Two races were sailed on the second day of the Engadinwind.com in Silvaplana. The RS-X Vice World Champion Przemek ‘Pont’ Miarczcynski (POL-126, F2, Gaastra) presented a strong performance with a victory in race one and a third place in race two. The Belgium hotshot Pascal Somers (BEL-7, AHD, Severne Sails) dominated the second race. Unfortunately the conditions were not consistent enough so that the two races are only fun races and don’t count for the official result list of the Euro-Cup Silvaplana.
The wind gave the organizers of the STIMOROL ENGADINWIND.COM a hard time: Two air currents were fighting with each other. We had a northern wind bringing clouds and a southern breeze which can be accelerated by the thermics to transform into the famous Maloja wind. But the two forces were even joined by a third player! In the afternoon the Julierwind kicked in blowing down over Silvaplana from the Julierpass. The wind was strong enough for free windsurfing but not consistent enough for official racing. The organization made the best out of the difficult situation and decided to run two fun races. A figure eight slalom course was set up an almost the entire competitors went out for the full fleet race.
In the first race the conditions were very unstable, especially at the start. Przemek ‘Pont’ Miarczcynski, the RS-X Vice World Champion from Poland made the best out of the situation and was able to dominate in front of the Formula Windsurfing European Champion of 2006, Ross Williams (GBR-83, Tabou, Gaastra) from Great Britain. Yoann Fleury (FRA-730, Starboard, Severne) from France got third in front of Mantas Gresevicius (LTU-13) from Lithuania and Claudio Fackelmann (GER-997) from Germany. As conditions got better and numerous spectators were enthusiastic about the spectacular action it was decided to run another fun race.
This time it was the young hotshot Pascal Somers from Belgium who was able to dominate. ‘Danish Dynamite’ Jesper Vesterström (DEN-111, Starboard, Neil Pryde) presented explosive speed and got third. Przemek ‘Pont’ Miarczcynski confirmed his performance from race one with an impressive third place. Adriaan van Rijsselberghe (NED-2, JP, Neil Pryde) got fourth in front of Wilhelm Schurmann (BRA-999, Starboard, Neil Pryde) from Brasil.
Some of the other favourites preferred to save their energy and equipment for the official races tomorrow. ‘I am perfectly set up with my equipment and cannot risk to damage anything’ confirmed Steve Allen, the current Formula Windsurfing World Champion from Australia. 36-times World Champion Björn Dunkerbek tried hard but in the gusty and shifty conditions he was stuck in the fleet which made it impossible for him to present his normal speed.
In the addition of both races Przemek ‘Pont’ Miarczcynski is leading in front of Yoann Fleury and Ariaan van Rijsselberghe. Tomorrow is the final day of the ENGADINWIND.COM. The skippers meeting is scheduled for 11:00 with the first possible start at 12:00. The forecast looks a little bit more promising then for the last two days. So we hope to be able to get some good races done before the prize giving which is set for 18:00. Tonight all the riders, the organization and numerous party guests will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Engadin Surf Marathon on the top station of the Mount Corvatsch.
