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| Alacati - Turkey: IFCA & PWA Slalom World Championships |
| To travel from Fuerteventura to Turkey in two days with tons of windsurfing equipment proofed to be a logistical nightmare. Only a few sailors (all the sailors on the speed podium) had that problem. But it was still enough to not be able to catch all the same plane (too much equipment). So everybody tried to find his or her perfect solution. Ours - Patrik's, Finian's and mine - were to catch a ferry to Lanzarote the day after price giving on Fuerte and fly from there to Munich on a charter plane. It was a hell trip after the long price giving night but when we landed in Munich and got all over gear we were so happy: half way to Turkey. |
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We repacked on the airport parking during the night and checked in the next morning again on a direct flight to Izmir. Lufthansa had reserved some space on the place for our gear – check-in was easy – direct flights no problem for lost bags: 3/4 there we thought... Then we landed in Izmir and found out that none of our gear was on the plane!!! Patrik and me spend the whole night on the airport trying to communicate with Lufthansa and finding some way to “beam” over equipment to Turkey… No luck.
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After three days travel – only 3 hours sleep and absolutely no own equipment I found myself standing at the skippers meeting for the world championships. Everybody felt sorry for us and tried to help out. I could borrow boards and sails from my teammates. But I was so stressed out – didn’t feel ready at all – and even if I could borrow the exact same equipment that my own would have been – I just didn’t feel comfortable on it. That first day I sailed like I did about 10 years ago – can’t even remember to have done so bad ever in the past!
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I was about to give up and stop sailing when late afternoon our equipment arrived. Another 8 hours of proper sleep and I was back on track again. Suddenly everything was ok again: the sails felt perfect, the boards worked great, I was on time again, was able to focus before a race. I won the first race on my own gear. And then made a little mistake in the second one that made me finish only second. And then the wind started dying… In just two races I was worked myself up to second place again – I only would have needed one more win… But the conditions were not in my favour: no more wind for the rest of the contest.
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But in a way it still is a happy end: I’m very happy for Verena from Italy that was able to win for a first time a big event. She really deserves it as she simply sailed great and smart during this contest. And for me – I still reached my number one goal of this season: PWA Slalom World Champion 2006!
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Results:
Women: 1. Verena Fauster, 2. Karin Jaggi, 3. Allison Shreeve
Men: 1. Finian Maynard, 2. Antoine Albeau, 3. Kevin Pritchard
PWA year ranking Slalom:
Women: 1. Karin Jaggi, 2. Verena Fauster, 3. Allison Shreeve
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