Sea, Sail & Surf newsSylt PWA Grand Slam
Albeau Victorious Once More !
samedi 28 septembre 2002 –
On what can be best described as a classic no-wind day, sunny and warm in the morning and slightly overcast in the afternoon, the sea refused to resemble anything other than a mirror. Thus four marks were laid and two matching jet skis fired up to provide the power for a relay, team, ins and outs dual slalom contest. Jet Ski jockeys for the event were none other than, in lane 1, Josh Angulo, and in lane 2 Micah Buzianis (Mistral/North). Four teams of two stepped up to the mark to battle it out over eight laps, starting, finishing and passing over the board in a Le Mans style.
TEAM USA
Levi Siver (F2/North)
Kevin Ponichtera (F2/Arrows)
TEAM GERMANY
Klaas Voget (Arrows/Fanatic)
Bernd Flessner (F2/Neil Pryde)
TEAM FRANCE
Antoine Albeau (AHD/Neil Pryde)
Xavier Huart (Mistral/North)
TEAM HOLLAND
Peter Bijl (JP/Neil Pryde)
Ben van der Steen (Fanatic/Neil Pryde)
In round one France cruised to an easy victory over the home team who lost too much ground to make up when Bernd Flessner scored some gargantuan air crossing the wake, much to the delight of the huge crowd. The airtime was OK, but the catastrophic face plant was the big problem for Bernd, who was cursing Josh for the full speed tactics. Second round saw USA dispense with Holland in a similar way, although only taking the lead when Peter Bijl took a tumble in a similar fashion to Bernd in round one. A pattern was emerging here, was it the rider’s lack of skill causing them to fall or was it Josh’s radical high speed Jet Ski technique that was causing the difficulty ? Hard to tell, but the final commenced in the same vein but this time USA took the early lead with Josh seemingly in full control. However Josh was concentrating so hard on smoothness that he came ashore after only 7 laps, with Frenchman Xavier Huart waving them on, it was all the opportunity that Antoine needed, cruising smoothly behind Micah Buzianis team France completed their 8th lap and beached victorious.
ANTOINE ALBEAU : "I knew we would win because Micah was driving and he’s a racer and knows exactly how to take the corners !"
Antoine is sure to be hoping that the victory today is a good omen for the Formula racing, which has seen the brawny Frenchman under increasing pressure from Kevin Pritchard (Bic/Gaastra) each new day.
Many of the top sailors could be found rubbing shoulders with the public, signing autographs, playing beach volleyball, running clinics and making cocktails ! All entertaining stuff on a windless day.
The forecast for tomorrow is 17 to 20 knots, so the main action on the water should resume tomorrow morning with a fully rested fleet eager to get 5 more races done. There is even a possibility of waves so the weekend crowds are sure to be entertained.
Dans la même rubrique
Sylt PWA Grand Slam : Pritchard Closes In On Albeau
Sylt PWA Grand Slam : Pritchard Holds The Big One To Come First !
Sylt, PWA Grand Slam : Pritchard Shoots Off, Antoine Albeau Still Leader
Sylt, PWA Grand Slam : Less challenging conditions than yesterday
