Today, (day 4 of the first event) the wind finally came through in Reggio at around 16:30. Mens heats 1 to 13 were successfully staged before the wind finally died cutting heat 14 short. The surviving sailors who will be in the winner/loser finals are as follows (in no particular order) - Van der Steen, Diethelm, Menegatti, Albeau, Diaz, Volwater, Questel, Costa Hoevel, Dagan, Toselli, Angulo, Dunkerbeck and Quentel. Micah had a DNF in the first round (big sail too small Micah?) and Cyril also went out (big surprise because he usually shines in light winds)
Steve Allen, Bora Kozanoglu and Taty Frans were all disqualified in the late stages of the racing. All over early and every one of them on a Starboard ISonic 117 Wide. This is an interesting board - very thin, very wide for its volume and extremely light. The acceleration of the board off the mark is explosive and this must make it really difficult to judge one's start when in the company of normal big slalom machines. Real bad luck for these guys today but a useful demonstration for anyone looking for a light wind rocket ship. One awesome and special board - thank you Starboard!
Another point of interest is the performance of the Point 7 AC1 Race sail with both Josh Angulo and Pascal Toselli stamping their authority on their respective heats. I am a little disappointed with the performance of the new Avanti sails but both riders are through to the finals (no mean feat) so let's wait and see.
These are early days in the tour of course and all manner of place changes will occur as the racing continues over the coming months.
Speak to you soon
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