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THE TIBERIAS PWA WORLD CUP: ISRAEL PWA

01/12/2021
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You wait more than 18 months for a PWA race, then along comes one that will go down as one of the most seminal moments in windsurfing. From our August 2021 Issue, John Carter and a selection of racers report back on some of the most memorable and controversial professional racing in years and the fascinating battle between fin and foil.

Words: John Carter, Arnon Dagan, Nico Goyard, Pierre Mortefon, Antoine Albeau, Matteo Iachino, Sarah Jackson, Sarah-Quita Offringa and Maciek Rutkowski. // Photos: PWA/ Carter


JOHN CARTER – “It has been a long time since the last PWA event in New Caledonia way back in November 2019. Finally, in May this year an event was announced to take place in Israel, thanks to much work behind the scenes by PWA tour manager Rich Page, Arnon Dagan and local organizer Islay Bar Ziv. This event was never going to be easy that was for sure and the behind thescenes logistics to make it happen were monumental and probably ten times more than a normal event. The event was based in the city of Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, a freshwater lake around two hours drive north of Israel’s main airport. Once in Israel and in our event bubble we did not have to wear masks and it felt strange to be interacting with people normally after the past year of lockdowns etc. Our hotel was right on the water and when I opened the balcony the following morning it was already 38 degrees and baking hot outside as I looked out on the mirror calm sea. At the event site it was over 40 degrees and the temperature was still rising!

SHOCK WAVES

By 2 P.M., after a frantic registration, the wind kicked in from zero to twenty knots in the space of thirty minutes. This pattern was to continue for the rest of the week! Not only was this the first PWA racing event in over 18 months, but also was the first event with the new format of combined fin versus foil racing! Basically, the minimum wind for racing could be less than ten knots, with sailors given the option for fin or foil depending on the conditions. After over a year without competition, it was an unknown as to who would be going fast and when and where the foils would have the advantage over fins and vice versa.

The best wind in the Sea of Galilee is right out towards the middle of the lake, but too far out for the media to operate, so it meant the inside of the racecourse was in a gusty, shifty zone with anything between 6 and 20 knots, while on the outside it was blowing over 25 knots. The gamble to go on fin or foil became the theme of the week, with those with the balls to hang on to the foil in high winds gaining a clear advantage once on the inside. By the end of the first day, one standout sailor had made a mockery of the fin sailors by matching their speed in high winds and then having a huge advantage at the inside gybes. The 2019 PWA foil world champion, Nicolas Goyard, who is well known as one of the best foil sailors in the world, smoked the fleet, winning the first race by a huge margin. Goyard was able to match ‘fin’ speeds on the first reach, but then make huge gains in his gybes, while the fins wallowed in the wind holes. By the evening, the talk on social media was that fins were dead, such was the domination of Goyard.

Day two was a repeat of day one! The wind kicked in at 2 P.M., Goyard totally dominated, and tempers were starting to fray from some of the frustrated fin sailors who were unable to match the French sailor’s warp speed on the foil and clear advantage over the fin. Fellow French sailor William Huppert, who specializes in foil, was the only other sailor able to handle the high wind conditions and he was smashing the results. Going on the fin became a complete gamble for many, with the patchy wind on the inside dropping to 10 knots or so in a lot of races, allowing the foils to fly past the fin sailors pumping to get back on the plane. Was this to be the death of the fin many were asking? Was there going to be a surge of desperate sales of expensive fins on eBay while sailors had the chance to sell them for a few Euros before they became worthless? Let’s face it, at nearly all the events on tour, the racers end up parked at the first mark on their slalom gear. Korea, Japan, Sylt, it happens nearly everywhere on tour, even Fuerteventura. With the likes of Goyard now able to match fin sailors for speed on the first reach and then obliterate them at the gybe, this could be the start of a new era in racing. With his engineering background and Phantom equipment he has a hand in designing, maybe Goyard also has a kit advantage against his rivals? We will have to see at further events with steady winds, but for sure there were a lot of worried looking faces amongst the other racers.

