Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

Day 4: Offringa on the verge of world title while men’s title race heads for nail biting finale

The wind arrived late on Day 4 of the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup to provide a fascinating conclusion to the day as further drama unfolded. With light winds — 8-20 knots — and a shorter run up to the start line there were a number of premature starts as the sailors pushed the timing to its limits. 

Women’s 

Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) extended her lead at the top of the event rankings as she took full advantage of Sarah-Quita Offringa’s (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) premature start in the final to add bullet number 4 to her tally. If the former two-time world champion continues her scintillating form then she has the potential to hold a perfect record when the 2nd discard comes into play at the end of the next race. — having won 4 out of the 6 eliminations completed. At the end of Day 4 Cousin now holds a 1.6 point advantage over Offringa, but the pressure will be on to perform at the top of her game with Offringa still very much within striking distance. 

Meanwhile, Offringa is almost guaranteed to collect slalom world title No.2 at the end of the week as she now holds an almost unassailable 30.6 point lead over 8th place and she will be looking to end the season with a bang by battling it out with Cousin over the coming days.

Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360) consolidated her 3rd place in the event rankings with another excellent performance in Race 6 as she claimed 2nd place and with a 13 point advantage over her next closest rival — Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails) — it seems as though she has the final place on the overall podium all but sewn up.

Meanwhile, Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne), produced her best display of the week so far as she secured 3rd place in Elimination 6, which sees the Turk rise to 5th in the event rankings, overtaking fellow Turk — Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne) — who drops to 6th after missing out on the winners’ final for only the second time this week.

Elsewhere Japan’s Fujiko Onishi (Starboard / NeilPryde), recorded her best result so far as she sailed an excellent final to secure 4th place and finish just ahead of fellow Japanese sailor — Ayako Suzuki (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic).

Men’s

Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) had a chance to really consolidate his place at the top of the rankings, while pouring further pressure on Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz), who missed out on a place in the final, however, the 26 year was a little to eager and jumped the gun — resulting in his disqualification from Heat 16. Mortefon, though is continuing to edge towards a maiden world title and holds a significant 9.3 point lead over his next closest rival Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) and in terms of the title race there is nothing more he can do to prevent Albeau from fighting back.

After missing out on the winners’ final it was a case of damage limitation for AA in Heat 15 and he managed to do just that as he won the heat to record a 9th place finish in Race 6. Albeau’s latest result sees him rise one place to 7th, but he still has 3 places to find — as only a top 4 finish will guarantee him a 4th successive world title. At the moment Micah Buzianis (JP) occupies 4th on 32.7 points, so Albeau has it all to do as he currently has 43.9 points. If AA is able to get back on the bullet train then he will be right back in the thick of the action and he will be looking to discard his 22.5 point finish in Race 4 after the first elimination tomorrow. The final two days promise to be a nail biting affair with more twists and turns in what is proving to be a fascinating end to the 2015 PWA Men’s Slalom World Tour. Can Albeau battle back?

After Mortefon was disqualified from the winners’ final Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) seized the initiative as the Brit led from start to finish to record a well deserved bullet, which is the first time Williams has won an elimination in 3 or 4 years. This was Williams’ first winner’s final of the week and sees him rise into the top 10 after holding off a stern challenge from Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde), who recorded his best result of the week in 2nd, while the same is also true of Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails), who finished 3rd which sees the Frenchman rise to 5th in the event rankings.

The home crowd made their feelings felt again today as they continued to show superb support for their local sailors and today saw a big performance from 17 year old Damien Cervera, who earned his place in the semifinals, before taking home an excellent 13th place, while 19 year old Frenchman Nicolas Goyard (RRD / Loft Sails) also received cheers after finishing 11th.

Eco-friendly and Being Green

While windsurfing of course takes centre stage the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup also prides itself on being an Eco-friendly and green event, which is only possible thanks to the help of all the helpers and Acotred Pacifique + CSP Fidelio. Recycling is still a relatively new concept in New Caledonia, but already in the space of a few years its popularity has grown exponentially, and has been adopted by all age groups, with the locals recognising the importance of recycling and being green in order to protect and preserve the beauty of New Caledonia and its diverse marine ecosystem, A prime example of this is the simple yet effective idea of providing refillable water bottles — which reduces the amount of litter and plastic bottles needed during the event.

After a relaxed start to today’s proceedings it looks as though the wind will be back in the morning with an excellent looking forecast, so the plan will be to complete at least 2 more eliminations. Skippers’ meeting tomorrow at 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am. Don’t miss any of the high octane action by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com — here you’ll be able to watch all of the exciting racing as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Women’s Current Standings After Elimination 6— 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 Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne)

Men’s Current Standings After Elimination 6 — 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 Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails)

6th Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails) 

7th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)

8th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7)

9th Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne)

10th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)

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