Gran Canaria PWA Windsurfing Grand Slam

July 3, 2023 Created by Chris Yates

Day 3: Foils dominate the fins as Blanca Alabau & Enrico Marotti take early event leads as Slalom finally returns to Pozo Izquierdo

Today was the day, that finally after 14 years World Cup Slalom returned to Pozo Izquierdo on day three of the Gran Canaria PWA Windsurfing Grand Slam as the world’s best racers took to the water for the first time this event in winds between 20-30 knots. At the start of the day, when the wind was stronger, there was a strong preference for most of the fleets to select the fin paired with 5.6-6.8s, but as the wind eased the foil quickly became the weapon of choice again, whilst those who were brave enough to take the foil in the earlier stronger winds reaped the rewards as they dominated proceedings as they lost nothing in a straight-line against the fins, whilst they had a huge speed advantage through the gybes.

It will now be interesting to see if one of the next two days produces winds in excess of 30 knots, whether the fin can still hold any advantage against the foils? Or whether perhaps the foil has now technically advanced so much that it has almost made the fin redundant?

For a while, it seemed the precarious launch with the foil may also be a limiting factor, but when the performance difference is so great it seemingly makes the risk reward worthwhile, particularly when the sailors were often working in at least pairs to enter and leave the water by separating the board and sail - therefore mitigating the risk. Will we now see almost everyone try and return to the foil for the next two days of racing?

Slalom

Women’s

Blanca Alabau (Starboard / Severne Sails) heads up the overnight rankings at the end of day one of the racing in Pozo after enjoying a fantastic day on the water. The Spaniard didn’t make the best start to the event as she only finished 7th in the opener, but then went from strength-to-strength as she signed off the day with two bullets, one of which included a thrilling photo finish with Marion Mortefon, a second and a third. Alabau opted for the foil throughout and that paid dividends - particularly towards the end of the day when the wind decreased. The real advantage was in the gybes as she ate up the ground when the fins would lose all of their speed and momentum. Alabau currently holds a 2.3 point advantage at the top of the rankings.

Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), who finished second in the Women’s Wave Single Elimination yesterday, is the only sailor to be competing in both disciplines and the Aruban is Alabau’s closest challenger at the close of play. The former 5-time Slalom World Champion was able to win Elimination 4, whilst she recorded a second and two thirds in the other races (currently discarding a 7th place) to be prominently placed heading into the remaining two days of racing.

Like Alabau, Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui / LOKEFOIL) recovered from a relatively slow start - 8th in the first elimination - to move back into the top 3 by the end of the opening day. Lemeteyer absolutely dominated the opening event of the year in Italy and started to look more comfortable once the wind dropped slightly during the afternoon - recording two second places - and with plenty of racing to come, plus discards, she could well still challenge for the event title. Lemeteyer is currently 6.6 points off the top of the rankings.

Reigning world champion - Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone) - made the perfect start as she claimed the opening bullet of the event, but then experienced a bit of a mediocre day after the 31-year-old was pipped to victory on the line in Elimination 3, she finished 6th on three other occasions, which leaves her with work to do heading into the last two days - currently 4th.

The top 5 is currently completed by Jenna Gibson (Fanatic / Duotone), who won the second elimination, but in reality she should have won both of the opening races after showing phenomenal top speed on the fin. The Brit was leading the opening race, but got confused when heading to the third buoy due to a spare buoy in the harbour distracting her, which caused her to sail to the wrong mark and ultimately cost her the bullet as she had already built a healthy lead by that point. Gibson is a point further back than Mortefon - currently 9.3 points off the top.

Men’s

Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde) bounced back from a couple of costly errors in Italy by barely putting a foot wrong on the opening day here to deservedly lead the overnight rankings. The Croat took the field apart in the first two eliminations as he opted for the foil, whilst many of his rivals opted for the fin, and that paid off handsomely with two clear-cut bullets, whilst a solid third in the last elimination of the day means the 32-year-old currently holds a healthy 7.6 point advantage over Maciek Rutkowski (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails), who is his closest challenger for now at least.

