Alacati delivers 5 out of 5 days Slalom racing. Antoine Albeau touched down in Turkey with the 2007 title already secured. The French all-round master of windsurfing had the luxury of a stress-free end-of-season wind-down in Alaçati, yet still managed to coast to victory ahead of two legends in the sport : Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Kevin Pritchard.
Alacati winners - Pic: John Carter
In conditions ranging anything from 10-25 knots, the race director kept everyone on their toes all week by setting a selection of both short and long courses, with the layouts featuring 4-6 buoys and a variety of length in the reaches.
Over the course of 10 fierce men’s eliminations, Albeau’s error count overall stayed low, despite a slow start on day one. In terms of consistency only Bjorn Dunkerbeck stayed watertight until the last as he shed only one of his low discards after qualifying for all but the critical race 10 final.
The Women’s event was always going to be billed as a mouth-watering match between Karin Jaggi (F2 / North) and the resurgent Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou).
Jaggi’s last-gasp victory in Fuerteventura denied Ghibaudo the tour lead, but Ghibaudo’s lust for victory intensified after her performance in Sotavento to a totally new level.
Ghibaudo and Jaggi were fairly equally matched for speed, but the clear difference was in the Frenchwomen’s starting skill. If anyone thought Jaggi was letting someone else share the limelight they could not be further from the truth. This was evident as tension rose and Jaggi was forced to push the start, which resulted in two painful disqualifications.
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Men’s Final Top 10 Standings after 10 Races
1. Antoine Albeau (Starboard / NeilPryde)
2. Bjorn Dunkerbeck (T1 / North)
3. Kevin Pritchard (Starboard / MauiSails)
4. Pieter Bijl (Fanatic / NeilPryde)
5. Finian Maynard (F2 / NeilPryde)
6. Peter Volwater (F2 / North)
7. Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde)
8. Steve Allen (Tabou / Gaastra)
9. Patrik Diethelm (F2 / North)
10. Cyril Moussilmani (Fanatic / North)
Women’s Top 5 Final Standings after 15 races
1. Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou)
2. Karin Jaggi (F2 / North)
3. Verena Fauster (F2 / Gaastra)
4. Cagla Kubat (Starboard / North)
5. Marta Hlavaty
Text: © PWA / Brian McDowell