TANTRUM

As the wind picked up, the gamble to race on fin or foil became more and more important as most sailors were not tuned for high wind foil racing. Either way, sailors had to go back to the beach at certain times to adjust their equipment. Antoine Albeau was caught in one of these situations and had opted to change to slalom gear, but struggled to make it off the beach in the light winds close to the shore, while the race crew were losing their patience and started the sequence for the next race. It was deemed that Albeau had been given plenty of time to make it to the start, but Albeau was furious that he had not been able to make the start! After a huge shouting match and tantrum with the race director at the first mark, he then sailed into the path of the oncoming racers, almost causing a huge pile up at the mark. This was a rare outburst from the multiple world champion, which was to have severe ramifications later in the protest room and lead to him being disqualified from the round as well as a hefty fine.

JACKSON’S MOMENT

Meanwhile in the women’s fleet on the third day, Sarah Jackson smashed out her first ever victory in the slalom by winning race three ahead of her windsurfing idols Sarah-Quita Offringa, Marion Mortefon and Delphine Cousin Questel. Anyone who knows Sarah will be aware of her incredible enthusiasm and passion for windsurfing. This achievement was possibly the highlight of her life so far and rightfully an emotional and tearful moment for her after she crossed the finish line.

VICTORY

By day four Goyard had the event in the bag with five straight victories ahead of the rest of the fleet that were battling for the remaining podium spots. In the end it was Pierre Mortefon who found the consistency to snatch second ahead of William Huppert, who battled bravely on the foil to secure his first ever podium.

In the women’s slalom, Sarah-Quita Offringa dug deep to overcome a few hiccups to seal the event victory ahead of Marion Mortefon and Delphine Cousin, with Sarah Jackson capping off an incredible week with 4th place overall. In the women’s foil, Mortefon snatched the victory despite a game effort from 19-year-old Norwegian sailor Helle Oppedal, who finished second after brilliant wins in two of the rounds, definitely a name to watch out for in the future!

So, there it was, the PWA Tour all back together again after such a long absence and for sure the event did not disappoint. We had all the normal thrills and spills of top-level racing as well as the extra dimension and excitement delivered by the whole fin versus foil discipline. Already on day one of the event Nicolas Goyard had sent shockwaves through the windsurfing world with his mind-blowing performance. He was streets ahead of the rest of the fleet in those conditions and revelling in the opportunity to show what can be done on a foil!

We finished up the week with a party at a bar next to the event site…with free drinks! After a week of intense heat and racing it was great to have a few beers without social distancing and masks to worry about. Needless to say, a few sailors got a bit carried away and some naked antics took place in the water in front of the bar, but that is a whole other story! It was awesome to be back with all the crew and sailors and with so many tears, tantrums and excitement, the event ticked all the boxes and more, roll on the next one!”

NICOLAS GOYARD

“The biggest surprise at the race was for the non-French guys, who had not seen until then what we have been doing on the foil. I don’t think they were ready to see us on 6.0m sails and being so efficient. I think we can push the foils so much further than this. We surprised and shocked everyone. Fins are not dead yet, but big fins on a big board are over. The medium slalom board is not dead yet at all; 7.7m might be dead soon, but 7.0m not yet. There is a big evolution happening. There is still a long way to go. I don’t think the small slalom board will ever be out of fashion. The foil board will never be better than the fin in forty knots and over. There will always be some conditions when the fin will be better, especially for speed sailing. It is just a limit that will move with time and I don’t know how far it will go.

On social media it has been crazy. I have been sent a lot of amazing messages. A lot of people have said this has been a reward for my hard work and I think it is true. I worked very hard and I feel like people were not ready for what happened. It has opened the minds of the public. I think this event will be important in the future. I have many messages on social media every day and everyone seems happy that I did this on the foil.

I don’t care about winning. I just cared about doing my best. I knew I could win, but I am very happy I could do it for many reasons. I am happy to have won and that is it, I feel like we have shown to the fin racers what we could do on the foil. We can be a lot faster than what we are now, so there is a lot we can develop. In a way I don’t feel like I showed everything yet. There is a lot to do and a lot more to reveal. I can’t wait for the coming years to show how much we can improve.

