PWA Reggio Calabria 2012 – Day 5

The windforecast for Monday truly looked like no action would be possible in Reggio Calabria, however at 16:00 the wind suddenly kicked in out of nowhere. This enabled the first elimination of the women’s slalom to be completed, whilst 13 heats of the men’s slalom were finished. The world’s best sailors were finally allowed to showcase their skills.

Wind on the fifth day - Pic: PWA/John Carter

WOMEN
The women were first onto the water when the wind arrived and the second semi-final opened proceedings where they left off 2 days ago. Karin Jaggi, who is the women’s top seed at Reggio Calabria, commanded her way into the winners final by claiming victory. And Jaggi was as well untouchable in the winners final. After a great start, the distance was too big for any of the sailors to close and she got her season off to the best possible start by winning the first race in front of Lena Erdil, Alice Arutkin and Cagla Kubat.

Karin Jaggi wins race nr. 1 - Pic: PWA/John Carter

MEN
As the men finally got their racing season underway it looked like they meant business from the start. In fact the opening round saw nine out of the top ten seeds all qualify for the quarter finals with the shock elimination of fourth seed Cyril Moussilmani, who narrowly missed out on a place in the second round.
In heat 8 Björn Dunkerbeck did extremely well to qualify as he crossed the start line in last place. Dunkerbeck stepped on the gas and somehow managed to mastermind his way into second place. Pascal Toselli demonstrated his potential, leading from the front to win the heat.

QUARTER/SEMI FINALS
The first quarter final, heat 9, saw Micah Buzianis crash out of the race on the first reach. Buzianis and other sailors were unlucky as many hit litter or caught seaweed floating in the Strait of Messina.

The first semi-final got off to a dramatic start as both Steve Allen and Bora Kozanoglu false started, resulting in a general recall of the 6 remaining sailors. The restart of heat 13 was no less dramatic. Van Der Steen catapulted over the start line, which caused utter chaos amongst the other sailors. It was Antoine Albeau, who managed to get away cleanly though, and after leading from the start Albeau never looked back, as he safely booked his place in the winners final and in doing so demonstrated that he has had no problems adapting to his new RRD boards. The other sailors advancing along with Albeau were: Alberto Menegatti, Jimmy Diaz and Peter Volwater.

The other semi-final saw Taty Frans disqualified as he went over the start line early. In heat 14, Arnon Dagan crossed the line in first place, however by this point the wind was beginning to drop and becoming increasingly gusty.

This resulted in the second semi-final being cancelled and, with the wind failing to re-establish itself, the heat remained unfinished. Should the situation remain as is then all of the 16 semi finalists will share joint 1st at the event, but the forecast for more thermal winds tomorrow promises to provide an exciting climax to the first race.

RESULT WOMEN (after one race)