2024 PWA Japan World Cup Tag 2

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Nach einem ruhigen Auftakt gestern war der zweite Tag des 2024 Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup war der zweite Tag das genaue Gegenteil, denn zwischen 9:15 Uhr und 16:00 Uhr wurde ein ganzer Regattatag ohne jegliche Unterbrechung absolviert. Der heutige Tag war ein echter Allround-Test, denn die starken Winde von heute Morgen - 15-22 Knoten - schwächten sich bis zum frühen Abend langsam auf 7-10 Knoten ab, so dass die weltbesten Windsurfer ständig auf der Hut sein und sich an die Bedingungen anpassen mussten.

Foil Slalom

Women’s

A Minor Wobble

Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui) started her quest for a maiden world title with a solid second place in the opening elimination, but the current World Tour leader didn’t have things all her own way today after finishing fourth in Elimination 2. At that point, Marion Mortefon (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) led the event rankings after winning the second elimination, while Lemeteyer was doing just enough in third, but with only one point separating her and Tamar Steinberg (Future Fly) in fourth, the pressure of fighting for the world title possibly started to show…

Steadying The Ship

Cue a phone call from Lemeteyer to her parents to steady the ship, and whatever was said between them seemed to do the trick, as she came out firing on all cylinders in the light winds to claim a dominant victory in Elimination 3, which crucially sees her jump to the top of the rankings at the close of play, and more importantly, is now completely in control of the title race.

Marion Mortefon couldn’t have done much more in her bid to secure another world title after recording a bullet, a second place and a fourth today, which sees her tied on 6.7 points with Lemeteyer. However, while Mortefon remains firmly in the hunt for the event title, her world title hopes have taken a major hit today given that their next closest challenger is Steinberg on 12 points, and Blanca Alabau (Starboard / Severne Sails), who sits on 13 points. In order for Mortefon to have any chance of winning the event she must win it and then have Lemeteyer finish outside of the top three, which while not impossible, now looks unlikely.

Reigning event champion Lina Eržen (Starboard / Severne Sails) made the perfect start to her defence with a brilliant bullet in the opener, but then couldn’t quite replicate that performance in the next two races as she recorded a fifth and a tenth to finish the opening day of racing in fifth place.

Meanwhile, Sara Wennekes (Future Fly / Severne Sails) bounced back from a tenth in the opening elimination by securing two solid third places, which could see her jump up the rankings after the completion of Elimination 4 when the discard comes into play, while 14-year-old Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde) completes the top seven.

Men’s Having finished in a disappointing ninth place in Sylt, Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails) bounced back brilliantly on the opening day of racing here to head up the end of day rankings after recording two solid second places. Iachino may effectively be out of the title race now, but today’s performance keeps him firmly in the hunt for the overall podium.

Meanwhile, Pierre Mortefon (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils) has put himself firmly in the driving seat to secure his second world title of the season. The Frenchman laid it all on the line in the opening race as he went head-to-head with Daniele Benedetti (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails) in the winners’ final and came out on top to secure the opening bullet of the event. Crucially Mortefon then finished ahead of Benedetti in Elimination 2 - finishing fourth and fifth respectively - to open up a 3.3 point advantage over his Italian rival, who to have any chance of winning a maiden world crown, must finish ahead of Mortefon. There’s still a long way to go, but Benedetti, who sits fourth in the overnight rankings, now has a bit of a mountain to climb, especially given Mortefon’s level of consistency.

Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde) started the event ranked third in the world and the Croatian remains on course to complete the overall podium after the opening day of racing. Marotti is currently tied on eight points with Benedetti and to drop off out of the overall top three he would need to finish sixth or worse and Iachino would still need to win the event.

Johan Søe (FMX Racing / Point-7) didn’t put a foot wrong in seven eliminations in Sylt, but the young Dane jumped the gun in the opening semifinal of Elimination 1 - resulting in his disqualification from the heat - before winning the b-final. Søe responded in the perfect fashion by earning a clinical bullet in Elimination 2, but may be left ruing pushing the start so hard in the opener, given the apparent extra gear he possesses - although he also produced some incredible gybes, which is often where he also gained a lot of ground. Given his level of performance in Sylt, you still wouldn’t bet against him now reeling off a hat-trick of bullets to head to the top of the event rankings, but he has perhaps, somewhat unnecessarily, reduced his margin of error to claim back-to-back victories on the World Tour. Time will soon tell that though and he possesses an unbelievable level of self-confidence in his racing ability.

Jordy Vonk (Duotone Windsurfing) made a great start to the day with an excellent fourth place, but then just missed out on the winners’ final to eventually finish eleventh In Elimination 2, which sees him ranked sixth at the close of play - two points ahead of Maciek Rutkowski (NeilPryde) in seventh.

Elia Colombo (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils) enjoyed a great day after qualifying for the first winners final - 7th - before finishing 13th in the next to finish the opening day ranked 8th overall. The top ten is currently completed by Bruno Martini (JP / NeilPryde), Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) and Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Severne Sails) - the latter two are tied for tenth on 22 points.

Cedric Bordes (Severne / Severne Sails) deserves a special mention after battling through the pain barrier today. The Frenchman had an individual crash with his foil, which resulted in a nasty gash in his back, but he continued to not only race, but also finish twelfth in both eliminations completed thus far. After racing had concluded, Bordes later required twenty stitches.

The forecast for Sunday looks promising once again with 12-18 knots predicted during the earlier part of the day, which should hopefully provide more racing. As today, sailors will meet at 8am (GMT+9) for the skippers’ meeting, followed by a first possible start at 9am.

Current Ranking 2024 Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup - Women’s Foil Slalom *After 3 Eliminations

1st Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | FMX Racing / S2Maui)
2nd Marion Mortefon (FRA | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
3rd Tamar Steinberg (ISR | Future Fly)
4th Blanca Alabau (ESP | Starboard / Severne Sails)
5th Lina Eržen (SLO | Starboard / Severne Sails)
Current Ranking 2024 Fly! ANA Yokosuka, Miura Windsurf World Cup - Men’s Foil Slalom *After 2 Eliminations

1st Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
3rd Enrico Marotti (CRO | JP / NeilPryde)
4th Daniele Benedetti (ITA | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
5th Johan Søe (DEN | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
6th Jordy Vonk (NED | Duotone Windsurfing)
7th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | NeilPryde)
8th Elia Colombo (SUI | PATRIK / PATRIK Sails / PATRIK Foils)
9th Bruno Martini (ITA | JP / NeilPryde)
10th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
10th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Severne Sails)