However, while the wind may have been too light for further slalom, it was still possible to complete three more foil eliminations, which resulted in 3 different winners - Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne), Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / GA Sails / Chopper Fins).

Women’s

With the rankings remaining the same from overnight and with the sailors being released at 3:30pm it was official that Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) is the 2017 Women’s PWA Slalom World Champion - despite a superb effort from Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) - who claimed a clear cut victory here, but with Offringa securing a solid second place the former 2-time world champion will have to wait until next year for another shot at the title.

Sarah-Quita Offringa : on winning her 3rd slalom title in a row - 4 slalom titles overall :

“I’m actually really happy about it. I don’t have so much to say, but of course I’m happy it worked out, but in the end, I’m super happy that I came to New Caledonia because it was a good chance for me to learn some new things as I’m not used to sailing slalom in these kind of conditions. Every day I improved a bit, so it was a win-win situation… I managed to bring the title home, gained experience in these conditions and I got to see the whole tour again and say a proper goodbye to everybody. Overall it was just a great way to sign off for the year.

We had some really close racing and I’m really happy that I was able to win a couple of races in these conditions because I know Delphine [Cousin Questel] is dominant in these conditions, so it’s good for me to know that it’s possible to win a couple.”

Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui), who ends the season as the vice-world champion after maintaining her winning ways in New Caledonia having previously won here in 2014 and ‘15 :

“I’m very happy. I came here to win, so I’m glad to have reached that goal. I had a very good battle with Sarah [Quita Offringa] and it turned out to be a perfect week with great conditions, organisation, everything was perfect.”

Men’s

Just as in the women’s division the men’s ranking remained the same, which meant that Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) signs off the season in style by winning the final event of the year, while also earning an incredible 24th world title.

Antoine Albeau - 24-time world champion : “It feels super good because it wasn’t over coming into the event here - even though I had a bit of an advantage over Matteo [Iachino] as you know - it was like 7 places difference between us - so when you arrive like this you know it’s almost in the pocket, but I didn’t want to think like that because you never know what can happen. Especially with someone like Matteo, who is capable of winning every race and if I’d have made some mistakes then it’s easy to miss out on the top 10.

I was a little bit stressed for sure because until it’s official you can’t rest easy. Now it’s done and it’s great to win it by winning the last event of the season. I started okay, but not as well as Matteo, but I was very consistent and even when I broke my harness hook in the semifinal I was then still able to win the losers’ final quite easily. I was super confident because I knew my speed was good and when you know your speed is good you feel a lot safer. The year before was a little bit hard for me because I wasn’t super fast, especially in light winds, which then makes it difficult.

Is it getting easier or harder ? Hmmm… you know every year is different. There are a lot of variables. How you start the year, how strong is the wind going to be ? This year we were unlucky with the conditions at the two first events (South Korea and Japan), but in the end, we scored Costa Brava, Fuerte, Denmark and here as well. Sylt we were only able to complete 2 eliminations, but overall I think we’ve had a very good year.”

Overall Ranking 2017 Women’s PWA Slalom World Tour

• 1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
• 2^nd Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)
• 3rd Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails)
• 4th Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360)
• 5th Maelle Guilbaud (Patrik / LoftSails)

Overall Ranking 2017 Men’s PWA Slalom World Tour

• 1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)
• 2^nd Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7 / Shamal Sunglasses)
• 3rd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails / Chopper Fins)
• 4th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses)
• 5th Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / LoftSails / Chopper Fins)
• 6th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti)
• 7th Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails)
• 8th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)
• 9th Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui)
• 10th Sebastian Koerdel (Starboard / GA Sails)