The foil is so much more competitive on all the range of angles to the wind compared to the fin. Maybe with this new era of foiling, we will see races evolve where we can be nearer to  shore to have some downwind legs close to the crowds. I think as sailors we should be open-minded to what the public want to see and make the racing more interesting and closer to the beach. I feel the foil allows us to go further in the sport and we should take advantage of this.”

ARNON DAGAN

“I was sitting at home in Poland in quarantine when Itay Bar Ziv, the event organizer, called me. His company Comte group, and another event company, Target Market, had an option of doing several events in Tiberias, as the tourism office wanted to put money into this town on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. I thought to make use of the lake and recommended windsurfing. I had wanted to bring the PWA to Israel for about fifteen years. We got close a few times, but it never happened. I was on it like a hawk this time though. I thought Tiberias was a great location and I knew that the wind there was consistent at this time of year. I painted a beautiful picture of the PWA to Itay and told them this is the Formula One of windsurfing. In the end Itay managed to pool around him all the companies and made it happen in a genuinely nice way. I was appointed as the professional advisor and I was the link between the event company and the PWA.

June is the one of the best months of the year for wind. We were a little bit limited because the strongest wind was not so close to the beach, but it was all good. It is 25 knots here and more every day and the wind switches on like clockwork at 2 P.M. on the dot. That happens for four months a year. I think this place puts Lake Garda to shame for consistency. From the middle of May until mid-August, it just blows.

The Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake in the world and is around 200 metres below sea level. It is a bit of a sauna here and the temperature is around 40 degrees every day. So, the wind has a thermic effect where the west breeze from the sea rolls down the valleys and just nukes here every day.

This is the place where he was supposed to have walked on water, so there are also a lot of religious tourists here. There are also a lot of attractions here for everyone – nice restaurants and places to hang out. There is also a big local windsurf scene on the Sea of Galilee and people come here from all over the country to sail at the various beaches around its shores.

FIN V FOIL

I personally like the mix of fin versus foil. Most racers had kind of assigned the foil to light winds and fin slalom to high winds, so were not ready for what Nicolas Goyard did to them. He was the only guy who was ready for strong winds, where he was going the same speed as the fins. On our medium boards in slalom, we go around 35 knots, while most of us have reached around 31 knots on the foil. Nicolas took it to the max and was going 34-35 knots. He was also killing it in the gybes. For this particular event, people were shocked by this. They were not ready. So there was a lot of controversy and frustration from certain riders. I just think it is evolution and something exciting. If we did not have the foils here in Israel, we would have been racing miles from the shore. It is a shock to the riders what Nicolas has done here. I cannot say it any other way but that it was bad preparation from the other riders. Goyard was the X-factor no one was ready for. The big board is out now! He made use of a very small sail and a very small wing. With a big sail it is harder to gybe. In foiling you are going quicker than the wind, so a small sail helps you not get backwinded when you go into the gybe.”

 

ANTOINE ALBEAU

“It was super gusty on the inside, so it was hard for the slalom or fin guys to compete with the foil. We were flying down the first reach with 7.8m sails fully powered and then at the gybe it was 6 knots and Goyard was flying past us on the foil. When I went on the foil against guys on the fins, I was sixth or seventh at the first mark and then qualified in second. It was super hard, we had no idea what to do, it was a total gamble.

I did not have a foil that went fast enough like Nico to fight with the slalom guys so I was two – three knots slower. Goyard was well tuned so he did a really good job on the small wings and was going extremely fast.”

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA

What a rush to finally be drag racing around the slalom course with ten other women again!

The confirmation of the event in Israel came a bit unexpected for me, but I am so grateful and thankful that the event organizers and the PWA pulled it off. It was so good to see the whole PWA family again.

At first, I was not sure about going because of the outbreak of war in Israel right when they confirmed the event. What are the chances of that? But after the ceasefire, talking to the locals and some more people around me, I felt reassured and was looking forward to flying there and compete.

On top of that Arnon Dagan is one of my favourite characters on tour and I’ve always wanted to visit him and explore his home spot. There is so much history there! We sailed the lake where Jesus walked on water. How cool is that!

