result he requires to deny Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North). After Race 7 Albeau will be hoping to discard his result from Elimination 4 (22.5 points) and could easily be back in business if he can maintain the form he showed today.

Mortefon is still doing everything in his power to secure a maiden world title and the Frenchman heads the event rankings at the close of play today after recording 2nd, 9th — which he discards — and 3rd place finishes in the 3 races completed. Mortefon holds a significant lead at the top of the rankings and the onus is still on Albeau to produce a massive performance over the next 3 days to deny him a first world crown. 

Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North) can still mathematically win the title, but the likelihood of that happening is becoming less and less likely. The Italian produced a better performance than yesterday as he qualified for his first winner’s final — where he finished 5th — before being eliminated in the semifinals of Eliminations 4 and 5. In Elimination 4 Iachino was involved in a photo finish in Heat 14 between himself, Valentin Brault (Exocet / XO Sails), Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Point-7) Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) and Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne), but in the end Brault and Algret were given the verdict — with Algret producing an astonishing comeback after dropping his 3rd gybe. The margin between success and failure in that heat were a matter of centimetres for Iachino and that decision could yet prove crucial in deciding the title. Iachino then wasn't impressed with Gonzalo Costa Hoevel in Heat 14 of Race 5, after an incident as they approached the start line, but the result stood to leave Iachino disgruntled. All hopes will now be pinned on gaining 3 discards — obtained after 12 races — to keep his faint title chances alive. 

Away from the battle for the title — Micah Buzianis (JP) — enjoyed a fine day as he came out on top in Race 4, while also securing a 3rd and 9th place finish in the other two races, which sees the American climb to 4th place in the event rankings. 

Meanwhile, Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne), moves up one place into 2nd after qualifying for 2 out of the 3 winners’ finals today — where he finished 6th and 4th respectively. 

However, Moussilmani, will face stiff competition to hold onto 2nd place with Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) just 3 points behind him in third after backing up an excellent 2nd place in Race 4 with 10th and 7th place finishes. The Bonairean’s aggressive approach to gybing saw him continually out manoeuvre his rivals in and around the buoys and his bravery was deservedly rewarded. 

Elsewhere, 17 year old local boy Basile Jacquin (RRD / Point-7), deserves a mention after once again navigating his way into the quarterfinals on two occasions today — including winning Heat 2 of Race 3.

The forecast looks as though there will be plenty more racing in store tomorrow and the sailors will meet again at 10am for the skippers’ meeting — before the action kicks off from 10:30am onwards. Make sure you don’t miss any of the warp speed slalom by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com — here you’ll be able to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker 

Women’s Current Standings After Elimination 5 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360)

4th Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails)

5th Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne)

Men’s Current Standings After Elimination 5 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North

2nd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic)

4th Micah Buzianis (JP)

5th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7)

6th Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne)

7th Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails)

8th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)

9th Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails)

10th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)

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