Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt
Yesterday’s light winds were replaced by 18-30 knot winds from the east-southeast on day four of the 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt, which saw the temperature plummet, despite the wall-to-wall sunshine, with there being a real bite to the wind. After five hours of racing three eliminations for the men and five eliminations for the women have been completed, though it wasn’t all plain sailing with the gusty nature of the wind, choppy water, current and seaweed all causing havoc. At the close of play it is Johan Søe (FMX Racing / Point-7) and Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui), who head up the current Foil Slalom rankings.
Foil Slalom
Women’s
Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui) dominated the racing in Fuerteventura earlier this summer and the current World Tour leader made a similarly dominant start here in Sylt as she quickly reeled off a hat-trick. Lemeteyer was then leading Elimination 4, but while sailing overpowered she fell while approaching the second buoy. However, that is the only blemish on an otherwise perfect scorecard as she quickly rattled off another clinical bullet in Elimination 5. It looks like Lemeteyer has an extra gear available to her when needed and she used that to almost perfect effect. The vice-world champion holds a 3.9 point advantage at the top of the event rankings after the opening five eliminations and it looks as though she will be incredibly difficult to stop here.
Marion Mortefon (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) is Lemeteyer’s closest challenger at the close of play after recording a bullet and four second places, while reigning world champion, Blanca Alabau (Starboard / Severne Sails) completes the top three after a second place and four thirds.
Meanwhile, 14-year-old Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde) is currently ranked fourth overall after earning her best result to date in Elimination 4 - third - while she is yet to finish outside the top five.
Men’s
Johan Søe (FMX Racing / Point-7 / PATRIK Foils) is making his first appearance of the season, after concentrating on his Olympic campaign, and the opening day of racing couldn’t have gone much better for the Dane, who recorded two bullets from the three eliminations completed, while he finished third in Elimination 2. Søe looked quick in a straight line and controlled through the gybes and it seemed as though he could step on the gas when he needed it to power to the front of the pack.
However, despite a brilliant start, Søe has almost zero breathing room with Bruno Martini (JP / NeilPryde) enjoying a similarly excellent start to proceedings with a bullet and two second places. At the end of the first day of racing just 0.3 of a point separate the two heavyweights. Martini’s second place in the opening race is made all the more remarkable due to the fact he managed to stay on his feet despite having Pierre Mortefon’s (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils) harness line wrapped around his neck as they crossed the line, which thankfully only resulted in Martini losing his helmet, as things could’ve obviously worked out a heck of a lot worse. Martini produced a superb gybe at the last buoy in Elimination 3 to overtake Goyard N. which could yet prove pivotal in deciding the outcome of the event.
Like Søe, Nicolas Goyard (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils) is also making his first appearance of the season and the Frenchman completes the current event top three, although he is currently tied on 13 points with teammate, Pierre Mortefon. After finishing eighth in the opening elimination, Goyard then improved with a second and a third, so the discard, which comes into play after the completion of the next elimination, could see him considerably reduce the deficit to Søe and Martini. Meanwhile, Mortefon sailed very consistently with two fourth places and a fifth.
All of the top six sailors boast a 100% qualifying record for the winners’ finals, but Daniele Benedetti (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails) rode his luck in the opening elimination to be part of that group as the Italian was out of the qualifying places in the second semifinal. However, both Michele Becker (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) and Fabian Wolf (Starboard / Severne Sails) got lifted in the tricky conditions, which allowed the current World Tour leader to secure the last qualifying position - eventually going on to finish third - his best result of the day - followed by a sixth and a seventh to be ranked fifth in the current event rankings.
Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) is the the last sailor to still hold the 100% qualifying record. The German kind of glided under the radar, but enjoyed a solid start to the event with a fifth and two sevenths.
Jordy Vonk (Duotone Windsurfing) completes the opening day of racing ranked in seventh place, while Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Severne Sails), who was competing with a broken foil box still manages to be ranked eight despite some seriously heavy crashes and living life on the edge.
The top ten is currently completed by Thomas Goyard (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) - ninth - and Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails), who endured a disastrous start to the event after dropping his opening gybe in the first elimination, before finishing 11th in the next. The reigning world champion bounced back with a fourth in the last elimination of the day to keep his hopes of a revival alive, but will be aware that he can’t afford any other hiccups.
The saving grace for Iachino in terms of the world title race is that his current main rivals, Benedetti, Mortefon and Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde) also currently aren’t in the very top positions with Benedetti fifth, Mortefon fourth and Marotti down in 15th, so the damage is not as bad as it potentially could be.
Elsewhere - John Soukos (RRD / RRD Sails) - recorded his best result to date in the Foil Slalom division as he did superbly to hold off a late charge by Amado Vrieswijk to win the b-final of Elimination 3 to end the day on a high.
The forecast for Tuesday currently predicts 20-33 knot winds again, which is expected to slowly turn more east throughout the day, so there’s a chance tomorrow may start with more racing, before potentially switching to Freestyle. However, that decision will be made tomorrow based on the conditions. The Foil Slalom fleets will meet again at 9am (GMT+2) with a first possible start at 10am, while the Freestyle fleet will have their skippers’ meeting at 10am with a first possible start at 10:30am.
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Current Ranking 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Women’s Foil Slalom
*After 5 Eliminations (1 Discard)
1st Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | FMX Racing / S2Maui)
2nd Marion Mortefon (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
3rd Blanca Alabau (ESP | Starboard / Severne Sails)
4th Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (NB | Starboard / NeilPryde)
5th Femke van der Veen (NED | Starboard / Severne Sails)
Current Ranking 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Foil Slalom
*After 3 Eliminations
1st Johan Søe (DEN | FMX Racing / Point-7 / PATRIK Foils)
2nd Bruno Martini (ITA | JP / NeilPryde)
3rd Nicolas Goyard (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
4th Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
5th Daniele Benedetti (ITA | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
6th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
7th Jordy Vonk (NED | Duotone Windsurfing
8th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Severne Sails)
9th Thomas Goyard (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
10th Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
Result 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Women’s Wave
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Alexia Kiefer Quintana (ESP | Duotone Windsurfing)
3rd Sol Degrieck (BEL | Severne / Severne Sails)
4th Lina Erpenstein (GER | Severne / Severne Sails)
5th Maria Behrens (GER | Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Justyna Sniady (POL | North Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Maria Morales (ESP | Goya Windsurfing)
5th Coraline Foveau (FRA | Flikka / GUNSAILS)
Result 2024 Citroën Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Wave
1st Marc Paré (ESP | Simmer / Simmer Sails)
2nd Marcilio Browne (BRA | Goya Windsurfing)
3rd Victor Fernandez (ESP | Duotone Windsurfing)
4th Antoine Martin (FRA | Starboard / North Windsurfing)
5th Robby Swift (UK | JP / NeilPryde)
5th Philip Köster (GER | Severne / Severne Sails / Black Project Fins)
5th Marino Gil {ESP (JP / NeilPryde)
5th Miguel Chapuis (ESP | Flikka / North Windsurfing)
9th Thomas Traversa (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Dieter Van der Eyken (BEL | Severne Windsurfing / Black Project Fins)
9th Henri Kolberg (GER | Naish / Naish Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
9th Liam Dunkerbeck (ESP | Starboard / Severne Sails / Black Project Fins)
9th Titouan Flechet (FRA | Tabou / Hot Sails Maui)
9th Jules Denel (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Takuma Sugi (JPN | Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins)
9th Morgan Noireaux (HI | JP / NeilPryde / Black Project Fins)