The conditions were quite difficult as the course was close to shore for better media coverage, which resulted in very gusty conditions. Nonetheless I sailed my 5.8m and 6.6m on my medium board all week. So it was windy. The wind was very predictable, but some days it was extremely hard to gauge how strongly the wind would pick up. There was one day where I went out on a 7.4m, then twenty minutes later, I grabbed my 6.6m, and then another twenty minutes later, even Antoine Albeau was on a 6.6m. I had no time to go and grab my 5.8m, so it was full survival mode to make it around the course, and honestly that was quite epic!

FOIL

Competing in the foil for the first time was a fun challenge. I have been training a lot of course racing since December. I’m still not fully comfortable reaching on a slalom course, but I improved every day. The best choice I made was to go down to a 550 front wing instead of the big 800 as it gave me much more control and confidence on the course. In the end I even won my first foil slalom race. It is a great feeling to start a new discipline and work my way up in it.

HIGHS AND LOWS

I had two tough days because of a couple of incidents in a row. I had to really work hard to stay focussed and keep it together. It started with a foil crash where Marina lost control of her kit and the gear flew straight into another girl in front and then lifted again and boomeranged towards me. I had to do a downwind 360 to avoid getting hit; ultimately it was only material damage, but I was rattled for the rest of the day! I fell at the first mark in the next slalom race and finished 6th. The next day I dropped off the foil while leading the loser’s final and got passed by four people. And then in the next slalom race where I would have a discard, I was a bit anxious and went over early, following Sarah Jackson who had won her first race the day before.

And that’s where I started to hang my head and lose confidence. Somehow, I got myself to calm down and focus on doing my own race. I nailed the start of race five and took the win in race number six. I jumped back in the lead and was so elated to finish off the day on a high.

From there on, it was upwards for me. I won my first foiling race on the last leg where I passed Alice Read in the last few metres, and later also won the last slalom final on the last leg. That was a rush. Because of that I jumped from 9th to 4th in foil and I was super happy to take the slalom win as well!

DOMINATION

By combining the slalom and the foil it seems we are now entering into a new era! It was interesting to see how Nico Goyard just dominated and how some of the guys that have been foiling for a while also excelled and at the same time, the top guys like Antoine Albeau were still right up there. Let us see where this evolution takes us!

Seeing everyone again was a pleasure and a real joy. I have missed all of this a lot! The banter on the beach and in the hotel, the light nervousness you carry all day because of the contest, the fully zoned in focus state you go into during a race and the feeling of ecstasy of winning a race, or the disappointment of not performing so well. I want to say a big thank you to the event organizers and the PWA for pulling off this event.”

PIERRE MORTEFON

“I was not ready for this racing in Israel. I kind of knew it was going to happen like this with the foils suddenly dominating. I sailed a lot with William Huppert this winter. He is fully into foil sailing already and he trains in high winds. We saw that the foil is so efficient, even if it does not have the same top speed as fins. In Israel, I think it was a special circumstance. A lot of people have already said that the fin is over, but I don’t agree. It is just because of the location. At times it was 7.8m conditions for slalom, the problem was just on the inside of the course where the wind was very gusty. If we go to a place with steady wind, we will see a different picture. Windy Fuerteventura or something like that, we will see the fins fight back. Maybe I am wrong and maybe the rise of the foils will come.

For sure now we will work on the equipment. You need to get used to it. Now the guys who can foil in those high wind conditions are ahead of us. Nico and William are almost completely sailing on foil. They were ready for it and now we all must be ready for it. It was frustrating because just with slalom it was easier for me. I knew I had my equipment ready and now there is a whole new sport to tune up and improve on. It is exciting though. It means we must learn new things and work on new gear. I was just afraid and I still am, that it is an equipment race. At the moment it looks ok. All the foils look fast and the rider is still super important. Now not everybody is able to sail in those conditions. Even if you have the best foil and the best sail, you need the balls to go for it. Sailing full speed on the foil is scary. You have so much power compared to the fin that you need to control this power. Sometimes it is the same in slalom, but when you are overpowered on the foil, if you don’t go for it, it is even worse. It is even more dangerous! So you really must commit.”

