Day 5-The 2011 Pegasus Airlines PWA World Cup Alacati Turkey
The wind continued to blow for the penultimate day of racing in Alacati, allowing the slalom fleet to take to the water on their 7.8m sails from the word go. A consistent breeze of around eighteen knots powered the world’s fastest slalom sailors through two and a half more dramatic eliminations.
Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic) dominated in the women’s fleet with two more bullets, taking her back into second place. Offringa was back on form for the fifth day of racing, after a few dropped gybes in the high winds yesterday Offringa was meticulous with her corners today. The Aruban freestyle and slalom maestro timed her starts to perfection to lead the fleet in both finals, ensuring that she claimed two first places.
Offringa “I was a little scared the wind was going to be as strong as yesterday, but it ended up being a really good day. I was using my medium board as it’s a little easier to control. I had some really solid starts today, and once you’re at the front it so much easier to race as you don’t have to worry about passing people. I had a catapult in the elimination nine qualifying round but I managed to finish in fourth. I think I had the best start of my life in the winners’ final and that allowed me to go ahead and win the race.” The current event leader, Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne) performed a two great races in the qualifying rounds, however two dropped gybes in the winners’ final saw her finish slightly lower down the fleet than usual in 4th and 8th, however Jaggi still maintains a significant lead on the rest of the fleet with overall consistent scores.
Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou / Gaastra / Mystic), Greta Benvenuti (Patrik / Point-7 /AL360) and Fanny Aubet (JP /NeilPryde) were the standout women of the day. The three sailors were fighting for the top spots throughout the day and hitting the starts with perfect timing.
