Cedric Bordes wins the Swiss Cup Hyeres- Interview

Cedric Bordes wins the Swiss Cup Slalom competition in Hyeres, Almanarre Beach (France). Cedric Bordes says: “I am really happy and suprised to win like that! But it will be a completely other story in one month in South Korea!”

More than 45 knots of wind, 80 participants from 15 countries, 5 eliminations, beautiful sunshine, VW as new main sponsor and tough action. This was the Swiss Cup in Almanarre. Many world cup riders participated and used the event to prepare for the upcoming season. More than 15 Worldcup riders (Vincent Langer, Cedric Bordes, Patrik Diethelm, Karin Jaggi, Matteo Iachino, Gunnar Assmussen, Marco Lang and Ludovic Jossin) took part and dominated the races against the mostly amateur Swiss riders.

Some riders had to give up the competition as they did now have access to sails smaller than 7m. And it got even stronger and more radical on Sunday. An average of 40 knots with gusts over 50 allowed a lot of spectacular races. According to the riders the waves were more problematic than the strong wind. They had to use all their experience and talent to perform in these conditions. Small sails, short fins, little boards, everything for more control. Patrik Diethlem even claimed that he had never before participated in a Slalom race with a 4.9m sail!

Read our interview with Cedric Bordes below.

Cedric Bordes dominated the Swiss Cup 2013, a radical highwind Slalom.

Cedric Bordes dominated the event

28 year old Cédric Bordes (Tabou/Gaastra) from South of France proved to be the quickest, followed by the Swiss Italian Worldcupper Patrik Diethelm (Patrik/Loftsails). Matteo Iachino (F2/Challenger), the European Champion 2012, was a strong contender finishing third. The best non PWA rider was Swiss allround talent Baptiste Beer (SUI 166, Patrik/North), who finished in the excellent 8th position.

C7: Please describe the conditions during the Swiss Cup?

Cedric Bordes: It was onshore wind in the famous spot of Almanarre. We got 25/35 knots on Saturday and the 35/45 knots and some strong gusts during Sunday. It was sometimes more wind than in Pozo!

C7: What are the reasons you dominated the event?

Cedric Bordes: I felt more confident for sure. It is just the beginning of a long season and we will see later how it is going! I am now French agent for Tabou/Gaastra in France so I have several aspects of the business to take care. That means I need a perfect daily organisation to be able to do everything and get a lot of time on the water.

C7: Is the performance of your gear the same like last year?

Cedric Bordes: I think we worked hard last year with Ross to improve acceleration and low end of ours sails. We spent a lot of time on the beach for testing and re-testing and the results are here now! I don’t think to be really faster compared to last year, but I have much more range of use in my gear so I can go where I want to start or choose the best curve in a jibe without being worried to lose planing. And this is very important. So I can be now concentrated much more on the race only than last year.

C7: Did you already compare your speed with really fast riders like Antoine or Ben van der Steen?

Cedric Bordes: I was super busy this winter with testing for Tabou freeride/freerace/freewave and some waves board and also ERD fins so I don’t really tested my own personal slalom gear! I just got all my gear 2 weeks ago and all seems to work well! I sailed mainly with Pascal Toselli, who joined the Tabou team and also a bit with Antoine before he flew to Maui.

C7: Which board and sail sizes will you register for the PWA?

Cedric Bordes: I will register the 6 Gaastra Vapor from 9,5 to 5,6 and Tabou Manta 85/71/61. In Almanarre I used the 61, it was the good choice even if in this crazy conditions 59 would have been great, too.

C7: Are you one of the top contenders for the PWA podiums?

Cedric Bordes: Not at all! I will continue to do my best and I am happy about the direction of Gaastra products and team with the venue of Ben and all the work we have done with Ross and Peter Munzlinger to have good production riggs. The new season looks exciting to me!!