MATTEO IACHINO

Here we had a mix of conditions, as well as one sailor that was better prepared for high wind foiling. The conditions were helping the foils a lot. If the wind was as consistent as it was on the first reach then there would have been no chance for the foil racers apart from Nico Goyard. On the other hand, Nico was ready for higher winds, so he might not have won all the races, but he would have been competitive. He would have been there in the top either way. We did not expect the foil to have that performance in twenty-five knots. On the other hand, on a constant wind day, it would have been more even racing. I think the fin can still have an edge over the foil. A lot of racers did not bother training for foil in twenty-five knots. I guess you have to be prepared for anything.

It was patchy and gusty here, which made a big difference. There was no excuse for us. I prepared my foil for sailing in lighter winds, those days when you want to save an event and make sure there is some racing despite light winds. I did not prepare for foiling in nuking winds as a substitute for the fin, as the fin is faster. The point is that when it is patchy wind, the foil can have a big advantage. They can go upwind and downwind more efficiently. All angles are easier on the foil. The top speed is not there yet, but the average speed and the range of lines you can sail are a lot wider. At the end of the day what mattered was the consistency on getting to the final and the foil was a lot better in the gusty conditions. In 10-25 knots you have to go on the foil. I took some chances some days and went with the fin. It was the only way I thought I could win. I just had to hope for a good gust on the inside and go for it. I almost had it a few times, but the wind switched offshore. Fins are not over yet. It is just a matter of where we compete. If fins were over, it would not be so interesting. Let us see at the next event!”

SARAH JACKSON

“Getting my first bullet on the PWA was the most incredible feeling! I led from the front for the whole race, which in itself came with immense pressure – I knew that if I made one small mistake, these girls are clinical and that would be it, so I had to give it all I had to hold on until the last moment! I remember glancing over my shoulder on the final reach and trying not to be too overwhelmed that all the girls I have looked up to since I was young, with so many world titles between them, were now behind me. When I came over the finishing line I burst into tears – it was a childhood dream come true! I think we all (the riders) have this same dream and put so much effort into achieving it, but you always know in the back of your mind that it may never come true, so when I realised I had done it, the emotions were just overwhelming! The best moment was when Sarah-Quita sailed over to me when she finished, jumped in the water and gave me the biggest hug! She has been my inspiration since I met her ten years ago, so to celebrate with her, really was the icing on the cake.

I’ve been working a lot on my mental game this winter as I think that’s a massive part of racing, so for every race I had small goals about getting the processes right and not worrying too much about the end results and I think that helped me a lot! For sure it would have been nice to be on the podium at the end of the week, but I achieved so much. I know now what I need to work on and I’m even more hungry to keep pushing now!”

MACIEK RUTKOWSKI

“The foil is there to be able to race in worse conditions and less wind than the fin. In practice what turned out was that we trained for a certain set of conditions that we thought we would compete in. But then Nico Goyard, who does only foiling, pushed that level 5-8 knots more than we expected and trained for. So, in this event we had 20-25 knot conditions every day and really gusty winds. So the guys that were prepared for high wind foiling obviously did very well. It is on us to catch up to that level. We need to develop gear and train for this now. We will get there. Fin versus foil is a nice format to race. It is exciting for the public.

One thing I have to say is that this event was very particular. The ‘death of fin’ as it was pronounced online, is exaggerated. In this format we can bring four boards and seven sails. I brought two foil sails and five slalom sails. But in retrospect I would probably have brought three foil sails and four slalom sails. For 2023 it will probably be six sails and three boards so I hear!”

RESULTS

Result 2021 Tiberias PWA World Cup – Women’s Slalom

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Marion Mortefon (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone)
3rd Delphine Cousin Questel (FRA | FMX Racing / S2Maui)
4th Sarah Jackson (GBR | Fanatic / Duotone)

Result 2021 Tiberias PWA World Cup – Women’s Foil

1st Marion Mortefon (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone / LOKEFOIL)
2nd Helle Oppedal (NOR | Fanatic / Duotone)
3rd Blanca Alabau (ESP | Starboard / Severne Sails / Starboard Foil)
4th Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)

Result 2021 Tiberias PWA World Cup – Men’s Slalom

1st Nicolas Goyard (FRA | Phantom Boards / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins / LOKEFOIL)
3rd William Huppert (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone / LOKEFOIL)
4th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
5th Antoine Albeau (FRA | JP / NeilPryde)

 

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