Ialisos/Rhodes 11/06/02. The FormulaWindsurfing Grand Prix in Ialisos / Rhodes (Greece) had a perfect start. Three spectacular races were sailed in very challenging conditions with wind speeds between 20 and 27 knots, temperatures of 30 degrees and perfect sunshine. The race director Bruno de Wannemaker has positioned the classical up-and-down course close to the beach so that the spectators and the media were able to follow the action on the water.
The French Vice-Worldchampion Antoine Albeau (F-192, AHD, Neil Pryde) was able to win the first race in front of Wojtek Brzozowski (POL-10, Starboard, Neil Pryde) from Poland and Steve Allen (AUS-0, Fanatic) from Australia. In the second race Wojtek Brzozowski was able to beat Albeau. Again the Australian Allen was able to win the third place. In the last race it was again the French who was able to dominate in front of his Polish opponent and this time another French with Cyril Moussilmani (F-71, AHD, Simmer).
After three races Antoine Albeau is leading with 3,4 points in front of Wojtek Brzozowski (4,7 points). This two competitors have moved already away from the rest of the fleet which is lead by Steve Allen (12,0 points). He is followed by Pawel Hlawaty (POL-124, Starboard, Neil Pryde, 22 points) from Poland, Brian Rögild (DEN-173, Starboard, Gaastra, 23 points) from Danmark and Wilhelm Schurmann (BRA-999, Starboard, Neil Pryde, 24 points) from Brasil.
Ioanis-Markos Fantis (GRE-7, Starboard, Neil Pryde) is the best Greece competitor on place 13 (49 points) followed by Horis Dimopoulos (GRE-123, BIC, Neil Pryde, place 18, 62 points) and Konstantinos Thomopoulos (GRE-96, BIC, Gaastra, place 20, 69 points). So it is also a good start for the Greek competitors in their homeland.
For tomorrow the forecasts predict strong wind again which will produce some more spectacular races. So the three races from today were only the kick-off for the event. The maximum number of races is 15 so the results can change significantly in the next days. The Formula Windsurfing Grand Prix Ialisos/Rhodes will continue until Saturday, June 15th.
Matthias Regber (www.choppywater.de)
