The view over the course – Pic: PWA/John Carter
Day 4 at Alacati saw excellent wind conditions despite a not ideal forecast. 15 to 25 knots of wind allowed two more rounds and a lot of extreme action. In the ladies fleet Valerie Arrighetti and Sarah-Quita Offringa performed great and both won a final and finished once in second. Valerie took the overall event lead and Sarah-Quita climbed up to the second position. Karin Jaggi lost ground and dropped from first into third position. The next elimination number 7 will bring the second discard and we will probably see some change in the positions. A rider to mention as well is Marion Mortefon, who made it into the third position twice and is actually ranked in 4th.
Sarah-Quita Offringa jibes in first
Arrighetti and Offringa fighting for the first place – Pic: PWA/John Carter
Ladies ranking after day 4 (6 eliminations counting)
- Valerie Arrighetti (11.7 points)
- Sarah-Quita Offringa (15.4 points)
- Karin Jaggi (17.4 points)
THE MEN
Most of the men were using sailsizes in between 7,8 m2 and 8,6 m2 and were sailing with their medium sized boards. Today´s dominator was Antoine Albeau, who won both races. After the little shock of yesterday – he failed to make it through a first round heat – he had a great day today from start to finish. With great speed, perfectly fast jibes and an excellent line through the course, he won both races today. It was impressive to see, how quickly he managed to get a big lead just after the first jibe in final 6. Antoine is hungry to win and extended his lead on day 4.
Antoine Albeau
What happened to his hardest contenders?
Ben van der Steen had an excellent day too and finished the eliminations in 2nd and 4th position. Björn Dunkerbeck, who was eager to catch up, had a bit of bad luck. He and Josh Angulo collided at a jibing mark. The result was a totally broken 7,8m2 sail for Dunkerbeck and a swim for Angulo. This was already the second crash for Angulo after catapulting with full speed in front of Costa Hoevel, who was too close to avoid a collision.
A premature start from Dunkerbeck in the losers final followed and brought him bad points for the overall ranking. In elimination 6 he was back on track, qualified for the final and managed to win by a short head, in front of Ben van der Steen. In the overall ranking he moved up to 3rd position. Peter Volwater ends up on close to Björn Dunkerbeck tail with just 0.7 points difference.
Angulo vs. Dunkerbeck – Pic: PWA/John Carter
Men ranking after day 4 (6 eliminations counting)
- Antoine Albeau (5.8 points)
- Ben van der Steen (10.7 points)
- Björn Dunkerbeck (28.0 points)
Tomorrow, the skippersmeeting is scheduled for 10.30 with a first possible start at 11.00. The plan is to continue with elimination 7. The wind forecast promises wind between 10 and 20 knots.
