Jun 21, 2021
World’s top racers battled it out in Israel for the first event in over 18 months. Victory for the Slalom Men went to Nicolas Goyard, and in the Women’s Slalom Sarah-Quita Offringa came in with a bang.
Finally the PWA World Cup has begun in Tiberias, Israel, after 18 months of inactivity. We witnessed some of the highest quality racing and will be able to enjoy the competition from the 21st-25th of June.
Tiberias is located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee - a two-hour drive north from Jerusalem. Founded in 20CE by Herod Antipas and named in honour of the Roman Emperor, Tiberias has been of great importance both in Judaism and Christianity. However, nowadays it is the host of the modern generations who cross the water in the latest hi-tech equipment.
With regular thermal winds of 18-30 knots, the start of the race got delayed by 45 minutes until conditions were appropriate for the race. Local knowledge says the wind normally kicks in from 2pm onwards, however this time the competition had to wait until 2:45 for the start.
These conditions also caused the delay and resail of several heats of the competition. In the Men’s Slalom, Heat 4 had to resail after Heat 5 and sailors decided to change their foil for fin during the competition as conditions changed.
In the men’s slalom division athletes battled it out during 7 heats before deciding the positions of the first day of racing in the Men’s Winner’s Final and Losers’ Final. Only the top 4 athletes advanced to the Winner’s Final.
The Men’s Losers’ Final had to be delayed due to the wind, however when it started, Martini nailed the start as Iachino and Vrieswijk followed behind. Throughout the race Iachino closed distance with Martini and ended up in the first position. Final results are 1st Iachino, 2nd Martini, 3rd Vrieswijk and 4th Huppert.
In the Men’s Winners Final 1 a similar fate occurred: sailors had to resail as conditions got worse during the racing. Goyard had begun with an advantage during the first sail before another wind shift caused the committee to decide to resail the competition.
In the second attempt, Goyard was still well placed with Marotti, Albeau and Rutkowski following behind. However, Goyard flew across the water with almost no competition. Results were 1st Goyard, 2nd Marotti, 3rd Daldorf, 4th Rutkowski, 5th Jacquin, 6th Mortefon, 7th Cousin and 8th Albeau.
In the Women’s Elimination One, Offringa began by setting the pace down the opening ahead of Brødholt, Cousin Questel and Mortefon. However, the Women’s Elimination 1 also had to resail due to a wind shift.
Offringa flew down the opening reach again, however Mortefon quickly gained advantage and Offringa got into a second position followed closely by Jackson and Cousin Questel. As they entered the second hype, Offringa started leading as she went deeper than Mortefon.
Final results are 1st Offringa, 2nd Mortefon, 3rd Cousin Questel 4th Jackson, 5th Alabau, 6th Judd and 7th Steinberg. This concluded the opening day of the PWA World Cup in Tiberias with one elimination completed in the Men’s and Women’s Slalom.
This windsurf world championship will decide the world champion of the sport in an exciting event filled with adrenaline rushes. We will be broadcasting highlights of the competition on Nautical Channel. For more information on when we will be broadcasting, follow this link.