2018 VIANA PWA WORLD CUP

Who can possibly forget the iconic images of racers screaming round buoys in breaking surf in windsurfing’s heyday! Since then, slalom has become a little tamer due to world cup events in surf locations often having a wave event taking priority when the surf is up, or it simply being too dangerous to lay a course! All that changed in Portugal at that the inaugural Viana World Cup as racers dodged waves, each other and took to the skies, voluntarily or involuntarily, in some of the most extreme slalom dogfights in modern times. John Carter assembles a collection of windsurfing’s finest to look back at a thrilling event and finds out how the riders coped with racing in the nuking ‘Nortada’ winds of Cabedelo Beach at Viana do Castelo, North Portugal.

Words John Carter, Ben Proffitt, Matteo Iachino, Antoine Albeau, Pierre Mortefon, Andrea Rosati, Ross Williams, Sarah-Quita Offringa, Maciek Rutkowski, Arnon Dagan // Photos John Carter

This feature originally appeared in the September 2018 issue of Windsurf Magazine

MATTEO IACHINO
The event was amazing. It is the best event I have ever raced at since starting the PWA tour. I won, but also the conditions were off the scale. We raced a lot on 5.5m sails. It was wavy and mega windy and not so choppy. It was just incredible fun. It was by far the best conditions ever. The waves gave a whole new dimension; they made the racing more difficult, but with the challenge of extreme wind it was high speed racing at its best. I love this because you could play on the course, come back and gain positions. This is proper racing. I was just focussed to race well in every single heat. I have trained for high winds in Tenerife; I love racing like this, and I think one of the keys is that you must like the conditions. The passion I have for windsurfing is for this type of racing. I just concentrated on my performance race by race. When we had the waves it was kind of dangerous, but we are professional windsurfers so we need to race in the best and most extreme conditions. Maybe we need to race sometimes when normal guys cannot even make it out. This is the core of our sport, so it was great that the race director put the buoy in the waves…we need more events like this!

BEN PROFFITT
I have to be honest, the Portugal Viana 2018 racing was easily the best slalom racing I have ever had to do the commentary for. It was 40 knots so the guys and the girls were on the edge of control. At any gybe mark you just never knew what was going to happen. More often than not a rider crashed round the last mark. You could really build the pressure with that type of exciting slalom racing. The main thing for me was just having the racing so close to the beach. The racers were blasting off the start line full power and coming in through the shorebreak with the inside gybe mark sometimes in the waves. When the first heats went down, we had eight guys coming over the back of the waves, all trying to choose their line. Cyril Moussilmani boosted an eight-foot air going out during a heat. In an ideal world that was the perfect setup. According to our viewers it went down like a storm. I don’t think the slalom could have been any better. The pros had helmets and body armour for the foil racing in 8 knots in Costa Brava and then we had 40 knot slalom races with eight guys within inches of each other in waves and they were all just wearing shorts and rash vests. If we have those conditions again I think the guys will be wearing protection! For me that was as exciting as racing can be and I think anybody who likes watching radical sports would have enjoyed it!

ANTOINE ALBEAU
I really enjoyed the racing in Portugal, we had big winds in Korea and now even stronger at this event. Nobody was expecting this wind and the wavy conditions. I think all the racers were pleased to compete here in this wind with 5.6m and 6.4m on our small boards. We had the course right in the waves one of the days, which was spectacular with 35-knot plus winds. I wanted more of that, but the tide came in and the waves calmed down. Unfortunately I crashed with Bruno Martini at the first gybe when we had waves. It is like this; that is racing! I love slalom when it’s blowing 30-40 knots! There is no discussion if the wind is there or not. The wind is there and that is it. I don’t think Matteo is amazingly fast this year, but he is super consistent. You need consistency to be in first place. Pierre is also there, but I think he is a bit behind our level and I see Pascal Toselli as well as a possible contender with very good speed.

“ I love slalom when it’s blowing 30-40 knots! There is no discussion if the wind is there or not. ”

ANDREA ROSATI
Slalom in the waves was something I have been dreaming of for so many years. I really enjoyed it, especially the day we had the buoy in the swell and the waves were breaking around us. When I sailed the course I found it pretty scary and actually, it was! In the heat of battle we were flying over the backs of waves in the air. I was on my 6.3m and 98 litre board because I did not have any smaller sails. I was fully lit in 30-40 knots of wind. I guess this is the ‘real’ slalom that we would all love to have in every single event. We are tired of racing with 9M. sails on big boards, it’s boring. Our level is quite high, but there can still be little problems when you race through waves in high winds. I came down the first reach and there was a wave and I had to jump, but I almost landed on the head of the guy downwind of me. We know how far we can push it. It was very close but thankfully nothing happened.

