PWA Costa Brava

First elimination final - Steve Allen came second to Bjorn. I think Sean O'Brien came third in his first heat but went over early next race and unfortunately Troppo and Jesper didn't make it past first heat.
all the details here http://www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=35&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2364&cHash=c50be90e671266e7afbd0ba7a51bfa08

Wow, Steve Allen is doing really well. He came third in the winner's Final No.2 behind AA and Bjorn. He was second on last gybe but Bjorn just got him on the line.

Jesper came second in his heat but like Sean a couple days before, he went over early in his second round heat. Troppo came 6th in his heat. Elimination No. 3 has Jesper and Troppo up against each other in their first round heat.

What boards are they using?

I still have not got my head around wide style slalom/race boards. Can someone enlighten me.

Full list of registered gear here
www.pwaworldtour.com/fileadmin/user/main_editors/pdf/Competitor_Equipment_Costa_Brava_12.pdf

Bjorn scored two finals again .... first on his 127 and second on his 107

He's going to be hard to beat this year...

just easier to sail

The wider boards have a greater wind range so you can keep going if the wind picks up or drops out a little and you can point higher (if required). In perfect conditions an older-style slalom board probably is quicker.

racings been pretty tough, miss the start by a second and its game over unless you have some kind of warp speed device built into your board. I managed to nail two first outta the blocks and still got done by the first mark.

conditions have been ranging from 7 - 24knots over the week. sometimes in the one race making it very hard to choose the right setup on the day.

so far i've raced on all my boards here, 135l light wind beast 115 medium and the smaller 92l. My best setup is the 92l with a 7.1 going full power as I think it evens up the field a touch when its proper windy. a 6.3 would be even better.

8 guys going hell for leather into the gybe marks at 30 odd knots sure gets the blood pumping.

Event summary here
http://www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=35&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=2368&cHash=46c13c3b1c69df0080d87207562ef08e

Congrats to Steve Allen coming fourth overall. Seeing some big names much lower down the overall event standings shows just how competative it is.

Troppo,
Thanks for the first hand account. Did you wear your GPS racing? - would be great to see approx speeds and course tracks.

Hi Troppo,

do you actually need to be allowed to enter the events ?

Yes, you kind of need to qualify. The top 48 in the rankings can enter automatically then the next 16 sailors apply for wildcards (max 64-man fleet). It's easier to get in if you've done events before, but actually at the more popular events like Fuerteventura and Turkey, quite a few people get rejected with wildcards!



Compared to oldschool slalom boards of the late 90's early 00's, these new boards are TONS easier to gybe, have triple the windrange and are much easier to sail in bumpy conditions. If you watch a PBA slalom video from the 90's see how many guys crash at every mark, nowadays, nobody crashes that often (and it's the SAME guys racing - haha).

I've never compared but I'd be very suprised if these newer wider boards are not faster in light/medium wind conditions than narrower boards as we are pushing much bigger sail sizes on them. The small boards have not changed very much since the old days.... Day 4 we had 28 knots on the course for a few squirts and half the fleet were on 8.6m and +120L boards! Not fun, but definitely possible!

my guess is that the sailor is more important than the sail... or the board.