It was a dramatic first day of the Wingfoil Racing World Cup Italy with two gruelling long-distance races that had riders shaking their arms to send blood to cramping forearms.
A wincing sailor was staring at a bleeding foot, riders ducked through the prop wash of the rabbit start boat hammering at more than 30 knots and a lost leader of the fleet lead a group the wrong way around the course.
The six-mile-long races were almost five times the length of the normal Wingfoil races. So different but so important since the fleet is ranked based on these results going into the next stage of the competition on Thursday.
Racing the Rabbit
The massive fleet of 82 riders combined women’s and men’s fleets. The 20- to 30-minute-long races are unique in wingfoil racing.
Even more unique was the high speed “rabbit” start where a motorboat rips down the starting line and all riders have to duck behind, reaching towards the first mark. The experience seems hair-raising for both boat driver and riders, but this allows the most even start possible.
Men Miss the Mark
Frenchman Julien Rattotti won the first race despite being just behind the leading pack, which accidentally rounded a non-racing mark and went to the finish line halfway up leg three instead.
Eight Riders, all men, made this painful mistake including some event favorites including Bastian Escofet.
By the end of the second long-distance race, Rattotti slipped to second overall behind tour leader Mathis Ghio who won the final long-distance race by nearly a minute. Poland’s Kamil Manowiecki had impressive consistency, never crashing out and sits in third overall, an impressive result for a rider who only started competing on proper race gear a year ago.
“The first race was a bit of a mess for me since I caught a plastic bag around the first mark,” said Manowiecki who was rounding marks wingtip-to-wingtip with the top five. “That’s how it is now. It’s super close. Each guy in top five is gunning for the first spot.”
Unstoppable with new gear
The top women were around four minutes behind the men in each long-distance race and the first four were wing to wing heading into each final leg.
Manon Pianazza of France, ranked 38th in the world, is leading. She kept the pedal down the whole day to finish first in both races while Karolina Kluszczynska of Poland had a perfect pair of second places and sits in second. Women’s tour leader Nia Suardiaz of Spain came back from a slow start and is in third overall.
“I was not really comfortable at the reach, it was really scary,” “On the upwind I was really fast so that’s my secret. This competition I had new gear. Thanks to Oscar Leclair, he lent me the wing. I’m looking for a sponsor. I didn’t train a lot since I didn’t have the gear. I think I needed a boost since the last competition, and I got that today.”
Riders were shaking their arms to get blood back into cramping forearms and there were red faces on the shore showing both exhaustion and frustration.
Tomorrow riders will be split into three fleets of equal strength. to sail short track races. We know all will be carbo loading and going to bed early because it’ll be another long day here in Cagliari.
The weekend’s racing will be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
Results Men:
| 1. | Mathis Ghio | FRA |
| 2. | Julien Rattotti | FRA |
| 3. | Kamil Manowiecki | POL |
| 4. | Francesco Cappuzzo | ITA |
| 5. | Nicolo Spanu | ITA |
| 6. | Alessandro Jose Tomasi | ITA |
| 7. | Alan Fedit | FRA |
| 8. | Freddie Strawson | GBR |
| 9. | Jeremiah Mcdonald | NZL |
| 10. | Yannik Holste | GER |
Results Women:
| 1. | Manon Pianazza | FRA |
| 2. | Karolina Kluszcynska | POL |
| 3. | Nia Suardiaz | ESP |
| 4. | Emilia Kosti | GRE |
| 5. | Charlotte Baruzzi | ITA |
| 6. | Maddalena Maria Spanu | ITA |
| 7. | Marta Monge | ITA |
| 8. | Orane Ceris | FRA |
| 9. | Kristyna Chalupnikova | CZE |
| 10. | Monika Mikkola | FIN |
