Riviera Guadeloupe PWA Windsurf World Cup

Guadeloupe may not have quite provided the conditions everyone dreamed of for the event with unfortunately only one windy day out of five, but thankfully, Day 3 did allow three eliminations to be completed in a wide range of conditions, which provided a stern all-round test for the world’s best racers. Ultimately though, there was nothing anyone could do to prevent reigning world champion - Justine Lemeteyer (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) - and former two-time world champion - Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails) powering to victory as they make the perfect start to the season. 

Foil Slalom 

Women’s

Justine Lemeteyer made the perfect start to her world title defence as she claimed a hard fought, but dominant victory. The 22-year-old was able to win four out of the six eliminations completed, while she finished second in the other two races to show she’s the one that everyone else has to beat over the remainder of the season. Lemeteyer has also made a seamless transition onto her new PATRIK gear having changed sponsors during the winter. We caught up with Justine after making a great start to the season:

Hi Justine, you had to deal with all of the pressure being the world champion, but you smashed it, how good does it feel to make such a dominant opening performance on your new gear?

It’s absolutely amazing to be starting the season that way, I am super happy! It was indeed a new pressure to come on an opening season event and being last year’s world champion. But all the hard work I’ve done with my mental coach helped me a lot this week. I was feeling confident about my sailing and I am really thankful to Antho (my coach) for his support. 

I am also proud to be starting my partnership with PATRIK this way. It’s a dreamy week that just happened.

Lina [Eržen] was obviously pushing you hard - did that make you change your start line approach? Or were you confident enough to trust your speed?

Yes, Lina was fast and I was expecting her to be, I knew she would be here pushing hard and she did just that. I was confident about my speed, so I was trying to take good starts without taking the risk of being over early and then going full speed down the first reach to try and come out of the gybe in first and that worked. So super happy about the new PATRIK gear’s top speed.

How much confidence does it give you for the rest of the season?

I was coming into Guadeloupe with the confidence of being last year’s world champion, but I knew winning the first event here was also important for my mind, so I can look back at that event during the season and get the confidence that I can win races. So yes, that was important for me, also because we’re in the French Caribbean and that gave me even more motivation to win. Now I’m looking forward to the upcoming events and upcoming fights for the title.

Thanks, Justine and congrats again on a great start to the season.

Lemeteyer’s main rival here was Lina Eržen (Starboard / S2Maui / Starboard Foils), who showed that she was more than willing to try and really take it to the reigning world champion. The Slovenian briefly led the event after winning the second elimination and was able to secure one more bullet in Elimination 5, before she lost a bit of momentum after going over the start line early in Elimination 6, which proved to be the last elimination of the contest. Eržen still boasts a 100% podium record from her opening three racing events having won on her debut in Japan in 2023, while she finished second there last year and starts the year with an excellent second place here and looks to be a genuine title contender. 

Blanca Alabau (WeOne / Severne Sails) recovered from a slightly slow start to the event to secure the last place on the prestigious podium. The 2023 world champion admitted that she had lost a bit of confidence after losing her foil while training in Guadeloupe in the build up to the event, but she managed to claim three top three finishes in the last four eliminations to climb into third.

Alabau just pips Femke van der Veen (Starboard / Severne Sails) to third with just a point separating them. The 24-year-old claimed second place in Elimination 6, but unfortunately for her there was no further racing, but fourth still represents a bright start to the season. 

15-year-old Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde) completes the top five after just edging out Mae Davico (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) with just a point separating them after six eliminations. 

Men’s 

Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails) made the best start to a season of his career as the Italian reeled off a flawless hat-trick on Day 3 to finish the event on a perfect score of 2.1 points. Iachino’s victory is made even more dominant by the fact that he didn’t just win every single final, but he won every single heat that he sailed at the event across a wide range of conditions, which must give him tremendous confidence for the remainder of the season, while breathing fear into his rivals. The 35-year-old has a wealth of experience and after such a great start he’ll undoubtedly have a third world crown in his cross-hairs. 

Pierre Mortefon (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils) makes a solid start to his world title defence as the Frenchman sailed with his usual supreme consistency, but he couldn’t quite find enough, on this occasion, to land a blow against his longtime rival, Iachino. The reigning world champion looked on it throughout the event as he finished second in all three eliminations to finish as Iachino’s closest challenger and he’s set a solid foundation on which to build for the rest of the year. 

As a former Foil vice-world champion it perhaps shouldn’t come as much of a shock to see Alexandre Cousin (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) back on the event podium, but this represents his first top 10 result since May 2023, so it’s a great start to the season. The 36-year-old produced several miraculous comebacks to evade quarterfinal exits and then he truly compounded those efforts by recording two third places and a sixth to deservedly complete the podium.

