A Year in the Life of PWA: PART II

Par Two of the Original 34 Page Article

CONTINUED FROM PART I: Spreads displayed above


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FUERTEVENTURA: Spain
Fuerteventura was the first Super Grand Slam event ever held. This gave joint race directors Didier Lafitte and Karim Goujon the opportunity to run either a race, wave or speed event on any day. In addition to this newfound flexibility, a 1,000,000 peseta ‘winner takes all’ prize was up for grabs for the sailors who won the overall combined race/wave/speed title. The fleet here in Fuerteventura, as in Gran Canaria, was very strong, reflecting both the size of the $170,000 prize purse and the maximum Grand Slam points available. All of the current ranking leaders were here, including Bjorn Dunkerbeck, currently number 1 in the race and overall rankings and Nathalie LeLievre F-12, the current women’s overall number 1. Although number 1 overall, LeLievre hopped to regain the lead in the race rankings from Valerie Ghibaudo F-44, who defeated her in Gran Canaria.

The 1997 Fuerteventura was an event of many firsts. Not only was it the first Super Grand Slam, but it was also the first time that the Wave performance discipline has been held at this venue and the first time that direct refereeing had been used on the PWA World Tour. The first use of direct refereeing occurred in heat 2, when Frank Bernklau G-405, bore down unexpectedly on the starting line and took out Bernd Flessner G-16, and Robbie Radis KA-82. In the direct refereeing, the normal protest procedure was replaced by an instant, un–appealable decision made by the judges during the race. If the judges, who are placed in such a way that they can observe the entire course, witnessed a rule infringement, the black flag was raised and the referees’ decision was posted on the official notice board. On this occasion, the referees’ decision was to disqualify G-405 and re–dress G-16 and KA-82 in the second round.

RACE #3 was a perfect example of how a technical gybing course should be sailed. Training partners Kevin & Matt Pritchard and Phil McGain KA-7, all hit the line on the starting signal and peeled off around the first mark just 1 board-length apart. The three sailors remained nose to tail through 6 gybes which made an exciting race that could be described only as a 30+ knot formation flying display! With McGain now holding the race lead from Bjorn Dunkerbeck and the Pritchard brothers not too far behind, you could be sure there would be some upsets. In 1996 at this event, both Matt and Phil beat Bjorn in downwind slalom races. This year, both sailors repeated this in Gran Canaria.

When racing resumed, all eyes focused on not only Phil McGain and the Pritchard brothers, but also Anders Bingdal S-10, and Micah Buzianis US-34. Both sailors had a poor day by their own standards and felt under pressure to close the gap on the leaders.

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DAY 2 of the Super Grand Slam, the Race Committee elected to go for wave performance. The tide was predicted to be at its highest state and the previous day’s wave conditions had been gradually improving. The race crew remained on standby for wave performance for 4 hours, at which point a decision was made that the conditions were not suitable. In the meantime, a large crowd had formed on the beach to witness one of the best exhibitions of bump and jump freestyle ever seen. Spectators were able to watch flat water speed-loops, aerial gybes, Willie skippers, duck gybes body drags, board and sail 360’s all performed just a few feet off the shore by the ­top world windsurfers.

DAY 3 saw discipline return to slalom racing. In the finals, it was Anders Bringdal S-10, who dominated the fleet, hitting the first mark just 1 board length ahead of the pack. Anders bore off and cranked around the first gybe at such speed and with such a flowing style that he emerged with a 4 board-length lead which he took into the next mark. Anders continued to gybe with such style that he accelerated away from Bjorn, who was leading the chasing pack. Finian Maynard KV-11 finished in 3rd, just behind Bjorn.

