No matter what kite you were on, you were on the wrong size. Patchy, holey or puffy, whatever you want to call it, a challenging night. For many even getting off the beach proved impossible. The wind at the beach was 0 – 8 knots, of course with the occasional 25 knot stinger gust. The starting line had 12-16 knots and was oscillating 30 degrees at a time. Then the windward and leeward mark had gusts up to 30 knots.
Start one, Joey Pasquali (2,2,3) and Seth Besse (4,6,6) were shot out of a cannon taking advantage of a wildly favored pin thanks to a massive left shift in the last minute of the sequence. The first downwind however was a bit of a tactical gamble. A streak of wind on the inside, ending suddenly and a streak of wind on the outside starting suddenly, with nothing in the middle. Linking the two was the challenge. Whoever got the personal puff made out, lucky and good carrying equal weight. Nico Parlier (1,1,1) and Axel Mazella (3,3,2) were able to pick the best route down wind and secure victory.
Second and third race had similar conditions but saw 90% of the fleet starting on port. This allowed everyone to get out into the wind, take advantage of the late ebb outside and most important avoid the vacuum hole on the beach pile up.
In the end, Nico Parlier (1,1,1) took the night allowing Joey Pasquali (2,2,3) and Axel Mazella (3,3,2) , 2nd and 3rd respectively, to have a well fought battle. Seth Besse (4,6,6) and Kai Calder (6,5,5), 4th and 5th, were tied at the hip the whole night ultimately ending in a tie break to Seth.
The challenging conditions in the end didn’t seem to affect the fleet, who is looking sharp warming up for the HydroFoil Pro Tour next week. See the full results here.
Both Joey and Seth were riding the new F-One Diablo V3s, which out of the bag are feeling fast and perfect.
Race Results – Thursday July, 27 2017
Schedule: August 10 & 24, September 7 & 21, 2017
For more information, schedule, registration, notice of race, entry list, race committee, etc… visit the StFYC website: www.stfyc.com.
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