Tomorrow the ALLEGRO.PL CUP will kick off in the famous holiday resort Leba in Poland. Already over 70 competitors from 15 different countries representing three continents have registered for the most important windsurfing event in Poland 2006. Among these racers are some of the best windsurfers of the World.
The favourite to win the ALLEGRO.PL CUP is Antoine Albeau (FRA-192, Starboard, Neil Pryde) from France. He has dominated most of the events of the running season and is the brand new IFCA Slalom Vice World Champion after the World Championships in Alacati (TURKEY) last week. So Antoine is the clear favourite for the discipline Slalom. But he may be even stronger in the second discipline Racing (Formula Windsurfing) as the French giant is the current Formula Windsurfing World Champion after winning the Formula Windsurfing World Championships in Sydney, Australia last December.
But there are quite a few who will put up a serious challenge to the French dominator: Steve Allen (AUS-0, Tabou, Gaastra) from Australia, the Formula Windsurfing World Champion from 2003 is living in Poland and has already some children with his Polish wife. He has an excellent knowledge about the venue Leba and its conditions and hopes to be able to take advantage of it. Another serious threat is the current Formula Windsurfing European Champion Ross Williams (GBR-83, Tabou, Gaastra) from Great Britain. He has proven already in the past that he is able to beat all the other top racer and is ready to do so again if the chances are there.
From Argentina Gonzala Costa Hoevel (ARG-3, F2, Neil Pryde) made his way to Poland to fight for the triumph and a share of the prize money. Among the favourites is also Arnon Dagan (ISR-1, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) from Israel. Italy is represented by the Italian Master Champion Marco Begalli (ITA-415, Exocet, Neil Pryde) and the young but already strong hotshot Alberto Menegatti (ITA-456, F2, North Sails)
But the list of potential podium candidates is much longer and it is difficult to make a forecast who will win the event as the level of the top racers is very close this year. Finally there is an impressive group of Polish hotshots who hope to be able to make the favourites stumble. The Polish Team is lead by Michal Polanowski (POL-16, Starboard, Naish Sails), Pawel Hlavati (POL-11, Starboard Severne) and the Miarczynski brothers Jarek (POL-127, F2, Naish Sails) and Przemek (POL-126, F2, Naish Sails). The past has proven that the performance in Poland has reached a superior level compared to many other countries.
The ALLEGRO.PL CUP features the both disciplines of Racing (Formula Windsurfing) and Slalom (IFCA). For Racing the competitors are allowed to register one board and three sails. Competitons can be run from not less then 7 knots as the racers use sails up to 12,5 m2 and boards with a maximum width of 100 cm. The whole fleet will start together so that we can expect some spectacular situations on the course. In the Slalom the fleet is devided into groups (heats) which fight among each other for the entry into the next round until the winner is finally fought out in the final. In the Slalom the maximum sail size is limited to 10,0 m2 with a maximum board width of 85 cm. The total prize money of the event is EUR 30.000,00.
The skippers meeting is scheduled for 10:30 with the first possible start at 11:00. For the opening day the weather forecast doesn1t look too promising with merely offshore winds between one and three beaufort. But for the next days the conditions should improve and we look forward to spectacular competitions on the Baltic Sea. The ALLEGRO.PL CUP will last until Sunday, August 13th.
