Catalunya PWA World Cup

Day 5: Magnificent Maynard Rolls Back The Years to Win Opening Slalom While Vrieswijk Regains No.1 Spot in Foil

The racing continued on the penultimate day of the 2018 Catalunya PWA World Cup as both fleet headed to the water again. Racing was tricky at times with the wind fluctuations in both strength and direction making things frustrating at time. However, things work out well in the end with the opening elimination of slalom being completed during the afternoon, while after a short break two further rounds of foiling were also finished during the evening.

Slalom

When the Winners’ Final was cancelled yesterday - Finian Maynard (I-99) - held a healthy lead, but the 43-year-old clearly didn’t let that affect his mentality heading into today as he rolled back the years to smoke the rest of the fleet down the opening reach to once again lead as they rounded the first. Thankfully for Maynard, this time there were no problems getting away from the opening buoy, and while Pascal Toselli (JP / Loft Sails / Chopper Fins) and Cyril Moussilmani (RRD / Severne) threatened to close through the turns Maynard soon pulled away on the straights to claim a decisive victory, which puts him at the top of the event rankings with only one day to go. That means Maynard is in contention for an event victory for the first time since 2012 and he was rightfully delighted when he returned to the beach.

Toselli proved to be Maynard’s closest contender and claimed second place to earn his best result in a single race this season as the Frenchman continues his fine start to the year, while the same is also true of fellow countryman Cyril Moussilmani - who finished 3rd today as he looks to recover from 21st and 16th place finishes in Japan and South Korea.

Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins) is looking to break into the overall top 10 for the first time in his career this season and he did himself no harm after recording an excellent 4th place today - finishing ahead of Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti), Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails), Malte Reuscher (Fanatic / NorthSails) and Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde), who had to slam on the brakes to avoid going over early.

Meanwhile, Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne / Shamal Sunglasses), Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins), who missed out on the Winners’ Final for the first time this season - finished 1, 2 and 3 in the Losers’ Final.

Foil

Nicolas Goyard (Tabou / GA Sails) held the event lead at the start of the day - albeit level on 10.4 points with Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne) - but at the end of the play, Vrieswijk has reassumed control of the foil event title race after a further two rounds.

In the opening round, Vrieswijk seemed to try and track Goyard as best he could with whoever gaining the better result set to lead the rankings at the end of that race. As they both headed to the upwind mark on the final lap they were virtually head-to-head behind Maciek Rutkowski (I-99 / Challenger Sails), but with the wind perhaps shifting, the lay-line became extremely tight leaving Rutkowski to desperately try and edge his way around it, but unfortunately for the Pole his foil snagged on the mark to end his chances in the race. 

Meanwhile, Vrieswijk seized the initiative to wrestle back control of the title race with some ferocious pumping seeing him sneak around the top mark, while his rival, Goyard dropped off the foil, to really open the door for Vrieswijk. The 22-year-old duly obliged as he returned to winning ways in Elimination 8, while Goyard had to settle for 8th place. Vrieswijk then finished 7th in the next elimination, while Goyard watched his title dreams all but end as he limped to a 23rd place. Vrieswijk has now re-established a 4.9 point advantage heading into the final day.

However, Vrieswijk’s closest rival is no longer Goyard, but instead Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails), who probably finishes the day with mixed emotions despite rising one place into second. The German looked to have Elimination 9 wrapped up, but veered off course en-route to the finish line, which allowed Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) to swoop from virtually out of nowhere to claim his first bullet of the week while denying Kördel a maiden victory on the world tour.

Victory in Elimination 9 sees Albeau rise to 4th at the expense of both Julien Bontemps (JP / NeilPryde) and Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui), who drop to 5th and 7th respectively, while Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins) rises one place to 6th.

The top 10 is completed by Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde), Matteo Iachino and Steve Allen (Patrik / Severne).

The forecast for tomorrow looks like on paper, however as always you never know what can happen. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am (GMT+2).

You can stay up to date with all the latest developments from Costa Brava — including elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Current Ranking 2018 Catalunya PWA World Cup - Men’s Slalom

*After One Elimination

1st Finian Maynard (KV - I-99)

2nd Pascal Toselli (FRA - JP / Loftsails / Chopper Fins)

3rd Cyril Moussilmani (FRA - RRD / Severne)

4th Tristan Algret (GPE - Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins)

5th Julien Quentel (SXM - Patrik / Avanti)

6th Jordy Vonk (NED - Fanatic / NorthSails)

7th Malte Reuscher (GER - Fanatic / NorthSails)

8th Mateus Isaac (BRA - JP / NeilPryde)

9th Matteo Iachino (ITA - Starboard / Severne / Shamal Sunglasses)

10th Antoine Albeau (FRA - RRD / NeilPryde)

Current Ranking 2018 Catalunya PWA World Cup - Men’s Foil

*After Nine Eliminations

1st Amado Vrieswijk (NB - JP / Severne)

2nd Sebastian Kördel (GER - Starboard / GA Sails)

3rd Nicolas Goyard (FRA - Tabou / GA Sails)

4th Antoine Albeau (FRA - RRD / NeilPryde)

5th Julien Bontemps (FRA - JP / NeilPryde)

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

7th Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)

8th Sebastian Kornum (DEN - JP / NeilPryde)

9th Matteo Iachino (ITA - Starboard / Severne / Shamal Sunglasses)

10th Steve Allen (AUS - Patrik / Severne)

go to related event