– A perfect kickoff for the EC Cascais –

– 4 races on the first day –

– Steve Allen leading after the first day –

Cascais / Lisbon (Portugal), June 5th 2003. The Windsurfing Euro-Cup Cascais had a perfect kickoff: Four races were sailed already on the first day. The conditions for the racers were very challenging as the offshore wind was shifty and gusty and demanded a lot of tactical skill from the competitors. The wind range lasted from 9 knots to 19 knots.

In the first race the race the wind was quite weak during the start but the race brought a surprise with Ross Williams (GBR-83, Starboard, Gaastra) scoring his first victory of the season and finally proving that he is tuned in his new Starboard equipment finally. He was followed by Fanatic top racer Steve Allen (AUS-0, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) and young Polish hotshot Michal Polanowski (POL-16, Starboard, Neil Pryde).

In the next race the wind provided a much better breeze. Steve Allen, the Euro-Cup Champion of 2002 was able to return to the performance of last year and dominated this race. Ross Williams added a second place. Fanatics “wild animal” Pieter Bijl (NED-0, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) got third.

After this race the competitors were sent ashore for a break to give them a chance to eat and drink something and to recover. In the meantime the wind continued to build up. So the racers were well fired up in the third race. This time Pieter Bijl kicked his Falcon T2 to the top in front of Pawel Hlawati (POL-124, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) and the new F2 team rider Devon Boulon (ISV-1, F2, Windwing).

The final race brought another victory for the Australian Steve Allen. Michal Polanowski got second in front of Aleks Grynis (POL-86, Starboard, Neil Pryde). The Polish Starboard rider had a terrible start into the regatta but got stronger and stronger over the day.

After the first day with four races and one discard Steve Allen is leading at the Windsurfing Euro-Cup in Cascais with two victories, a second and a seventh place and a total of 3,4 points. Ross Williams can be very satisfied with his second place with a total of 6.7 points in front of Michal Polanowski from Poland with 9 points. The fourth place is occupied by Pieter Bijl (10.7 points) from the Netherlands in front of the current leader of the Euro-Cup Andrea Cucchi (15 points).

The forecast for the next days looks very promising so that nothing is decided yet. For tomorrow we expect another four races that will introduce the second discard. The skipper meeting is set for 11:00. The first possible start is scheduled for 12:00.

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 .

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