DAY 4 the PWA Super Grand Slam began slowly with the wind building in the morning around 11:00. The final of race of the day was an all-action heat. Finian Maynard came into the first gybe ahead and with right of way. Towards the back of the fleet, Bjorn Dunkerbeck was fighting his way up from 7th position. On the second outside gybe, Bjorn had caught and gained right of way over Anders who had been 4th. Anders attempted to gybe inside Bjorn but was unable to hold the line and cut across his opponent, forcing Dunkerbeck to pull-up. Anders was disqualified from the heat to receive 8 points. In the women’s racing, Nathalie LeLievre had the luckiest break of the day. Dead last over the line in her qualifier, she was forced to fight her way up the fleet but could only manage 5th. By the finish line, LeLievre had caught Sandra Gubelmann Z-3, and 10 board lengths from the line put the nose of her board ahead. As Gubelmann came down the next swell, she edged back in front and finally, the two women hit the line in an absolute dead heat. LeLievre made no mistake in the final, getting into a good lead ahead of Jutta Mueller and Lucienne Ernst. These positions remained the same.


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DAY 6 In the early afternoon, the wind built to 17-25 knots and the tide state was perfect for speed competition. The first round of the 1997 PWA speed finals began at 14:30. The first round belonged to the slalom sailors as Anders Bringdal moved straight into 1st position ahead of Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Jose Bahadour GPE-23, the first speed sailor, from Guadeloupe. The wind and tide remained suitable for a second round of speed, which commenced at 16:30. It was the turn of the speed sailors to take the win in the second round. Jochen Krauth G-96, the 1996 PWA World Speed Champion, won the round ahead of Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Jose Bahadour.

DAY 7 of the Fuerteventura began with an early 9:30 skippers’ meeting. The light winds of 7-8 knots persuaded the Race Management that the best possible opportunity to race would be 64 man upwind course racing. The committee set a ‘sausage’ style upwind race forcing sailors to pass through the start-gate on the downwind leg, en route to the leeward mark. When racing started at 11:00 the wind was building on the course area to between 12-17 knots; perfect conditions for upwind racing. Phil McGain was first up the beat and first around the windward mark. Kevin Pritchard US-933 rounded the mark in second, ahead of Micah Buzianis.

DAY 8 For probably the first time in the 12-year history of the Fuerteventura World Tour event, there was a day with no wind. Sailors remained on standby all day with wave and speed as the
two highest priorities. At 16:00 it became apparent that the wind would not fill in and all the sailors (race, wave and speed) were released for the day.

DAY 9 began with clear blue skies and a very light 6-8 knot breeze. By 11:30 the wind had built sufficiently to start an upwind course race. A 10th by Bjorn Dunkerbeck in that day’s racing saw his lead reduced to 10 points, although it was unlikely he would be beaten in this competition. However, the other two podium positions were less than secure. Twice in this contest we saw a sailor work his way up into the top three and then drop down out of the top 5, both times due to a broken boom. Phil McGain was second with 28.0 points, but one bad result forced him to count an 18.5, which could push him out of the top 3. Third position through to 8th position was split by just 9 points and any one of the sailors was capable of winning a race at this level, so it was not going to be over until race #9 finished! If Micah Buzianis, currently in 4th position could work his way onto the podium, it would have been an incredible comeback. Micah spent the first few days of this contest way down on the second page of the results sheet and worked his way back to 4th position, just 4 points off Anders Bringdal S-10 in 3rd.

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In the women’s racing, Nathalie LeLievre was well clear of the fleet in 1st position and could be caught. However, second position was wide-open. Jutta Mueller clung onto second by just 0.3 points from Karin Jaggi Z-14, who was just 0.4 points ahead of Andrea Hoeppner G-54, in 4th. The last two podium positions were certainly being decided on the water in race #9. The wind and water conditions the next day would be a big influence on that!

