Tenerife PWA World Cup
The opening day of the 2017 Tenerife PWA World Cup saw a quiet start to proceedings with the wind remaining light throughout. For a short time during the afternoon the wind did increase enough to tempt a few people out onto the water, but as the forecast predicted no competition was possible on the first day. That meant that the sailor's main focus was registering for the upcoming contest and preparing their equipment for the week ahead.
During a relaxed first day in Tenerife we caught up with Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX) for a quick interview:
You kicked off the season with a 7th place in Pozo were you happy with that and how are you feeling coming into Tenerife?
With the level on tour as it at the moment I went into Pozo without too many expectations, but I went there for a month prior to the event for training and was feeling quite happy with my sailing. Tenerife is a funny one because I’ve always felt like I should do well here, but then I think I place too much pressure on myself. This year I'd like to come into the event placing no expectations, but obviously, I’d like to do well.
You used to live here, so what do you make of the forecast?
The thing is that the forecast looks to have been changing every update on the sites, so we’ll just have to see what we get. Since I’ve been here - two weeks- we’ve had quite a lot of sailing, but all on 5.0-5.3m and I’ve been on the big Stubby. There looks to be strong winds on Thursday, but there’s a chance that that could come through during the night. I’m pretty confident that we’ll get wind and I’ll be preparing 3.7-5.3m.
The other thing is that there is a big south swell, which isn’t the best for Cabezo as it just makes a bowlie close out, which sort of levels the playing as the local knowledge goes out the window somewhat.
In Pozo you used a Grip and here you are using a Stubby what are the main differences and what do you make of the stubby?
As my biggest board, I use the stubby and it’s just sick for pretty much everything. You can get away with using a slightly smaller board than you usually would as all the volume is where you need it - the 89 feels a little bit bigger and they are just so early planing, so for somewhere like here, where it’s quite often windier on the outside, then the stubby comes into its own as it keeps driving through turns even if the wind is lighter on the inside. The wider tail provides lift which allows you to power through gustier wind and still make sections and turns. For such a big board it holds and pivots in the pocket so well.
I’ve been using the grip as my smaller board - using an 81ltr - It’s also really early planing and I generally run it as a thruster - it’s got 5 boxes - but I used it as a quad in Pozo as setup like this it offers more drive. In Pozo you are doing slightly less vertical turns so it just holds its speed slightly better than as when it’s set up as a thruster. I’d primarily use it as a thruster as it allows you to turn that extra bit tighter, so you can attack the wave more vertically.
If you could pick one location that you haven’t been to yet that you’d love to go where would it be?
Either the Isle of Lewis or Mauritius.
If you could steal one move off one sailor what would you choose?
Philip Koester’s stalled double forward.
Move you found hardest to learn?
Doubles - they are still on going process of doom. In Pozo, they felt quite okay, but trying to do them here on a 5.0m is a completely different ball game.
Thanks, Adam good luck for the contest.
The forecast for tomorrow looks quite similar to today, but there is the possibility of the waves being slightly better with an increased period - from 9 to 11 seconds - so it may be possible to run some float and ride heats. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10:30am (GMT+1).
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