PWA Alacati - Day 1
Registration done and dusted and the world’s best are now rigged and ready for action.
The inaugural day of the 2015 Pegasus Airlines Alacati PWA World Cup saw a total of 95 competitors registering for the upcoming competition - with 64 men and 31 women signing up by the end of registration, which is the highest women’s attendance in many years.
With the mercury soaring into the 30s on the opening day, most of the fleet spent day seeking the shade, whilst preparing their equipment for the next six days of competition. Unfortunately, as expected it wasn’t possible to begin the racing on day one with the wind in the opposite direction to the normal prevailing Meltemi wind, however the forecast looks marginally better for tomorrow with the wind swinging back to the northwest in the afternoon meaning the local thermal affect could potentially kick in to get the action underway.
Earlier in the day we quickly caught up with Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde), who claimed his maiden event victory here last year:
PWA: You won the event here last year - are you happy to be back?
JQ: “I’m happy to be back, I like Alacati a lot. It’s generally easy sailing, but the start is tricky here. Unfortunately the forecast for the week ahead isn’t the best, but hopefully it looks like the wind will come back for the last two days of the event.”
PWA: How are you feeling ahead of the event?
JQ: “I feel fine, the only thing I don’t like is being in the first heat when the wind can still be a bit light and you are stuck with no wind and tricky racing conditions. Maybe the best thing is for the women to go first haha.”
PWA: Do you feel any pressure extra pressure with a title to defend?
JQ: “Some people are asking me about whether winning here last year puts more stress on me, but to be honest I feel exactly the same. I’m happy to just relax and wait for the wind.”
Maria Andres (Fanatic / North), who is recovering from a back injury: “My back is much better than it was - I injured it one week before an event in Sylt and I thought it would be okay to sail, but it hadn’t properly recovered. I recently changed sponsors to Fanatic and North in June and I love the new sails as they are so light, which helps a lot. My back still feels a bit strange and I’m having to use a seat harness for the time being, but I think in the future I’ll hopefully change back to a waist harness.”
The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10:30am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 11am - if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to stay up to date with all of the latest news from the event via the PWA live ticker.