DAY 10 the final day saw action from all three disciplines of race, wave and speed. On the final, short upwind leg to the finish line of race #9, positions shuffled around once again with Phil McGain passing Micah Buzianis to take 1st position and Christoffer Rappe S-39 finishing in 3rd. Bjorn Dunkerbeck dropped several places to finish in 5th position behind Mark Pedersen KA-6. The finishing positions were enough to secure Dunkerbeck the race title ahead of Phil McGain. Micah Buzianis made an incredible comeback after a disastrous start to the week with a 3rd position in the race. In the women’s race ranking, a win by Alessandra Sensini , moved her up 1 position to 5th. Nathalie LeLievre finished 4th which secured her the overall victory ahead of Karin Jaggi and Andrea Hoeppner. After an unofficial wave contest, the final round of speed sailing was begun in 20 knot winds. Dunkerbeck with 36.30 knots took the lead from Finian Maynard, (the fastest sailor in the world in 1997, 39.95 knots at Leucate, France) with a speed of 35.60 knots. In third position was Antoine Albeau with a speed of 35.25 knots. Jutta Mueller won the women’s final round of the speed event with 31.89 knots, ahead of Valerie Ghibaudo, 31.84 knots and Lucienne Ernst, with 31.21 knots.

Fuerteventura is traditionally the home of the final event of the PWA World Speed Tour and 1997 was no different. The 1997 men’s speed world championship was won by Christophe Prin-Guenon F-9 with Antoine Albeau F-192 in second position and Eduardo Bellini E-91 in third. In the women’s contest, the Womens’ Speed World Champion was Valerie Ghibaudo F-44, with Karin Jaggi Z-14, in second position ahead of Melanie Bienemann G-35.


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The Professional Windsurfers World Tour returned to Switzerland, after a one–year break, with full Grand Prix status and $100,000 prize money. Bjorn Dunkerbeck, after two Grand Slam wins in Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, had a small lead over Anders Bringdal and Micah Buzianis, who were separated by just a few points. The conditions at this event were very different. Silvaplana was the only inland race event of 1997 and the only event to be held at such altitude. (enlarge)

SILVAPLANA: Switzerland August 5-10
T
he event, based in Silvaplana See 10km west of St Moritz, was likely to be dominated by lightwind upwind course racing and many sailors had developed specialized equipment to cope with the low density or ‘soft’ air at that altitude. The underlying trend over the past couple of years had been to develop lightwind equipment that enabled planing in winds as light as 6-7 knots. As a result, almost every sailor had a board especially developed for the Silvaplana conditions and it will be interesting to see how many of these groundbreaking designs filter through into the marketplace for lightwind and inland lake sailors. To match the big board sizes (up to 3.35m in length), sail sizes here varied from between 7.8m2 to 9.6m2, with the average size around 8.8m2.

On day 1 and day 2 of competition, when sailors got onto the start line in the short 15-30 minute windows of wind, all were impressed with the way this lightwind equipment was working. On the final day of competition, with very little wind on the previous four days and no official result to show, everyone was relieved to see that the Northerly weather system that had been affecting the wind at Silvaplana had passed. But the wind conditions remained erratic well into the early afternoon. At 14:30, the event organizers, ‘The Blue Window’ who are the Internet provider for Swiss Telecom, put up $10,000 prize money to hold an unofficial fun race.
The fun race had 2 separate heats where the top finishers moved to the final. Antoine Albeau, on his short, super high volume ‘indoor’ style board, got off to a flying start in heat 1 ahead of Finian Maynard, and Robert Teriitehau. Finian Maynard sailed straight into a hole on the upwind leg and was cruelly dropped from well up the fleet to way in back. Swiss sailor Mario Ballabio SUI-8 had an excellent beat to move up through the pack to second position behind Antoine Albeau at the upwind mark. Around 50 meters from the finish, a hole in the wind appeared and the lighter Swiss sailor was able to remain planing for those vital few seconds to roll past Albeau into 1st. Robert Teriitehau also passed Albeau just before the line to take second position. The majority of the top seeded sailors expected to qualify. All did so; Laufer, Bringdal, Pendle, Diaz, Nik Baker, and Phil McGain all took slots in the final. The second heat was won convincingly by Scott Fenton, who led for the entire race ahead of Steve Allen KA-0 and Micah Buzianis. These finishing positions remained the same, with Bjorn Dunkerbeck moving up from 6th at the upwind mark to 4th position.

