SOMWR Movement 10 x Marignane PWA Grand Slam
With a similar forecast as Monday for Day 5 of the SOMWR Movement 10 x Marignane PWA Grand Slam, presented by Greentech Festival, there wasn’t too much hope surrounding the mid-point of the event. However, as always, there is always a chance of the forecast being wrong. So, whilst Day 5 still didn’t allow any results to be gained, there was at least some progress with a late flurry of wind in the late afternoon allowing the Men’s Slalom to begin.
Men’s
Slalom
After very light winds for much of the day, around 4pm, the wind shifted slightly to the right and opened up the possibility of some late racing. The wind was only ever around 4-9 knots, but that’s where the beauty of foiling comes in as that is the threshold required to allow the best sailors in the world to race.
At 4:30pm the red flag was raised, meaning racing would be underway for the first time in Marignane in 2021. Unfortunately, the opening heat had to be cancelled, but Heat 2 was completed successfully, which saw Rytis Jasiunas (Future Fly / Point-7) win the heat ahead of - 19-year-old - Michal Polak (RRD / RRD Sails) - Scotty Scolmann (Starboard / Severne) - both of whom are making their debuts on the world tour, and Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde), who claimed the final qualifying spot ahead of Benjamin Augé (Starboard / Severne).
Heat 3 also began, but the wind proved unsuitable, so with the fading light, the decision was made to bring the day to a close. The good news is that the forecast for Wednesday is much better than today.
Head Judge, Duncan Coombs, gives his outlook for Wednesday: “The forecast for tomorrow gives 15-22 knots in the gusts from the NNW. Going off of what we’ve had so far I think there will be way more wind at Carro than Le Jaï. We stand more chance of getting more wind in Carro I think, but the wind will be offshore, so the action will be far out. We still have a better chance of competing there than here (Le Jaï), so that’s why we’ve called the Freestyle skippers’ meeting at Carro tomorrow morning at 8am (GMT+1). Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the single elimination for the Men and Women done.”
Earlier in the day a meeting was held to discuss the climate and the impact that we are having as humans on the planet. As you are hopefully aware by now, the SOMWR Movement 10 x Marignane PWA Grand Slam, is the first event to not just be Carbon neutral, but to be Carbon positive by 10 times. To hear more about this we caught up with Tasmin Chilcott, who is the Environmental Project Manager for Starboard & SOMWR, who had this to say: “Today we held our panel discussion to talk about how we can use sporting events for a better future. As a quick round up we are hoping to use 4 main windsurfing events to create environmental action over the next year together and show how it can be economical, and how it can benefit the whole event and the community,”
We also caught up with Matthias Neumann, who is the longterm organiser of the PWA Sylt Windsurf World Cup: “To try and make an easy summary, this is all of us who feel, not only the responsibility, but also the great chance we have to use an international event as a platform to raise awareness for climate action. This is what we need. As windsurfers we are so close to nature, so we more than anyone can understand the importance of promoting positive work towards battling climate action.”
With the more positive forecast to come for tomorrow - with 14-26 knots NNW winds - currently predicted the skippers’ meeting for the Freestyle fleet will be held in Carro at 8am (GMT+1) tomorrow morning - with the action commencing from 8:30am onwards. Meanwhile, the Slalom fleet will meet again at 10am, in Le Jaï, with a first possible start at 10:30am, whilst the Wave fleet will also meet at Carro at 9am for their skippers’ meeting.