Imperious Lachino dominates while Erdil lays fends off Offringa

Matteo Lachino leads in Men’s and Lena Erdi leads in Women’s on day two of the PWA World Cup, in Hvide Sande, Denmark.

As promised the racing sprung into life on the second day of the 2017 Waterz Hvide Sande PWA World Cup, which allowed the opening two races for the Men’s and Women’s fleets to be completed in winds of 8-20 knots. Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) couldn’t have wished for a better start as he came flying out the blocks to win both eliminations, while Lena Erdil (Starboard  / Point-7 / AL360) heads up the women’s rankings after also making a strong start.

Women’s
Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) leads the event at the close of play after making an excellent start to proceedings, which saw the 28-year-old open her account with a well-taken bullet before backing it up with a solid second place.

Erdil goes into day three with a two point lead over Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), who had a slow start to the final in Elimination one meaning she had to settle for fourth place, before instantly hitting back with a clinical victory in the second elimination to keep herself firmly in contention and is now perfectly poised to pounce tomorrow. 

Meanwhile, Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) currently completes the top three on six points after 2nd and fourth place finishes, while fellow French woman Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) is still in the running in fourth.

One of the performances of the day has to go to Jenna Gibson (Fanatic / NorthSails), who was making her debut on the world tour and she hit the ground to take third place in her first ever race. Unfortunately, the 20-year-old was then involved in a pile up in the second winners’ final resulting in a 10th which sees her sitting in fifth place in the current rankings. The Brit looks as though she is ready to make an instant transition to life on the world tour and could well challenge for the podium.

Esther de Geus (JP / Point-7) and Maélle Guilbaud (Patrik / LoftSails) came into Denmark tied in joint three, but both will want to quickly shake off their results from the first day of competition here as both suffered disappointing results – with de Geus finishing 7th and 14th, while Guillbaud had similar results with 8th and 12th places.

Men’s
Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) won the first ever event here last year and the Italian made a strong stake to successfully defend that crown as he produced a flawless display to win both of the eliminations completed today, which gives the reigning world champion a significant lead heading into the third day, as the rest of the usual suspects endured an indifferent day. At the close of play Iachino holds an 11.6 point advantage and his rivals will either need a mistake from Iachino – or wait for the first discard to come into play after race four for a chance to close the gap.

Ups and Downs
As mentioned aside from Iachino – who was the only man to qualify for both winners’ finals – the rest of the fleet suffered a mixed bag of results.

Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins) is currently Iachino’s closest challenger in second after finishing third and ninth. Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails) currently completes the top three after finishing 11th and then third. The German seems to enjoy himself on Danish waters with the 26-year-old earning his first podium finish here in 2016 and he could well repeat that feat yet.

Current world tour leader – Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) – suffered a shock semifinal exit as he narrowly missed out in fifth place and this represents the Frenchman’s worst start to an event this year, but you still wouldn’t count him out from staging a comeback – especially the stronger the wind gets. 

Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) finds himself in fifth place after the opening two races. The 31-year-old made a solid start to proceedings, but then gave himself far too much to do in the semifinal of Elimination three and despite a valiant effort he just missed out in fifth place.

Bruno Martini (RRD / Point-7 / AL360) made a flying start to the event as he opened with a brilliant second place behind the Iachino, but has since seen the wheels come off after suffering an unfortunate quarterfinal exit in race two after Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails) dropped his gybe leading no escape for the Italian – before then facing a second round exit in Elimination three, which leaves him in joint 15th place with Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) The two sailors actually have the exact same counting results at the moment, but the Brit hit back with a second place after a shock quarterfinal exit from the opening race and he is still in the running for Elimination three.

Maciek Rutkowski (Tabou / GA Sails) was one of the most consistent performers of the day and that consistency sees him rewarded with a sixth place in the current event rankings after the pole navigate his way into the winners’ final of the opening race – where he finished eighth. Rutkowski was then disqualified from the semifinal of Elimination two after a premature start, but sailed excellently in the losers’ final to claim tenth place.

Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde), Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Chopper Fins), Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Chopper Fins), Mateus Isaac (Goya Windsurfing / Point-7) and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins) complete the top ten at this stage. The latter will feel slightly aggrieved with his disqualification from the third elimination after thinking there was a break – only to try and rush to the start of his heat to then be disqualified for sailing through the start line the wrong way with 15 seconds to go.

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