The women’s unofficial race was affected by the fluctuating wind even more than the men’s previous two heats. It was Alessandra Sensini I-25, around the upwind mark first ahead of Dorota Staszewska POl-1, who had borrowed one of Micah Buzianis’ big sails. Lucienne Ernst had to pump hard on the downwind leg to stay ahead of Nathalie LeLievre, who was closing fast. At the finish it was Alessandra Sensini who finished well clear of Dorota Staszewska POL-1, with Lucienne Ernst, Nathalie LeLievre and local sailor Sandra Gubelmann Z-3, taking 5th position.

The men’s final got under way in the fickle wind conditions that would randomly becalm various areas of the course. As a result, the course was shortened from the intended two laps down to one. Steve Allen, who sailed the unofficial race using Finian Maynard’s huge 9.5m custom Gaastra Total Flow, started well for a second time, moving ahead of AntoineAlbeau and Fabian Pendle F-3. Allen, with the advantage of clear air, just flew up the beat to round the upwind mark well clear of Albeau with Fabian Pendle and Micah Buzianis in 3rd and 4th around the mark. On the downwind leg, Micah Buzianis dropped off the plane for a few seconds, just long enough to allow Robert Teriitehau and Anders Bringdal through ahead of him. At the finish, it was Steve Allen who finished 1st ahead of Antoine Albeau and Fabian Pendle.


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It was still mathematically possible for Dunkerbeck to catch Pritchard and it all boiled down to the very last race. Tension levels on the beach were running high as all the sailors were trying to calculate where they had to finish to improve their overall results. The experience in handling the sheer pressure by the world champion was eventually enough to get the better of Matt Pritchard. Dunkerbeck finished the race in 2nd position behind Steve Allen while Pritchard only managed to finish a disastrous 22nd. The eventual outcome of the race meant that Dunkerbeck had secured overall victory by 0.7 of a point. Micah Buzianis finished a brilliant third overall followed by Phil McGain, with Matt’s younger brother Kevin in 5th. (enlarge)It was still mathematically possible for Dunkerbeck to catch Pritchard and it all boiled down to the very last race. Tension levels on the beach were running high as all the sailors were trying to calculate where they had to finish to improve their overall results. The experience in handling the sheer pressure by the world champion was eventually enough to get the better of Matt Pritchard. Dunkerbeck finished the race in 2nd position behind Steve Allen while Pritchard only managed to finish a disastrous 22nd. The eventual outcome of the race meant that Dunkerbeck had secured overall victory by 0.7 of a point. Micah Buzianis finished a brilliant third overall followed by Phil McGain, with Matt’s younger brother Kevin in 5th. (enlarge)

PAROS: GREECE August 12-18
Paros is proving itself to be one of the most popular events on the PWA World Tour. The traditionally relaxed atmosphere of the eastern Mediterranean has attracted sailors ranked higher than expected over past years, despite the lower prize money levels. The growing status of the event has been made possible through sustained investment from Hella. The organization representing Greek Tourism promotion used the event to attract the lucrative windsurf tourism market to Paros. The PWA’s stars were welcomed and events were big news in Greece, with direct coverage from three national TV stations. Windsurfing in Greece enjoyed growing status since the 1996 Olympic victory for the country. Paros is a small island four hours’ sail from Athens.

1997 was the first year that the Paros event enjoyed Grand Prix status and saw all of the top names in racing. It remained to be seen whether the jump in prize money and points would affect the atmosphere of the event. Competitors from 21 countries represented possibly the widest range of entrants on the Tour in 1977,, with a number of rookie competitors struggling round their first entire Tour, including Canada’s Sam Ireland, Australia’s Robbie Radis and Australia’s Ricky Vandertoorn. Austria’s Marcus Poltenstein and Italy’s Andrea Rosati were two sailors who had been given a chance to make their mark on the Tour through the relationship between PWA and IFCA, which reserves five Wild Card places for sailors in the top ten IFCA World Rankings.

