From what I understand, the head of Turkish construction company Polimeks Erol Tabaja, reached a deal with the PWA to host the event in Turkmenistan as a gesture of gratitude for all the contracts they’d received from the government, including the lucrative construction of the Ashgabat Airport and the 80 million dollar Yelken Yacht Club Hotel at Awaza, where the event was to be based.
GREENHORN
So I am not really a full rookie. I grew up racing, although mainly longboards and early course slalom and I had some good results in PWA Super X. But as for ‘real slalom’, I had very little experience. Working on our RRD Firewing sail all winter, I was really happy with its performance. It’s a 3-cam Freerace sail, designed for easy rigging and ease of use, but the performance seemed to me to be up there with the very best. I actually spent more time slalom testing than wave sailing and that was when the idea came to me. There’s no better way to test slalom gear than on the slalom course – and I had all the gear already in the van. Fuerte is just a short ferry ride from my home in Gran Canaria and is pretty much guaranteed windy, so that was it. Decision made. Providing I could get a wildcard that is …
To prepare I had a testing buddy – Kai Kautman – and we put together three easy to set buoys to practice gybing and starting. Typically we would do a countdown start sequence, following by a three-gybe figure of eight. Decent practice certainly, but nothing could prepare you for having seven other sailors around you battling for their lives. And it is a battle. In waves, freestyle (and even in Super-X a bit), you’re basically competing against yourself. You have an opponent, but really you try to do your best in the heat and that is it. If your best is better than their best, you advance. Slalom however is another world. You have eight guys in the heat and you need to finish ahead of four of them. If you get a chance to attack someone and put them in your wake, then you do it. If you can gybe inside of them and leave them stood still, then great. It’s not quite ‘win at all costs’, but its close. That certainly took some getting used to. Finally I needed some goals. Starting from zero made it a little hard to judge, so I had a rolling goal line. Firstly, it was simply to make it through the first round. If I made that, then the losers’ final would be the next. I had no idea really, but I have to admit to being quietly confident to make at least one losers’ final.
