DUNCAN COOMBS – HEAD JUDGE
A PWA women’s only comp was run for the first time in Moulay Bouzerktoune March 26th to April 7th. The decision to run a women’s only event in Morocco was welcomed by the government; windsurfing was not the only sport in the limelight as a women’s off-road rally was also taking place in the Essaouira area at the same time. The PWA women’s competition ran for the second week of the men’s IWT PWA qualifying event. The event organiser, Boujmaa Guilloul, who grew up here, put a lot of time and effort into producing a professional event both on and off the water.
I ran the PWA qualifier to conclusion in what could only be described as hardcore conditions. Moulay certainly delivers. The final was won by an on form Antoine Martin who put on a solid display. The forecast for this day was 3.7 m @ 14 sec with side-off trades of 25/30 knots. When I refreshed my forecasts to plan for the women’s pro PWA fleet of 16 I saw a low pressure deepening off the Azores and tracking our way. This was predicting 4.8 m @17 sec. with 15/20 knot winds. All respect goes out to the top 16 women sailors on the planet but I had just witnessed seriously challenging conditions for the top men and this latest forecast had more size and grunt. It was to be iconically named ‘Big Wednesday’. Not ideal for the women who were all nervous after witnessing the guns a blazing Mach 10 on the men’s finals day.
There was a small window before the swell hit showing 7/10 knot NE trades with head high sets. Luckily Moulay has a local trade increase on sunny days but due to the colder than usual winter this was late to kick in during the day. Girls were sent to the water knowing conditions were not primo but with the oncoming forecast all 16 riders favoured the light side shore head high waves than the lottery of who could make it out back in over mast high pounding surf.
Light wind heats of long duration were challenging but there were no upsets in the first round for the top seeds. With 30 minutes set for the final and the conditions improving we witnessed solid performances from all 4 girls. Sarah was ahead with Daida closely following her, but Iballa’s last two waves were excellent, she thought so too with a small claim on one. Her more vertical approach and perfect timing stood out, frontside aerials wrapping cutties and vertical snaps rewarded her with the first win of the 2018 tour. Lina Erpenstein finished a very respectable 4th, Daida 3rd and Sarah 2nd. With the result of the single elimination in the bag, the tension was relieved with the oncoming big forecast.