Torbole PWA World Cup
The inaugural day of the 2023 Torbole PWA World Cup saw a quiet start to proceedings with a thick layer of cloud engulfing Lake Garda and preventing the usually reliable local thermal effect from kicking in. Earlier in the day a total of 61 sailors - 50 men and 11 women - signed up for the upcoming contest.
With the wind remaining light throughout we took the opportunity to quickly catchup with last year’s World No.3 - Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde).
Hey Enrico, you had a great finish to last year winning your first event on the tour…
“Yeah, it was a nice, amazing feeling. And it was a great experience. It's why we are train and work so hard. It's nice to see that it pays off.”
Does that give you more confidence coming into this year having won the event?
“It's new a year, everything is new. So we work hard on our equipment with Neil Pryde sails, NeilPryde Foils and with JP boards. So I train a lot in the winter. And I feel good. So I just have to focus on my sailing. Let's see what what will happen this season, it will definitely be interesting. There are new rules for this season, which means we can have only two wings. I already saw at registration that people are choosing really different wind sizes. So yeah, let's see, in the end it's a compromise. I think we have really good equipment, I feel ready to fight and it will come down to me focusing on my sailing and sailing as I know and as I can. So I’ll try to do that consistently and just see.”
And in terms of winter training what were you doing and where were you?
"I was in Tenerife for three and a half months and we were training very hard there, tuning the equipment etc. When I came home I was also 10 days here in Lake Garda to be here a little bit earlier in the month. I feel good. I feel ready, I feel excited to be back on the racing course and especially to be here in Garda, it's a beautiful place that provides us wind. At the moment we don't have such a good forecast, but it's something we cannot influence and we shouldn't worry about - it's nature, it's why we love it so much because it's unpredictable. In the end we just try to adapt the best we can to the situation and make the event happen. We all know it's a windy place, so even if there is not much wind, we will still try to do something and I’m definitely sure we will still race."
This is one of the few events where it's freshwater rather than saltwater. Do you think that makes a lot of difference?
"Definitely it's a bit different place you know it's fast place, it's fast water, so it will be interesting to watch to follow, and it will be also interesting to race because it is a bit different. I believe you need to tune your gear differently and you need to adapt, but I'm sure all the guys did that and all the all the guys adapt. Everyone is prepared because most of us came here quite early. We are already and I believe it will be quite an interesting event."
A lot of people at home like to know what you guys are riding… So what equipment have you registered?
"I have registered the following:
Six sails: 8.7m, 7.7m, 6.7m, 5.7m and 5.1m for Foil say and for the thin sails a 5.6m
Boards I registered a 88 Hydrofoil JP, 81 Hydrofoil JP and 62.5. Slalom fin board
For the foils I registered an 82 front wing, 72 front wing, and 95 NeilPryde mast, the fuselage is 105 and 95 and the back wings are 380 and 400."
Thanks, Enrico. Good luck for the event.
The forecast for tomorrow still currently predicts relatively heavy cloud cover and further rain, but some of the locals think there is a chance of wind in the morning, so an early skippers’ meeting has been called for 7am (GMT+2) with the action commencing from 7:45am onwards - if conditions are suitable.
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