A strong fleet, a perfect venue but no wind on the first day.
A strong fleet of 65 racers found its way to the Windsurfing Euro-Cup Cagliari on the lovely island of Sardinia (Italy). All the top racers of the World came to the beautiful city in the south of the Mediteranean island.
Most experts are awaiting a fight between the current leader of the Windsurfing Euro-Cup Steve Allen (AUS-0, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) and his opponent Wojtek Brzozowski (POL-10, Starboard, Neil Pryde). But there are several who have the potential to beat them and who are hungry to fire themselves up to the podium.
Cagliari is a perfect venue for Windsurfing and especially the discipline Racing. The high temperatures of air and water make wetsuites obsolete for most of the times. The incredible soft and white sand create the necessary beach atmosphere and provides the best possible tribunes for the spectators. The sea has a unique green colour which makes the pictures delivered from here unforgettable. Finally Cagliari is normally very reliable to provide nice consistent wind for racing.
Unfortunately we were missing this usual consistency on the first day of the Windsurfing Euro-Cup Cagliari. In the morning the wind followed the forecast and blew with over 15 knots offshore from northwest. But during the last stages of the inscription it gradually slowed down and when the first races were supposed to start at 13:00 it died completely. This was caused by the thermical effects working against the Mistral wind. Due to the powerful sun and the heat the wind switched the direction by 180 degrees to accelerate again from the onshore southern direction.
It picked up and finally the race director Claudio Alessandrello was able to start. But unfortunately the wind was not consistent enough and dropped again so that the race had to be abandoned again. Bad luck for Wojtek Brzozowski (POL-10, Starboard, Neil Pryde) who was leading at that moment. But also for the young Italian hotshot Alberto Menegatti (ITA-456, Starboard, YES Sails) who was able to demonstrate the potential of the new YES Sails prototype.
As the conditions remained unstable the competitors were sent ashore. The wind didn’t pick up again so at 18:00 AP over A was raised and the competition was cancelled for today. All the racers enjoyed the perfect atmosphere and the great Italian hospitality at the famous pasta party in the Windsurfing Club Cagliari.
The forecast is predicting light wind for the coming days but the strong thermical effects might cause a completely different situation at Poetto Beach in the Bay of Cagliari. The Skippers Meeting is set for 10:00 on Friday with the first possible start at 11:00. We all hope for great racing action.
You can find more information, results, pictures etc. and follow the competitions online on the official Website of the Windsurfing Euro-Cup www.euro-cup.org and on the FW Class Website www.formulawindsurfing.org .