The 1997 Tour was always been heavily weighted towards the second half of the year and the Tour Management was stretched to the limit with the two day interval between Silvaplana and Paros. Approximately 140 equipment bags were parceled out into four small planes and a ferry to transport the six tons of competitors’ equipment from the Silvaplana Grand Prix to Paros. Patrick Diethelm, from Switzerland, travelling by car between the two events, found himself towing a Swiss farmyard trailer and 20 board bags behind his Toyota Rav 4.

The race management and organizers agreed to delay the start of racing until the afternoon on the first day of racing, in order to give sailors enough time to rig and fully test their equipment, which in many cases was new and untested.


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RHODES: Greece August 20-25
The event site was located at Sun Beach, the closest point on the Rhodes coastline to Turkey, just 12 miles away. Local sailors say that the venturi effect caused by the funnelling of wind between Rhodes and Turkey makes this location the windiest spot on the coastline. The side shore winds tend to build in the late morning and early afternoon to an average of around 15 knots, although wind speeds can be much higher.

Racing began at 12:30 in 11-15 knots of wind. The Race Director set a half fleet, upwind race; the first of three. From the start line sailors beat to the upwind mark, headed directly across the wind to another mark on the inside before completing a downwind leg on the inside by the shore. Sailors then sailed through a small, two buoy slalom section before crossing the finish line.

IN RACE #1, there were no major shocks in the qualifying heats as Finian Maynard KV-11, Kevin Pritchard and Sam Ireland KC-1 cruised to places in the final. Anders Bringdal almost made a costly mistake. Having led for the entire race, he began to start a second lap. Quickly realizing that he was sailing the wrong course, he tacked back to finish in 9th position. In the second heat, Steve Allen cruised to victory ahead of Nik Baker and Christoffer Rappe.

In the two lap final of race 1#, almost the entire fleet started on starboard and headed inshore for a short leg before tacking out to sea and then back out to starboard to lay the 1st mark. First to the upwind mark was no.1# seed, Matt Pritchard, leading Steve Allen and Finian Maynard. The top three positions remained constant as the fleet rounded the leeward buoy to commence the second lap. On the second upwind, Allen found an extra board speed and was able to pass Pritchard to round the upwind mark into first position, ahead of Maynard. These positions remained the same until the finish.

After a 1 hour break, the second race was begun over the same course. The final of race 2# saw Finian Maynard arrive at the upwind mark in 1st position ahead of Anders Bringdal and Matt Pritchard. Unfortunately, Maynard was disqualified from this race for starting prematurely. On the second upwind, Bringdal moved up into the lead ahead of Pritchard, who was ahead of Allen and Jimmy Diaz. On the final downwind, the positions remained constant, with Bringdal taking first, followed by Pritchard and Allen.

In the third and final race of the day, two additional marks were added to the downwind leg of the race. The final of race 3# saw one of the most spectacular finishes on the world tour. Steve Allen was first to the upwind mark on the first lap, leading Christoffer Rappe and Anders Bringdal by a very small distance. On the first downwind leg, there were several position changes, with Maynard, Diaz and Eduardo Bellini E-9 all fighting it out for 4th position. On the second upwind, it was Rappe who rounded the upwind mark 1st ahead of Bringdal, and Allen, who had fallen on his final tack, dropped back two places. Little known Dutch sailor Ramses Landman H-72, rounded the upwind mark in 4th position ahead of Diaz and Maynard.

On the first half of the downwind leg, Anders Bringdal closed the gap on Christoffer Rappe on every gybe. On the first mark in the slalom section it was only an excellent gybe by Rappe that kept him in first position. The next two gybes saw the two sailors separated by just half a board length and less at times, as Bringdal fought to take the lead from Rappe. On the final gybe, Rappe rounded the mark just 0.5m ahead of Bringdal and both sailors crossed the finish line to loud cheers and applause from spectators and other sailors. Steve Allen came in third ahead of Ramses Landman and Jimmy Diaz.

A win and two 3rd positions were enough to give Steve Allen the overnight lead ahead of Anders Bringdal and Christoffer Rappe. However, positions were so tight that one more race might change the leader significantly.

