Catalunya PWA World Cup

Event Summary: 13 Races - 2 Disciplines - 1 Winner - Antoine Albeau

Costa Brava, Spain, produced the best conditions we have seen in the Gulf-de-Roses for quite a few seasons with sunny skies and their clockwork-like sea breezes kicking in daily to provide action on the water on each of the six days of contest. 

The opening half of the week saw the foil exhibition take centre stage, with lighter airs on offer, and there was plenty of exciting racing with five foil races being completed in total, while the weekend - particularly Saturday - provided world class slalom conditions, which saw close-calls, upsets and some very tired sailors after completing 8 eliminations in the final two days. 

Over the course of the 6 day event 13 races were completed across 2 disciplines - slalom and foil - but in the end there was only one winner with 23-time world champion - Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) - proving unstoppable after producing a truly magnificent performance. 

Foiling 

Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) claimed victory in Japan and the Frenchman made a strong start in Costa Brava as he quickly reeled off bullets in the opening two races to open up a healthy lead at the top. Questel has been the dominant sailor when sailing in the extremely light breezes around 4-8 knots, but once the wind increases by just an extra knot or two it seems that conditions then favour Antoine Albeau, who hit back in devastating fashion by completing a hat-trick to steal the event victory from Questel, who finishes second. 

Denmark’s Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) records successive podium finishes after another extremely consistent display, which saw the 24-year-old record 3, third place finishes in 5 races, but this time he has to settle for 3rd - after his 2nd place in Japan.

Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins) recovered from his share of bad luck and errors in the first couple of races to finish 4th, while Brazil’s Mateus Isaac completes the top 5 - just ahead of Maciek Rutkowski (Tabou / GA Sails).

Slalom

In the slalom Antoine Albeau claimed a decisive victory after the Frenchman didn’t put a foot wrong in the 8 races completed. In fact, Albeau was so good that the worst result he recorded was a 5th place, while he won 3 races and finished 2nd on a further two occasions. Albeau’s dominant performance here sees him seize control of the title race at this early stage after making an extremely impressive start to the season with a victory and 3rd place from Japan. 

Antoine Albeau enjoys returning to life on top: “I feel super good. I knew that in the foil I had a good chance to be at the top because there’s not as much competition, yet, as in the slalom. You never quite know what you are going to get in Costa Brava, but it looked like we would get wind at the weekend and in the end the weekend was unbelievable and we were even able to use our medium boards, which was great. It’s been a long time since we were able to complete so many races (8) and in the end I managed to record superb results in both the light and medium winds. So, yeah overall I’m really happy because this is more or less the first contest of the season where you can really find out where you are in terms of speed against everyone else - and now I can see that I’m going good, so I’m pretty happy. See you in Fuerte.”

Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) almost saw his podium chances fade away after a shock quarterfinal exit in race 5, before an even bigger surprise as he suffered a second round exit in the very next race. Fortunately for the Frenchman 8 races were completed, which brought two discards into play and after this blip he responded in the perfect fashion by claiming his first bullet of the season in Elimination 7, which slingshotted the two-time vice-world champion from 6th to 2nd place. Mortefon has made a solid start to the season and currently sits 2nd in the overall rankings. 

Reigning world champion - Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) - endured an indifferent week, but he showed his champion qualities to battle through and snatch the final place on the podium from Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / LoftSails), which could yet prove pivotal in deciding the title later this year. Iachino may have not looked as consistently quick as he did last season, but even through all of his difficulties over the last 6 days, the Italian was still able to claim one bullet, while he’s still firmly in contention for the title in 3rd place overall. 

Pascal Toselli agonisingly missed out on a place on the prestigious podium by just one-point having been in the top three for the entire event up until the last race. Toselli missed out on the last winners’ final, which proved critical, but he’ll still have been happy to bounce back after a disappointing result in Japan - where just one race was completed. 

Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) rises to 4th in the overall rankings after recording a solid 5th place in Costa Brava - with the Brit sailing extremely consistently again. Williams completed a couple of miraculous comebacks in a couple of races and he looks set to be challenging for the overall podium again in 2017.

Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde) said he lost a bit of confidence after Japan, but you wouldn’t have known it given the way he destroyed the field in the opening race of the week and that victory clearly meant a lot with his emotions clear to everyone as he celebrated as he crossed the line. The Israeli then sailed consistently for the remainder of the event to finish in 6th place, but things could’ve been even better had he not suffered a broken mast in the 4th race, which resulted in a quarterfinal exit. 

