La Torche

It looks like the end of the contest here in La Torche. We haven’t managed to finished the double elimination, but the forecast for the last day doesn’t hold much hope. For me its been a tough event. I have been waiting for classic starboard tack jumping conditions for years, since the Guincho days. With so many of the fleet now really port tack specialists it was a good chance to have the fleet mixed up a a bit, but of all the people I could get from the trials I ended up against Angulo, who is the master of that stuff. Had I had a heat warm up I think I could have put up a better fight, but straight in against him, I was out first round. I have not been so devastated by a loss in a long time! Luckily we had a few heats in the double to start to work my way back up a bit and I managed to beat Koster, which was a little consolation. That put me into 9th but unfortunately it was getting dark and they cancelled. It means I drop out of the top 10 for the first time this year, but in terms of points I am not looking too bad going into Maui. A lot of guys around me will be relying on a good result to hold their position, but I am discarding a 13th at the moment, so can be a bit more relaxed. Maui is always a hard contest, especially arriving straight off the plane and going against the guys that live there. This year I am a bit more ready for it though, so can’t wait to get out there. A massive massive congrats to Ricardo for his long awaited 1st World Cup wave win. Plus another massive congrats to Thomas for taking the lead in the rankings. Going to be a very interesting title race in Maui!

Pic: JC/PWA