Jordy Vonk (Duotone Windsurfing) just misses out on the podium in the opening event of the season, but fourth place still represents a big step forward as it is the flying Dutchman’s best result at a foiling event, which should breed confidence for the rest of the year. Vonk had just got towards the top of the sport in fin slalom before foiling entered the fray, but it seems like he’s now ready to battle It out for the top positions whether he’s armed with a fin or foil. 

Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Point-7 / Z-Foils) and Maciek Rutkowski (JP / NeilPryde) make solid, if unspectacular, starts to the season - finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. Both men are potential world title contenders, but after each qualifying for all three Winners’ Finals, neither sailor was able to nail a top result - with Vrieswijk’s best finish being a fifth and Rutkowski’s a sixth. It’s a solid start to the season, but they’ll be fully aware that they’ll need to improve if they want to keep their name in the world title conversation. 

William Huppert (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils), who finished 12th overall in 2024, starts the season with a solid eighth place. The Frenchman was extremely consistent with results of a fourth, a ninth and a tenth. 

Young Talent Starts to Rise to the Top

Racing is undoubtedly a discipline where experience is certainly key, but in Guadeloupe a number of younger sailors are starting to make their impression on the world stage. Alexis Mathis (Tabou / GA Sails) - 22- finished in the overall top ten last year, so it perhaps isn’t much of a surprise to see him finish seventh here. 

However, after Mathis, there are a number of other fledgling talents starting to make their mark, namely; Benoit Merceur (Starboard / Severne Sails) - 23 - who secures his first top ten finish - 9th. Sem Stroosma (Tabou / GA Sails) - 21 - who looks to have taken a massive step forwards over the winter with the Dutchman not only earning his first top 10 finish, but also qualifying for his first Winners’ Final to cap a great event. 

Meanwhile, 19-year-old, Sacha Fortune (Duotone Windsurfing), just misses out on the top 10 in eleventh, but clearly looks to have a very bright future. Scotty Stallman (Tabou / GA Sails / F4 Foils) - 23 - finished level on points with Fortune, but has to settle for 12th on countback, while Lars Poggemann (S2Maui / F4 Foils) - 24 - finishes 13th - just half a point further back. The German suffered two quarterfinal exits in the openers before clicking into gear in the third to qualify for his first Winners’ Final, where he finished sixth. 

Back to the Drawing Board

Last year’s vice-world champion made a solid enough start to the event with a decent seventh place in the opening race, but then the wheels fell off as the Italian suffered back-to-back quarterfinal exits to plummet to a lowly 22nd place. Benedetti won one event and didn’t finish outside the top four in the other two last year, but will now have to quickly regroup. The positive note is that if he can get back on track in the Canaries, then he should still be able to discard this result come the end of the season, but there’s now not much room for error. 

While Guadeloupe may not have provided the five days of racing we all craved, it’s potential is abundantly clear and everyone from the PWA would like to pass on a heartfelt thanks to Tristan Algret and his team for their efforts in making the event happen. Without them, none of this would be possible and we are already looking forward to returning next year - where hopefully the wind gods are more on our side. 

Where’s Next on the PWA World Tour?

The World Tour will be heading to the Dutch Antilles at the end of May and beginning of June with two Youth racing events in Aruba and Bonaire. The Pro Tour will be back in July - kicking off with the Gran Canaria PWA World Cup on the 5th July, which will see the wave sailing and racing fleets in action once again. 

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Current Event Ranking 2025 Riviera Guadeloupe PWA Windsurf World Cup - Women’s Foil Slalom
*After 6 Eliminations (1 Discard)

1st Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
2nd Lina Eržen (SLO | Starboard / S2Maui / Starboard Foils)
3rd Blanca Alabau (ESP | WeOne / Severne Sails)
4th Femke van der Veen (NED | Starboard / Severne Sails)
5th Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (NB | Starboard / NeilPryde)

Current Event Ranking 2025 Riviera Guadeloupe PWA Windsurf World Cup - Men’s Foil Slalom
*After 3 Eliminations 

1st Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
3rd Alexandre Cousin (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
4th Jordy Vonk (NED | Duotone Windsurfing)
5th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Point-7 / Z-Foils)
6th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | JP / NeilPryde)
7th Alexis Mathis (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
8th William Huppert (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
9th Benoit Merceur (FRA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
10th Sem Stroosma (NED | Tabou / GA Sails)