Movers and Shakers

Elsewhere, Finian Maynard slips one place to 5th in the overall rankings after a 13th place finish here, while Gonzalo Costa Hoevel rises two places to 6th. Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) moves into 8th overall after a 10th place finish.

Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails) hangs on to his place in the overall top 10 after a 14th place finish in Costa Brava. The German looked set for a top 10 finish, but then suffered his worst results in the final two races to miss out. 

Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) may have made a great start to the season in Japan by claiming victory, but he had an event to forget here in Costa Brava and he’ll want to quickly erase this result - 20th - from his memory, while trying to make sure he resets before returning to action in Fuerteventura. Quentel slips from 1st to 7th in the overalls. 

Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails) also slides down the rankings to 9th after recording his best result ever in Japan - where he finished second - but for whatever reason he couldn’t quite find that form over the last 6 days, but you’d expect to see him bounce back from a disappointing 21st in the coming events.

Former youth world champion - Tristan Algret - Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Chopper Fins) missed the event in Japan due to his studies, but showed why he’s one of the most exciting young talents on the tour to secure an excellent 7th place with his best result going in the 2nd race when he claimed 2nd. 

Andrea Cucchi (Starboard / Point-7) finishes 8th in Costa Brava, while Marco Lang completed an impressive comeback to claim 9th. The Austrian faced quarterfinal exits in 3 out of the first 4 eliminations, but then found his form to record 4 top 10 finishes - including a 3rd in Elimination 6.

Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) suffered a mixture of bad luck and poor decision making to cost him a top 10 finish. The Bonairean’s harness line snapped on the final reach, in the second round of Elimination 2 - when he was comfortably qualifying, which resulted in his exit, before suffering another second round exit from Elimination 7 after catapulting while posing for the camera when leading Heat 6 to leave him in 12th place.

Elsewhere, Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne), may be much more associated with radical freestyle as the reigning vice-world champion - but the young Bonairean showed he's also capable of mixing it with the best in the business on the race course as he qualified for his first winners’ final this week. The 21-year-old also finishes in the top 16 for first time at a slalom event - while also placing 10th in the foil.

Other, young,  promising talents include 18-year-old Basile Jacquin (Starboard / Point-7), who qualified for 3 successive winners’ finals in Eliminations 5-7 - and more than held his own as he recorded a superb 2nd, before finishing 4th and 5th as well. Also fellow Frenchman - Nicolas Goyard (RRD / Point-7 / Mystic) - looks one to watch after the 21 year-old finished 2nd in the opening race, before seeing his hopes fade. 

The last 6-days in Costa Brava provided plenty of world class racing, which was very welcome after a couple of unlucky events in Asia - in terms of the wind. The slalom tour now takes a short break after a busy month of May and the world’s fastest sailors will return to action in Fuerteventura in July. The PWA would like to thank everyone involved with the event and we look forward to returning for the 20th edition of the Catalunya PWA World Cup in 2018.

To view previous news and photos from Costa Brava — including elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.

You can find out more about Costa Brava via their dedicated website - www.costabrava.org

Where’s Next on the PWA World Tour?

After concentrating on the race course for the opening events of the 2017 PWA World Tour it’s now time to turn our focus towards the waves as the most radical sailors in the world prepare for their first battles of the season in Pozo, for the Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival, which starts on the 9th July and runs until the 15th. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow all of the explosive action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Current Ranking 2017 PWA World Tour - Men’s Slalom

1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)

2nd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins)

3rd Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7 / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses)

4th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses)

5th Finian Maynard (99NoveNove / Gun Sails)

6th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins)

7th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti)

8th Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)

9th Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails)

10th Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails)

Result 2017 Catalunya PWA World Cup - Men’s Slalom

1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)

2nd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins)

3rd Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7 / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses)

4th Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / LoftSails / Chopper Fins)

5th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses)

6th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)

7th Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Chopper Fins)

8th Andrea Cucchi (Starboard / Point-7)

9th Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails)

10th Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)

Result Foil Exhibition Catalunya PWA World Cup 

1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) 

2nd Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)

3rd Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde)

4th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins) 

5th Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde)

6th Maciek Rutkowski (Tabou / GA Sails)

7th Nicolas Goyard (Starboard / Point-7)

8th Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde) 

9th Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins)

10th Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne)

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