The Wavecompetition – Ben Severne on top of the podium
The first day of the Lancelin Ocean Classic saw some spectacular windsurfing conditions ideal for the Wave competition with winds of 15 knots and 3m swell. During the heats the top riders landed big stalled Forwards, Backloops and Pushloops as well as some spectacular wave riding. Tenerife resident Adam Lewis from the UK landed 2 amazing double Forward loops. The crowd on the beach and the judges got excited!
In the Elite division Ben Severne did some superb wave sailing to beat Peter Volwater in the semi final and went onto face Ben Proffitt in the final. It was a very close heat, but Ben Severne took home the Macquire trophy at the presentations on Saturday 12th Jamuary.
Ben stated after the comp: “We had great conditions, way better than forecast. In the heats I was against Peter Volwater I got lucky and it all came together, that’s as good as it gets. After the long heats when I met Proffitt in the final my energy levels were low, I only had about 20 – 30 minutes worth of energy all I could think of was hanging on so I could get back for a beer.”
Dan Engdahl just beat Jonah Desforges in the Masters final, James McCarthy Price beat Peter Tomsett to be the Open champion. In the ladies final we saw two very experienced PWA sailors. Karin Jaggi, who lives most of the year at Margereth River beat world class freestyler and wavesailor Laure Treboux, who spends most of the winter in Australia.
Saturday January 12th 2013 – The Marathon from Ledge Point to Lancelin with Steve Allen and Karin Jaggi on top
More than 100 sailors arrived at ledge point from 8am for the Lancelin Ocean Classic marathon. Jet Ski West put on a an entertaining demonstration for the crowds of people waiting to see some of the world’s best windsurfers take to the water.
The start from the Ledge Point.
Bjorn Dunkerbeck said “People ask why I come back to Lancelin each year, it’s a great event I like to do it, I can mix with international competitors and amateurs alike” Bjorn visits Western Australia a couple of times a year, the first was in 1986. He travelsed up the WA coastline spending a great time in Gnarloo. Just before the race Bjorn was helping people out with their sails and getting involved with all competitors on the beach, it’s a great inspiration.
Sailors were preparing to use big sails on the course when in standard Lancelin Ocean Classic style, at midday, the winds came in SSW and built up to 24 knots just before the race. The elites were the first released and Peter Volwater, who won in 2012, got off to a great start with one of the smallest sails a 6.9 m. In the end it was a really close race between Peter Volwater, Steve Allen, Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Gunnar Asmussen and Jesper throughout the whole course. All 5 are competing on thePWA and were fighting for the topspots this time.
Jesper Orth, Steve Allen and Björn Dunkerbeck ready for the start (Pic: KA Sails).
The winds were picking up which the sailors were not expecting. Even coming towards the finish line it was one of the closest races we have seen in a while. After a gruelling 25 minutes the winners crossed the line with Steve Allen in 1st place in 24 minutes 48 seconds, Peter Volwater in 2nd place in 25 minutes and Bjorn Dunkerbeck in 3rd place in 25 minutes 30 seconds. 4th was German Gunner Asmussen and 5th was Jesper Orth. In between Steve and Jesper were 75 seconds in the end.
It was Steve Allen’s first time at Lancelin Ocean classic, he flew in Thursday night so had a couple of days to test out the water wind and weather conditions before the marathon. After the race Steve said “It was a tight course, Peter was ahead for the first couple of turns, I passed him before the third but was getting fatigued so lost it back to him until the last turn when I just went for it.”
Congrats to Steve Allen, who won and took most of the price money! He was on 107 and 7,8m.
Bjorn Dunkerbeck had a bad start to the race getting tangled and having to make a couple of jumps, and did a great job with an 8.6m sail in ever increasing winds to get to 3rd place, he is keen to have a better race next year.
Bjorn was powered up on 8,6 m.
Karin Jaggi was again women’s champion completing the course in 29 minutes 40 seconds, 4 minutes 52 seconds behind the winner. In 2nd place was Justyna Sniady in 38 minutes 18 seconds followed by June Hill in 42 minutes 58 seconds. It´s great to see Justyna competing again. 6 months ago she were not able to walk. And now she finished a windsurfing marathon on the open sea!! Congrats Justyna and congrats to Karin winning the long distance event. In total just three ladies prticipated in the marathon and 93 men completed the long distance race.
In the Male Open, David Vitale took first place in 31minutes 20 seconds followed very closely by Jake Dallimore in 31 minutes 26 seconds and in 3rd place was Aaron Gavin in 31 minutes 54 seconds.
In the Masters competition Matt Langer came in first in 28 minutes 35 seconds, followed by Peter Crommelin in 31 minutes 21 seconds and Adam Passmore was a close 3rd in 31 minutes 54 seconds
In the Grand Masters, John Grulich took first place in 32 minutes 53 seconds, followed by Craig Mann in 35 minutes 13 seconds and Tom Radis followed closely behind in 35 minutes 30 seconds.
After a long day on the beautiful WA coast the legendary after party was enjoyed by competitors, sponsors and spectators alike. We have enjoyed some of the best of WA weather and had a very exciting 3 days! As Peter Volwater stated: “What an awesome way to start the season.”
This year’s event was sponsored by Eventscorp, kinetic IT, Shire of GinGIn, Bendigo Bank, 92.9 and would not be made possible without the help of all the sponsors involved, the volunteers, the sea search and rescue and the Rock Lobster fishing vessels.
Check out the full results of the marathon here
© Infos, Text & Pics: Chloe from Sportspr.
Why so negative labrador? be happy that someone is providing us windsurfmovies and news everyday! so many frustrated people out there…
Thanks Stefan, makes us feel good 😉 There is too much negativity around, you are so right. In those moments we are just thinking of the other thousand people, who seem to appreciate our work;-)
Wow, straight up copy…not even your own words mate.
That’s why we put the name of the person, who wrote it for all the media below the article. And we made some changes. It might happen, that you’ll read the same text in some other magazines as well.