“ Slalom in the waves was something I have been dreaming of for so many years.”

PIERRE MORTEFON
In Korea we had strong wind, but Portugal was the first time this year we have used 5.4m sails and our smallest boards. It was tough conditions because the swell and chop made it tricky to sail. A lot of sailors were performing well in these conditions. It was not easy but it was really fun to sail in the high winds. The waves made it more exciting, but sometimes it was scary when you came down full speed from the starting area and you saw the swell coming. You then know you are going to follow the swell and arrive at the mark at the same time as it. I think it was one of the most followed events on social media and the live stream. Third place was ok, I think Matteo and Antoine are both pretty strong. I had some mistakes at the beginning of the event. After that I could not take too much risk until the second discard. It is still possible for me to challenge for the title. Now we have a break, it was not easy having events back to back for two months. I am going back home where I will have some strong wind to train and prepare for Fuerteventura.

“ Portugal was the first time this year we have used 5.4m sails and our smallest boards.”

MACIEK RUTKOWSKI
I am more used to wind from the left so racing in wind from the right seemed a slight issue for me. I would have felt much better on the other tack. I still loved the conditions though because the waves brought a new element into the racing, a hard-core technical element. I think it is important to mix up the racing. I think we’re missing some excitement in the racing a little bit on tour with the usual destinations and light winds. I loved racing in the waves and 35-40 knot winds. It was fun, for how windy it was it was relatively flat. Don’t get me wrong, it was choppy, but for the amount of wind it was barely anything. In an open water situation it would have been apocalyptic, but because it is sheltered in Viana with the harbour walls it was still quite flat. It was very close racing for how windy it was. The big three, Iachino, Albeau and Mortefon came out on top again. The rest of us are idiots! (laughs). I made so many silly mistakes; I did not feel slower than anybody on the race course. That’s the same situation for virtually all the other guys who can challenge for the podium. The top three are just machines, they are the most on it and the most ready mentally. They just push through mistakes and keep confident. They do all the right things that we need to do as well if we want to reach the top. I believe my skill level and speed is there, but I need to put heats together from A-Z!

“ The waves brought a new element into the racing, a hard-core technical element. ”

ROSS WILLIAMS
I made three finals when it got really windy, but in all of those finals I made mistakes; I sailed over early and fell off at some of the marks. I was struggling even in the early heats during the days when I had to ride my 7.1m with my small board, because the medium board was too big for those conditions. Once I could ride the small board with a sail that fitted it I felt fine. I had one other bad result where I stayed on too big a sail for too long when the wind picked up. I’ve made way too many mistakes this year, last year I could count all the mistakes I made on one hand for the whole season, but this year is a different story. I have nothing to be too chuffed about, the level is really high and all the guys are sailing better and more aggressively. I did enjoy the racing when I was doing well. I felt I had moments when I could read what other riders were doing. It was brilliant to have windy slalom. The location was amazing and the racing was right off the beach and even through the waves. The course was awesome, especially when we had surf. I busted a few airs on the way in, partly out of frustration and once in relief that I had raced well and was in the mix. It was an event with a mix of feelings for me!

“ It was an event with a mix of feelings for me! ”

SARAH-QUITA OFFRINGA
For me personally it is not my favourite thing to slalom race in high winds with waves. I would normally go freestyling or wave sailing. This week I was forced to do it. In the first few races I was not too excited and felt quite uncomfortable. After that I started to understand the dynamics of sailing in high winds. I rigged my gear better and started to enjoy the racing. I am very happy to finish in second place and also managed to win two races. It was an amazing week where I was tested to my absolute limits. I watched the guys going through the waves and it was really exciting. It was more entertaining than scary; I would have loved to race through the waves.

“ I was tested to my absolute limits ”

ARNON DAGAN
This was the most hard-core slalom we have had in a long while, it had the possibility to be dangerous, but in the end we only had a few small incidents. There were a lot of big crashes and close shaves, but mostly it was extremely fun racing. I loved racing through the waves, it is similar to where I live and I am comfortable in these conditions. I am always hoping for waves, as there is more adrenaline. I still like the 9.0m slalom also, as that is technical and you have to be fine-tuned like nothing else. The top three came out in the podium positions because they are better! They are the most consistent guys. Everyone else was all over the place but they were just banging out final after final. Antoine is extremely fast always, he is probably the fastest and then you have Matteo and Pierre who are not as fast but super consistent and cool headed. That is the difference!