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FINAL DAY: It was Steve Allen KA-0,  who took the victory in Race 9# ahead of Anders Bringdal S-10, and Matt Pritchard US-93. Sam Ireland KC-1, finished in 4th position, his highest finish of the contest. The final results after race #9 left Anders Bringdal as the convincing winner of the 1997 Rhodes PWA World Cup with five wins, three second positions and one fifth position. Christoffer Rappe S-39, finished second. Third place was separated by just 2 points.

The World Cup win for Anders Bringdal would have very little effect on the top 20 of the 1997 PWA race rankings but would help Anders psychologically after his recent drop from 2nd to 4th in the race ranking after Paros. Matt Pritchard US-93 moved to 3rd position behind Bjorn Dunkerbeck E-11. Micah Buzianis US-34, after Paros, finished in 4th position in Rhodes, just 1 point clear of Nik Baker K-66  NEXT STOP: England.

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The only thing that put a cloud over this event was the tragic death of Princess Diana, which dominated all news and caused the cancellation of sporting events worldwide. The City of Brighton paid its its respects to the much loved princess and a huge area of flowers brought by the public built up in an official area in front of the Brighton Palace. Hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects and light candles in the evenings as a tribute to Diana’s memory. (enlarge)

OLSTEN PILS: England
On the fifth and final day of the Brighton, World Cup Nik Baker stood in a virtually unbeatable position after seven races. The Shoreham local sailor dominated virtually every race that week on his home waters, and few of the world’s top-ranked sailors in attendance could stop him. Nik was using the revolutionary new head system of the Gaastra Total Flow F1 in all of the races. Significantly, Finian Maynard from the British Virgin Islands, also using the same sail, was in second place overall.

With seven races completed, the event could only be considered as an outstanding success. The British crowds were rewarded by getting to see Nik and Ant Baker, Jamie Hawkins, Julian Anderson and Mike Birt all finish in the top ten. All of these sailors live close to the contest site. Top foreign competitor was Finian Maynard in second, followed by Patrice Belbeoc’h F-81 in third. Other notable performances came from Danish sailor Brian Roegild who finished in sixth position and Peter Volwater in eighth.


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SYLT: Germany September 27- October 5
The 1997 PWA World Tour returned to Sylt on the Island of Westerland, Northern Germany. The Sylt event and the Fuerteventura in the Canaries are the two longest running events on the Windsurfing World Tour.

Sylt is a truly radical venue, recognized by the sailors as providing the gnarliest wind and wave conditions on this tour, with rapidly changing weather systems and shorebreak conditions that can catch a World Champion out! However Sylt is equally capable of providing temperatures above 30°C and is a magnificent location, making it a popular windsurfing and holiday venue for thousands of Germans every year.

Ever since the very first event in Germany, the crowds have been the largest on tour, and this year is no exception. Crowds in excess of 3,000 turned out to witness the pomp and splendor of the opening ceremony when the world’s top Windsurfers paraded along the promenade, each carrying his or her national flag. The event site once more provided an opportunity to get autographs from the stars, see the latest windsurfing videos, try sailing with rollerblades(!) or just enjoy the sun, sand and views.

In racing, Bjorn Dunkerbeck won three of four course races, giving him the perfect score of 2.1 pts from 3 official races. Anders Bringdal was forced to finish second with a 1st, a 2nd and two 3rd positions. Matt Pritchard finished third in the racing, just one point ahead of his mentor and training partner, Phil McGain. The ever consistent Christoffer Rappe finished 5th in three different races !

Robert Teriitehau had a great competition. He had a new ‘flapper’ course board absolutely ‘dialled in’ for upwind racing and a 7th position in the race made him the highest placed French sailor overall. Micah Buzianis finished a disappointing 8th position, a result that dropped him from 2nd in the 1997 race ranking to 3rd, just 3 points clear of US-93 Matt Pritchard.

Andrea Hoeppner G-54, finished the unanimous victor in the women’s racing, with 4 wins from 4 races. Several of those victories were by over one minute.


