Day 2 of the GWA Wingfoil Race European Championship started with wall-to-wall sunshine, promising an action-packed day. As Race Director Juan Antonio Aragon said at the skippers meeting, “The sun’s up, the sky is blue… if there ever were a time for action it’s today!”
At around 1 o’clock the red flag went up for the first heat of the Men’s Open, with 16 competitors choosing a position in the run-up to the start line. The excitement proved to be too much for one of the competitors, meaning an over early and the restart of the heat, but after that, it was cool runnings for the rest of the first round.
When the dust settled an hour later, we’d seen back-to-back races in all categories, with exhilarating racing including lots of overtaking, crashes, strategic upwind reaches and even a few tricks at the finish line. All riders were really pushing it, often out of breath at the finish.
By the end of the day, we had made it halfway through the third round, and even managed to throw in a little freestyle supersession, before the wind got too gusty to ensure fair racing conditions. This leads us to the following preliminary ranking after two rounds of racing:
Men’s Open
Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA) – 4.7 points
Balz Müller (CHE) – 6.0 points
Maxime Chabloz (CHE) – 8.7 points
Women’s
Olivia Piana (FRA) – 2.1 points
Bowien van der Linden (NLD) – 8.0 points
Flora Artzner (FRA) – 11.5 points
U16
Riccardo Zorzi (ITA) – 1.4 points
Robin Sijan Zico Zeley (CHE) – 5.0 points
Noe Cuyala (FRA) – 7.0 points
U19
Benjamin May (DEU) – 1.4 points
Malo Guenole (FRA) – 4.0 points
Léandre Carlier Arquoit (FRA) / Lavin Iseli (CHE) – 7.0 points
Masters
Klaas Voget (DEU) – 1.4 points
Craig Gertenbach (ZAF) / Henning Nockel (DEU) – 5.0 points
* Points are awarded depending on the finishing position in the final of each race. First place gets 0.7 points, second place gets 2 points, third place gets 3 points, et cetera. Whoever has the least points at the end of the competition, wins.
Sunday is the final day of the GWA Wingfoil Race European Championship and there’s still a lot to play for. A fourth race will mean there’s a discard, enabling riders to strike their worst result. This could shake up the rankings, so all is set for an exciting finale.