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| day [01] - wave
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| September, 21st 2003
The Labello, Sylt, PWA, Grand Slam opened up in style today by kicking off with two rounds of spectacular men’s wave action. After blowing 25 knots from the northwest this morning, the wind eventually dropped below the level required to continue official competition leaving sixteen sailors through into the third round. With bright sunshine and spectacular windsurfing on today’s menu here in Northern Germany, the crowds turned up in their thousands to check out the show.
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| Sailing conditions today here in Sylt were tricky with the wind blowing almost bolt onshore, a strong current and two to three feet waves breaking extremely close to the shore. In the opening heats many sailors were finding it tough just making it out through the gnarly shore break. German sailor Andy Wolff (Neil Pryde) was munched on his first attempt to launch for his heat and emerged from the water with a broken mast. Luckily his caddy was on hand to hand him his spare rig. Less than a minute later Wolff was pummeled again and now two masts down with no spare on hand to compete with. He eventually borrowed a sail from Erik Troothside (Mistral, North) of Holland but lost his heat against Arnon Dagan (Fanatic) of Israel. Also a victim of the shore break this morning was French sailor Antoine Albeau (AHD, Neil Pryde) who failed to make it out through the waves in his heat against Steve Allen (Neil Pryde, Fanatic) of Australia.
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|  | | | Victor Fernandez | |
Advancing on the top half of the ladder were Victor Fernandez (Fanatic), Matt Pritchard (Gaastra), Marcos Perez, Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Neil Pryde), Kauli Seadi (AHD, Naish), Scott Mckercher (Starboard), Greg Allaway (JP, Neil Pryde) and Kevin Pritchard (Gaastra, Starboard). Mckercher had one of the toughest heats of the day, sailing against German sailor Bernd Flessner (F2, Neil Pryde). Flessner managed to bust out several high forward loops but the Aussie replied with a perfect back loop, a tweaked out table top and a series of aggressive wave rides. Current overall wave champion, Kevin Pritchard advanced comfortably over British opponent John Hibbard (Starboard) in the second round by nailing two huge back loops and a sick table top. Pritchard is now seeded to meet Australian wave specialist Greg Allaway in the third round.
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|  | | | Jason Polakow | |
On the bottom half of the ladder the final eight sailors to advance were Jason Polakow (JP, Neil Pryde), Josh Angulo, Patrice Belbeoch, Jonas Ceballos (Gaastra, Fanatic), Orjan Jensen (North), Klaas Voget (Arrows, Fanatic), Julien Taboulet (Neil Pryde, JP) and Vidar Jensen (North). Patrice Belbeoch of France took the major scalp of the first round by beating Levi Siver (Starboard) of America. Siver was another victim of the shore break and spent much of the heat struggling in the surf while Belbeoch was out on the water racking up the points. Klaas Voget of Germany also caused a shock in the second round when he defeated Britain’s Robby Swift (JP, Neil Pryde). The heat was held in borderline but suitable conditions and Swift struggled to plane or find the necessary ramps to complete his scorecard. The big line up which is set to take place in the third round is the meeting between Hawaiian wave warrior, Josh Angulo and Aussie wave guru Jason Polakow. Both sailors are capable of winning the event and no doubt this heat will be a major battle if conditions co-operate tomorrow.
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|  | | | Klaas Voget | |
Vidar Jensen who is currently ranked number one in the world also made it through to the third round in the final heat of the day against Dutch sailor Pieter Bijl. Jensen will face Julien Taboulet of France in the third round and will be going hard as he continues his bid take the overall world title.
The wind is forecast to be light first thing tomorrow but then picking up from the south west by late afternoon. As we have already experienced today nothing is certain here in Germany when it comes to wind and waves. There are several low pressure systems out in the Atlantic which could easily change course so both race and wave sailors are on standby ready for action tomorrow morning.
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Autor: pwa, Pix: Carter | |
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