Tenerife PWA World Cup
Day 5 of the 2019 Tenerife PWA World Cup started with a lot more promise than the forecast originally gave with wind and a few small ramps around to begin the day and for a time it looked as though we would see the next generation in action. However, just before the U20s were due to start the wind promptly dropped, as did the waves and despite remaining on hold for the rest of the day the conditions never really threatened to improve again.
The good news is that after a couple of lay days, the forecast for both Saturday, and particularly Sunday, looks extremely promising on paper with the wind and waves set to return just in time to provide a grandstand finale to the event.
After playing the waiting game all week we briefly caught up with current world tour leader - Ricardo Campello (Brunotti Boards) and reigning world champion - Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / Duotone / Shamal Sunglasses):
PWA: Ricardo, so far you’ve had 5 days of waiting how are you dealing with it?
RC: “I’m just cruising, hanging with the friends and doing some computer work sometimes. Today as I saw the forecast I just rigged my smaller sales and sticker them up. Let's see what wind and waves bring in the next couple of days.”
PWA: Is playing the waiting game tough for you?
RC: “I try not to think about it much actually, I just try to stay relaxed and I just hope that when we do start they do it with the proper conditions, which so far this week Duncan has been pretty good with. We’ve had a little bit of wind but he didn't really push that much. There's a lot going on with the world title race and it could be like a gamble if the conditions are really bad but yeah, I’m just trying not to think about it and hopefully when we compete when It's good."
PWA: What do you make of the forecast?
RC: “I don't know, I definitely don’t think that we will have time to finish the double, which then adds even more pressure in the single will be even harder because if you mess it up, you are pretty much done with no second chance.
The wind is apparently looking good for Sunday when it looks like its going to be really windy. I just saw Adam [Lewis] and Jaeger [Stone] rigging their 3.3s. Hopefully it’s strong and good. Here you always have to take a bit bigger sail and a board with more volume because sometimes in the waves you get stuck. But yeah, I love competing here when it's windy and there are waves as you can properly surf and do big jumps. So it's cool. In Pozo sometimes you can go really high, but the wave riding is not the same. So I'm looking forward to, and crossing my fingers for, good conditions.”
PWA: Thanks, Ricardo. Good luck for Saturday and Sunday.
PWA: Hi Victor, what do you think's going to happen in the next couple of days?
VF: “I think it looks like tomorrow we might do the first and second round [of the single elimination] and I think that Sunday looks incredible to me. So I'm really positive to finish this weekend. The forecast is looking windy for Sunday, so I’m rigging all the way down to 4.0m for now and then I might rig my 3.7m tomorrow.
I think with the forecast the way it is then we’ll just run a single here I have the feeling that Duncan wants to run longer heats to get a good single elimination, rather than rushing through it and trying to start a double that we most likely won’t finish. There's no time, especially because in the last few days there hasn’t been any wind in the morning.”
PWA: Do you think just running a single puts more pressure on you?
VF: “Erm I don’t know. It obviously depends how you do. It could be really good or really bad for the guys currently on top depending how the single goes for them because there is no discard this year, so the results can/will have a big impact, but it’s the same for everyone so let's just see what happens.”
PWA; What are your tactics going to be?
VF: “I think equipment choice is critical here. It’s really important to be on the right sail and board because riding is super important here. I think if we run tomorrow then it’s probably only going to be one jump, so almost everything will be on the riding.”
PWA: Thanks, Victor. Good luck over the weekend.
So, heading into the weekend, Saturday looks as though we should see the Men’s Single Elimination resume, while the women should also enter the fray for the first time, while Sunday could provide a thrilling end to the competition with strong winds and solid waves currently expected. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 9am (GMT+1) tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 9:30am onwards - if conditions allow.