Today was the first day of the PWA Slalom at Jinha in South Korea. On the opening day of the competition four heats could be finished in typically testing South Korean conditions. 46 Men from 21 nations and 15 women from 6 nations have registered to race in the East China Sea. Some big names did not travel to Korea: Patrik Diethelm, Karin Jaggi, Andrea Rosati, Marco Begalli or Jesper Orth.

The first heat of the day - Pic: PWA/John Carter

The forecasted offshore wind swung 90 degrees to the prevailing side shore direction, allowing the race committee to set the four buoy slalom course. The wind was gusting up to 25 knots, the first heats of race elimination one were given a brief flavor of what’s in store for them over the coming days. The third heat has to be cancelled four times and only the heats one, two, four and five were completed in more or less constant conditions.

The forecast for tomorrow is similar and looks promising to finish this third heat and more rounds.

 

FUN RACE
With official racing called off for the day, the mayor of Ulsan gave the start signal for a full fleet commemorative opening race for a selection of local dignitaries and council members. In that race, Ludo Jossin extended his run of early season form to secure victory in the men’s fleet in front of Steve Allen and Oliver Tom Schliemann, and France’s Morane Demont took top honors in the women’s category in front of Lise Vidal and Alice Arutkin.

Fun Race - Pic: PWA/John Carter

The fun race women winners, Alice, Morane and Lise

Racing is scheduled to commence at 10.30am local time (UTC +9) tomorrow, following the morning’s skippers meeting at 10.00am.

Text: Andrew Buchanan/PWA, C7 I ©Continentseven 2011

Share