The wind finally got going on the fourth day of the Mondial Du Vent in Leucate. This meant an exhausting day for the racers - the course was prepared at sunrise, the first green flag went up at 7.00 a.m. sharp and the wings were only packed up again 12 hours later.
As usual in the disciplineSurf Race The first downwind course was again completed with a flying start and several gybes - in 15 to 20 knots of wind this went perfectly.
In the women's event, co-favourite Fiona Wylde initially lived up to expectations and gave the competition no chance in Elimination 1."The prelude"says Wylde,"was perfect. After days of waiting, we were all a bit nervous and happy to finally get started."
However, the US American's highs came to an end in Elimination 2, where she was unable to get within striking distance after a shaky start. Czech Paula Novotna capitalised on this and took her first elimination win on the GWA Tour. The locals then took over - French rider Flora Artzner became more and more consistent and secured the victories in Elimination 3 and 4 - and is therefore at the top of the rankings for the time being.
The men's event also saw a close exchange of blows on the water. In packed 18-man heats, a good start was crucial to avoid getting caught up in the turmoil.
In the end, world champion Titouan Galea once again put in the most ruthless performance, although he had to fight hard in many heats to maintain his top position. In particular, the "Frenchies" Camille Bouyer, Mathis Ghio and Clement Colmas repeatedly put in pinpricks and took victories in individual eliminations. The days of total dominance seem to be over for Galea for the time being.
Galea is currently in first place, but only due to a better strike result compared to Boyer. So it remains extremely exciting, especially as the wind forecast for the coming days promises more races (and hopefully also the start of the freestyle discipline).
There were also many new faces in the field of almost 80 racers, which meant that there were repeated false starts and serious crashes during the races. Regatta greenhorn Alan Fedit (FRA) gave a little insight into his regatta debut afterwards:
"The field is incredibly fast. If you're not used to riding in such close quarters with so many other riders, it's intimidating at first. You first have to get used to the situation and learn to assess how much risk you can and must take."
Here are the highlights of the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Leucate (Day 4) in the video.
Further information about the event is also available HERE on the GWA website. We will keep you up to date on all events at the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Leucate in the coming days.
So feel free to click in again!
Manuel Vogel
Editor surf