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CEARA-WIND: Brazil November 9-16
After a gruelling and intense year on the PWA World Windsurfing Tour, the professionals at last came to the final event on the calendar at the exciting location of the Caesar Towers beach park in Fortaleza, Brazil. Located just two degrees below the Equatorial line, Fortaleza, a real tropical paradise, is one of Brazil’s most popular holiday destinations. This was the first time the World Tour visited Brazil and all the ingredients were in place for a thrilling finish to the season. The relaxed and friendly atmosphere at the contest was expected from a country famous for its love of beach life and parties. The scenery along the Ceara coastline was breathtaking. Long white sandy beaches and many palm tree fringed coves were set off by a constant surf from the warm blue water of the Southern Atlantic ocean.

PWA 1997 Race Ranking

Men

1 E-11 Bjorn Dunkerbeck Spain

2 US-34 Micah Buzianis USA

3 S-10 Anders Bringdal Sweden

4 KA-7 Phil McGain Australia

5 US-93 Matt Pritchard USA

6 S-39 Christoffer Rappe Sweden

7 US-933 Kevin Pritchard USA

8 KZ-1 Scott Fenton New Zealand

9 F-35 Robert Teriitehau France

10 KA-0 Steve Allen Australia

WOMEN

1 F-12 Nathalie LeLievre France

2 G-54 Andrea Hoeppner Germany

3 Z-14 Karin Jaggi Switzerland

4 G-680 Jutta Mueller Germany

5 Z-3 Sandra Gubelmann Switzerland


PWA 1997 Wave Ranking

MEN

1)  KA-1111   Jason Polakow Australia

2) US-1111   Robby Naish USA

3) USA-6   Josh Stone USA

4) E-11   Bjorn Dunkerbeck Spain

5) KZ-1   Scott Fenton New Zealand

6) F-81   Patrice Belbeoc’h France

7) K-66   Nik Baker England

8) S-10   Anders Bringdal Sweden

9) G-16   Bernd Flessner Germany

10) N-44   Vidar Jensen Norway

WOMEN

1) F-12   Nathalie LeLievre France

2) G-680   Jutta Mueller Germany

3) KA-191   Jane Seman Australia


PWA 1997 Overall World Ranking

MEN

1) E-11 Bjorn Dunkerbeck Spain

2) S-10 Anders Bringdal Sweden

3) KZ-1 Scott Fenton New Zealand

4) US-93 Matt Pritchard USA

5) US-933 Kevin Pritchard USA

6) K-66 Nik Baker England

7) G-16 Bernd Flessner Germany

8) US-34 Micah Buzianis USA

9) F-81 Patrice Belbeoc’h France

10) F-35 Robert Teriitehau France

WOMEN

1) F-12 Nathalie LeLievre France

2) G-680 Jutta Mueller Germany

3) Z-14 Karin Jaggi Switzerland

4) G-54 Andrea Hoeppner Germany

5) Z-3 Sandra Gubelmann Switzerland


“I am super happy. Yesterday I could have lost everything, now I won everything so it was great to win. It all came down to the last day of the tour”.  Nathalie LeLievre F-12  (1st Overall, 1st Racing, 1st Wave)

“I don’t know, it has been kind of up and down this year. I am quite glad for being second behind Nathalie; she really deserves the title, she is the best sailor overall in really light winds. In strong winds and in wave sailing, she deserves it. I am happy anyway”. Jutta Mueller  G-680 (2nd Overall, 2nd Wave)

“Actually third is a pretty good place but as I was leading last night I am not really happy. That can happen in sports and that is the way it goes and I am going to try next year again”.  Karin Jaggi Z-14  (3rd Overall, 3rd Racing)

“It is my best result so far. It is the first time I made it into the top three. I am pretty happy about it although after doing so well in Sylt, I wanted to come first here, especially in light wind course racing. I was too nervous and then I made a lot of mistakes…. I am still pretty happy though”.  Andrea Hoeppner G-54 (2nd Racing)


RETURN TO PART I


 

by Dan Atkins

Has a Ph.D in aerodynamics with a background in applied mathematics and physics, runs around the world providing quality control to all the PWA events as the Technical Officer .