PWA SLALOM COSTA BRAVA- SPAIN

I was flying on the 4th of june from Bonaire- Amsterdam and from there to Barcelona. Everything went oke. Flights on time and no bags missing.

Training days:

My first training session on the waters of Costa Brava. Big chop with a strong and cold wind coming from the north. Was flying over the water with me great new I-sonic 86 liters. After an hour I was to cold to continue as I was just in my shorts and lycra like I do on Bonaire but wasn�t really possible here. First thing to do was getting a shorty�…The next day the wind was much lighter and from another direction. This was the termic wind. I went out with the North Sails Warp 6.8 and the new Starboard I-sonic 101. The board was feeling great, just there wasn�t a lot of wind so had to change to my 111 liters. I was getting in plane but the wind was still very light.

9^th of June: On Monday we had registration till 12.00 hour. You have to registrate your boards and sails. This year the rules are changed you have to sign up your equipment at the first event you doing: 3 boards and 6 sails and that you can not change for the rest of the season. So I registrated my Starboard I-sonic 86/101/111 and sails 5.0/ 5.4/ 6.3/ 6.8/ 7.8/ 8.3

In the afternoon they started the races, but the wind was very light and they just finished the first two heats of the men. At 19.00 hour the flag went up that all the racing was finished for the day so I could pack all my gear away with even not being out on the water at all.

Later that day we all went for the opening ceremony in the town Sant Pere Pescador. We got some local food and of course some talking from the officials and Jimmy Diaz as he represented the PWA.

10^th of june: Today it was looking we where going to sail. The wind was very gusty, they told us 10-20 knots. By the time my heat was on it was 16.00 hour and after a recall (where I was on 3^rd place at the start) and a few prospone we returned back to the beach. A bit later they tried again and finally we where racing. I had a big problem during the start as the outhaul rope went lose, so my boom was all the way down. With 1,5 minute on my watch till the green flag I had to jump in the water to fix it very quick. No time to tune anything… So I had no good position at the start, but we where on our way in this heat. There was almost no wind at the first mark. I fell in the water and took a while to get back on the board. I was 6^th at the finish and had to go to the looser final, as only the top 4 went to the winners final.

The loosers final was the most light wind race I ever seen or done. Going to the first mark there was absolute no wind and really everyone had trouble to stay up straight rounding the first mark. I found it really unbelievable they let us surf this race. After us the races where stopped and I came out of the water at 19.30 hour.

11^th of June: All day waiting on the beach without any wind. In the afternoon some of the riders like Van der Hoeven and Ross Willams played some tennis and others played volleyball on the beach and also hanging around the bungalow listening to the i-pod or checking online the windguru for the coming days, what wasn�t really promising. In the evening we had a great dinner organised in Roses.

12^th of June: Finally the wind picked up a little bit today so at 15.00 hour there was enough wind to start heat 3 of the men. At 18.00 hour it was my turn. I did tested the afternoon already my gear and decided not to go to small. So went out on the 111 liters and 7.8 sail. There was an over early in heat 12 from the men, so waiting a bit longer on the water till it was my heat. The start went oke, just at the first mark I went a bit to far around what cost me some places. I recovered quick but was hard to come back in the front as there was for sure not more then 9 knots as highest. I finished 6 in my heat. After this heat they cancelled all the races. Again a big discussion if our heat from the women should have been taken place or not. Some of the topriders told me they never did a race in the whole PWA carrier with suchs a light wind.

13^th of June: As we finished yesterday with the women heat number 1, I had to stay prepaired as now I was on the list one of the first to do my heat. I had my board and big sail ready on the beach. Around 15.00 they put out the marks and around 18.00 hour there came some rain clouds, but no wind so at 18.30 the races where cancelled for the rest of the day.

Me, Martha (Pol 111), Lena (Tur 33), Juan (V103), Dioni (V69) and some locals decided to play some volleyball on the beach what was nice and fun after all the boring hours.

In the evening there was a mega party with barbeque on the beach, with I think over 1.000 people, what was great. 

14^th of June: Again a very boring and long day – no wind. Around 13.00 o�clock it looked like there was some wind coming. It was cloudy and wind from the south like the other weekend when it was a nice wind. By the time I had my two sets on the beach 7.8-111 and the 6.8- 101 it stopped again. The marks are out and everyone returns back to his bungalow. Playing cards, chatting, etc.

At 19.00 hour we had the price giving ceremony.

Men�s Results:

1st Antoine Albeau (JP/NeilPryde)
2nd Ross Williams (Tabou/Gaastra)
3rd Steve Allen

Women�s Results
1st Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou/The Loft)
2nd Karin Jaggi (F2/Severne)
3rd Marta Hlavaty (Starboard/MauiSails)

Hopefully the next event, what will be Aruba Hi-winds will bring some more wind then we had this week with only one elimination.