A total of 91 competitors, 85 men and 6 women, from 17 countries signed up for the European Slalom Championship at Zoo Station in Bol, Brac, Croatia.[more]
Grand Masters: 5 men + 1 female
Masters: 16 men + 1 female
Seniors: 38 men + 3 female
Juniors: 9 men
Youths: 17 men + 1 female
The forecast for the week is fairly unpredictable as we are dealing with thermal winds, so it will be a day by day surprise during this exciting competition week.
A windy morning on the second competition day but the 20 to 30 knots wind from an unusual direction was way too shifty and gusty. Such conditions were not suitable for racing as the wind could just disappear at any moment according to the locals. However, after a long wait the predicted thermal winds finally kicked in from the right direction and the exciting races could finally start.
Senior/Master/Grandmaster Elimination # 1
There were no big surprises during the races today except for some interesting moments such as:
FRA-511 Sebastien Bonhomme catapaulted with a big crash but recovered quickly and slipped back in the qualifying position crossing the line in 3rd
SLO-6 Tine Slabe a well known name here on the spot was leading his heat until just before the finish line where he lost his position due to small equipment failure, FRA-873 Jocelyn De Souza was not far behind and managed to cross the line in front of the Slovenian.
Guys to look out for in the next coming days as they showed great racing skills today:
ITA-415 Begalli Marco (M)
ITA-911 Romano Luigi
ITA-1111 Ferin Andrea
FRA-823 Valentin Brault
FRA-511 Sebastien Bonhomme
SLO-6 Tine Slabe
GBR-659 James Dinsmore (M)
Happy faces and big smiles for some of the Croatian Riders who are experiencing their first international level of Slalom racing. A great start to the event for the following competitors:
CRO-54 Ivan Belamaric (M)
CRO-133 Marko Sekulic (M)
CRO-401 Enrico Marotti
The wind started to drop down in the late afternoon right after the first completed round of Elimination 1 for the Junior and Youths.
Top 4 Finalists of Heat 1
winner FRA-755 Arthur Orjubin
2nd FRA-330 William Huppert
3rd ITA-87 Jacopo Renna (U17) and
4th BEL-39 Thomas Broucke (U15)
Races will likely continue tomorrow as we should be expecting some predicted thermal winds for the afternoon. Skippers meeting is scheduled for 11am
You can follow the event updates on: facebook ifca , zoostation and world of windsurf where you can also have a look back on the day’s action and image gallery
IFCA/ Ruben Petrisie