Rutkowski also opted for the foil throughout and comfortably booked his place in the Winners’ Final of the opening elimination, but jumped the gun to be disqualified and finish 8th. The reigning world champion, who is also the current World Tour leader, made a solid recovery by finishing second in both Elimination 2 and 3 and will now have a chance to discard that 8th place in the next elimination. The Pole led the last elimination until the final gybe, but ultimately couldn’t quite hold off Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Severne Sails).

Like Marotti and Rutkowski, Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) decided that the the foil would be best throughout and the fact that these three sailors complete the current top 3 speaks volumes for just how powerful and important the foil has become in racing. Prien is just a point further back than Rutkowski after recording a third and two fifths.

Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails) was one of the sailors who opted for the fin in the opening couple of races and the Italian demonstrated that he is still blisteringly quick on the fin as he recorded a third place in the opener, followed by a 5th in the next. With the wind dropping Iachino decided to switch to the foil in the third elimination, but after qualifying for the Winners’ Final, the former world champion was desperately unlucky to get a piece of rope around his foil at the start, which ultimately forced him to stop and surrender any chance of a top result. Iachino still finds himself in 4th overall after a solid opening day.

Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / Duotone) thrived upon the return to strong wind slalom as the flying Dutchman kicked off the event with two fourth places and a 10th to find himself in 5th after the first three races, whilst his teammates - Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins / Phantom Foils) and Jimmy Thieme (Fanatic / Duotone) currently occupy 6th and 7th - with the latter enjoying his best day ever on tour as the Frenchman qualified for all three Winners’ Finals - finishing 6th, 7th & 6th.

The top 10 is currently completed by Michele Becker (Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils), Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils) and Taty Frans (Future Fly / Point-7).

Bruno Martini (JP / NeilPryde) is another sailor who thrived being back on the fin as the Italian started the event with a second and a 9th place, however, with the wind dropping in the third Martini was eliminated in the quarterfinals which leaves him just outside the top 10 - 11th.

Elsewhere, Amado Vrieswijk will have been delighted to sign off the day with a bullet after out manoeuvring Rutkowski at the final buoy of Elimination 3 with a superb gybe. The Bonairean endured a terrible start to the event as he failed to progress from the quarterfinals of both of the first two eliminations, but with plenty of racing to come, victory in the last at least gives him a chance of still salvaging a decent result.

The focus for tomorrow will remain with the Slalom and with a similar forecast for today there should be another solid day of racing ahead, hopefully with slightly stronger wind as it predicted to be less cloudy than today. The Slalom fleets will meet again at 10am (GMT+1) tomorrow morning for the skippers’ meeting with the action commencing from 11am onwards.

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Current Ranking 2023 Gran Canaria PWA Windsurfing World Cup - Women’s Slalom

1st Blanca Alabau (ESP | Starboard / Severne Sails)
2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | FMX Racing / S2Maui / LOKEFOIL)
4th Marion Mortefon (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone)
5th Jenna Gibson (GBR | Fanatic / Duotone)

Current Ranking 2023 Gran Canaria PWA Windsurfing World Cup - Men’s Slalom

1st Enrico Marotti (CRO | JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Maciek Rutkowski (POL | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
3rd Nicolas Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
5th Jordy Vonk (NED | Fanatic / Duotone)
6th Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins / Phantom Foils)
7th Jimmy Thieme (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone)
8th Michele Becker (GER | Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils)
9th Alexandre Cousin (FRA | Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils)
10th Taty Frans (NB | Future Fly / Point-7)

Result 2023 Gran Canaria PWA Windsurfing World Cup - Women’s Wave Single Elimination

1st Daida Moreno (ESP | Bruch Boards / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Iballa Moreno (ESP | Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Justyna Sniady (POL | NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Isabel Trivino Delgado (ESP | Severne / Severne Sails)
5th Maria Navarro Morales (ESP | Goya Windsurfing)
5th Lina Erpenstein (GER | Severne / Severne Sails)
5th Sol Degrieck (BEL | Severne / Severne Sails)

Result 2023 Gran Canaria PWA Windsurfing World Cup - Men’s Wave Single Elimination

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