The PWA Alacati was well organized by 'surf and sound' and the wind gods where with us from the start of the event. With a massive sound system on the beach, Power Fm radio got us rocking to the beats of the best summer '09 dance tunes. Main sponsor Pegasus airlines took care of us leaving from Schiphol Amsterdam airport and waiving all excess baggage charges.

We scored some fun and easy racing competition, after the intense high wind events in Gran Canaria and Fuerte. It's a pleasure staying within walking distance from the race site and   to rig on the nice lawn. Inside the bay of Alacati in the Aegean Sea the water is super flat, perfect for the hundreds of recreational windsurfers from all over enjoying the consistent Meltemi wind, warm water and tranquility.


The run up to start line was very short, like in the last years it was tactical to get good starts with speed on time. The conditions suited mostly 7,6 race sails and Medium boards. Even the 7,0 came out of the bag for a few heats, while other years the 8,4 has been the most used sail size. All the week we did 8 man heats, qualifying for the finals means you   have to push hard and you need to finish top 4 to go to the next round. The level of competition is always a lot closer in these type of conditions, and besides the usual candidates the standard of the Turkish sailors is also relatively high and there was a full fleet of 64 competitors. Usually the wind is quite light in the morning then picking up late morning and at its best between 2-5 PM.

At the beginning of the event I just missed out on the finals every time. Finally in race #4 I made a final, but it seemed to me that there was an over early so I stopped on the line and had the worst start to finish 8th. In the semi final of the 5th race I had to push really hard to stay in the game, it looked like I was going to miss out on the final, but you   never give up until the end. With 2 sailors behind Micah and right over the top of me at the last mark, at the gybing he left a gap. I came from below and the only way to go was on the inside, as he came around super close to the buoy I ended up knocking him off the board pretty hard but I didn't fall and made it into the final. With my F2 SX 81 wide board I finished 6th, the advantage was off the start line in the gusty wind, but the XL board was not so easy to manouver.


In the final of the last race #8 I broke the mast straight after the first buoy and came 8th, which ended up being the last race of the event. My discards -11th and 10th place- where the lowest after Antoine, so it would've been favorable to keep racing and results - even though not top 5 - were consistent.

Knowing I can win a final when I sail a good heat, I was hoping for more races and felt I was growing in the event. But unfortunately the wind dropped with 2 days to go. Antoine is the big winner again and he is the one guy you never pass on the straight line or in the gybes, he is simply in another league right now. Maybe if he has a bad start in a heat, it should be possible to stay ahead of him...


The overall ranking is winding up now with only 1 more event to go in Sylt. Nothing much changes anymore in the ranking, so I am just looking forward to compete in North sea conditions similar to where I learned to windsurf in Holland.

Aloha,
Peter Volwater H-24

 

Photo : PWA/Carter