Costa Brava brought us only one day of racing. As I learned from last year that it can be only one-day competition I tried to stay 120 % focused when the wind came on Thursday. Getting a good start, I was quite consistent on my third position during the whole race. Further, with the very good work of the race committee, we raced second run until the first semi-final which I managed to pass through on third position also. This year I feel much better prepared with my gear as well as with skills after two winter-months training in Brazil. But I also found out at this competition how much I still have to learn...

Thanks to my sponsors MauiSails and Starboard I have equipment that I dreamed of. Only one thing that I felt as an inconvenience was lack of bigger sail as 8,4. The biggest one I had in Costa Brava was 7.0, which for this light wind was really the minimum. Still I felt so good on the new TR5 that I managed to finish third even with small sail.

 
This is my first podium in PWA Slalom so obviously I'm very happy!!! Apart from the races I found out that being in such a contest watching the best guys is the best way to learn. And to be in such a good Team like Josh, Gonzo, Peter, and Gabriel is a great benefit. Thanks to Josh and Gonzo for helping me to set up my rigs.
 
I'll keep my fingers crossed for all MauiSails Team in Canaries, good luck!!!
And see u in Turkey
 
Cheers Marta Hlavaty POL-111
Finish position : 3rd


What a bummer for Gabriel who caught a bug while travelling and was so sick he couldn't race at all in round #1 and conditions failed to leave a chance for a comeback. Incredible bad timing as he is going fast, for the second round he was recovered and all the time right on my tail qualifying easy to the next heats.

Looking back at the Costa Brava event, I have had some good starts except in the one heat that mattered most, which was the winner final of the first round. Other then that I am very happy with the way I raced. The day before the contest I spent the whole day testing with Finian and was now ready for any kind of wind having tuned my gear completely, so I could only focus on the race without having to worry about my equipment.


In the first couple of heats of Slalom #1 I competed mainly with Albeau and Steve Allen. A few times I got away first down by the pin and also made it to the finish in 1st one time leading all the way.

But in the final of race 1 later in the day there was very little wind left at the start and we were all pumping to plane over the line copping a little wind shift as well, not making it easier to get of the line downwind by the pin. It was Ross Williams who made a technical move and while I was underneath him getting covered having to get out of his bad air, Antoine was the next cause of turbulence for me not being able to accelerate further. I finished in 8th place going into the next round, and received a difficult seeding for the second race in the same bracket as Antoine, Bjorn and Micah.


Starting halfway down the line at full speed on, I was down the road and looking straight to qualify. But the general recall went up and we had to start again. I was a little worried for an over-early but I must have nailed it. In the restart I had an OK race starting right with Bjorn who claimed the pin, and I made it to the mark with him and Micah leading. I qualified for the semi's but the wind was now getting really light. However the race crew decided to start us and this time I claimed the pin and moved into a 3rd place behind Antoine and Micah. Every time it took us 5 seconds to get planing after the mark and when I looked back seeing everyone parked at buoy #2, I saw the abandonment go up on the boat meaning the end of competition as the wind failed to exceed 10 knots again throughout the remaining time of the event. This event was very well organized and really too bad that it was not a good week for wind.


At least we can pack away our big stuff now heading to the wild winds of the Canary Islands for the next 2 events. Looking forward to lots of rounds!

Peter Volwater H-24
Finish position : 7th


Costa Brava let us down this year with the wind, but not with the organization.  We managed to do one round and a half on the whole week so it was pretty boring, but the event organizers made a lot of effort making huge Spanish dinners where everybody had nice times. The action of the week was mainly the tennis matches we were having every evening trying to keep the body active, as the wind didn't seem wanted to come.

I started the event as usual, bad. My second heat was pretty tough. We were Ross, Micah. Arnon, Robby Swift, Benoit Moussilmani, Damien, Arturo (Turkey's Olympic representative) and me. Kind of all light wind specialists plus two "new " guys, Arturo and Damien who push the starts hard because they know they won't advance if not. So I got trapped by Benoit and Damien at the start. He was on top of me and below Benoit came and sandwiched me up. The wind was very light so coming to the start I couldn't slow down as I would stop planing and so I went off by a second...so out again early. Being the second day, I was down but hoped that i would manage to come back during the week.


The second elimination I advanced, scoring a second on my first heat and a first on my quarterfinal. We got to the semis and then the wind dissappeared again.

So that was it..not much to tell. Scored a 16th, my worst result so far, with only one elimination on the whole week, where the mistakes are paid hard.

Still smiling though
Gonzalo Costa Hoevel ARG-3
Finish position : 16th

Check more photos of MauiSails Team from John Carter/PWA