http://www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=1622

Looks terrible

Julien V was coming 3rd in his first heat of Elim 2 and put it down on the second mark but recovered brilliantly to get 4th.

Sean O'B 2nd in his heat so looks like Julien and Sean into the quarters.

Some wicked crashes too.

(Sh1t I'm trying to work - thanks Stu!)

Yes indeed Julien dislocated his shoulder....
All good now

Sean O was really unlucky, but is doing alright.

The crash of the tahitian rider was just spectacular !!

Wouldn't worry too much about A², we are going to run 8 more races in the next 3 days. Cedric Bordes is leading the event tonight.

Dunky was pissed about his pms too...

For those who were following the event on the livestream I apologize for the guy commenting with Ben Profitt, his accent is just bloody terrible.... :-)

best event ever !!!!

Watched for a bit yesterday afternoon... really good action, commentary, etc. Local riders seem to be doing very well.

Looking a bit lighter this morning.

Some of the best racing action all year. Taty Frans leading the race in heat 10 and duck gybe's around the mark, Rouys doing forwards over the finish line on slalom gear.

Yeah great stuff, probably the best slalom PWA event of the year. So with 2 or 3 races left tomorrow who is gunna win the mens overall. I think AA is 3.4 points in front of Cyril. Go Cyril

Watched the youth race Sean. Thought it was a fantastic idea. That little tacker on the handkerchief size sail, wasnt' the fastest but he nailed all the gybes. They must have been stoked!

Well what a finish. The PWA slalom men's title came down to the last race and Albeau took the 2014 title (again) coming second in the final with Moussilmani 5th. Probably the best PWA slalom event for a long time and hopefully Noumea will be on the circuit next year.

Choco, Benny van de Steen won the event with albeau second. Nobody cares who came third or second of the losers.

choco said..

sausage said..
Choco, Benny van de Steen won the event with albeau second. Nobody cares who came third or second of the losers.

Thanks, the PWA should actually hold events in places where it actually is windy like Noumea after all it is windsurfing not couch surfing.
They should also invest in some HD cameras and drones to get better coverage after all the more exposure the more outside sponsorship.

I would watch it like I watched The America's Cup.

YouTube is cheap (i think).
Drones are about as much as slalom gear, although i'm not sure on their max wind capability.
An editor ain't that much.
What am I missing?

All looked very impressive to me.
Plenty of wind.
Tropical location.
Friendly, windsurf addicted locals.
What more could a windsurf event ask for?
Assuming the tourist board and the sponsors come up with the dollars a must have event every year ,I think.
Certainly on my bucket list now to visit.
Wonder how much it cost to stage.

and you add 5 judges

seanhogan said..
pwa media crew is only 5, three cameras, a director and an editor + ben Profitt

Event organizer has to pay for all expenses of those guys.(airfare/accomodation/food/transport) + provide the broadband

They have HD cameras! Actually they've got all the gear... but it's a skeleton crew because of costs as Sean said. Actually there were only 2 events streamed in full HD this year which was Turkmenistan and La Torche. It's always to do with the internet infrastructure at the location... you might be getting good broadband in the CBD but there's usually not very good connections down by the beach (hence why the streams in the Canaries are so bad).... in La Torche they don't even have cell towers there so they budgeted $150K for the stream and brought in a pro team who dug trenches and laid fiber optic cable to the beach from the exchange... organisers covered that bill...wow!

Sadly the only way it's even going to get a higher quality stream is upping the budget... but since it's on the organisers head to do this that makes it SUPER SUPER hard... definitely the PWA needs a big tour sponsor to come in and throw $1M at it and we go from there... they are on the hunt for said sponsor but it's tough out there in the fringe sport world...

I really enjoyed watching the replays... awesome event!!

Well, I reckon it all looked pretty good from my PC. I really enjoyed it and am not usually one for watching sport on TV. Good continuous action that now has my psyched to get more into the slalom/freerace windsurfing.

sausage said..
SeanAus,
What happened to you at the start of the Elim 9 quarter final heat. You seemed to be well placed at the pre-start but then it looked like a spin out or big gust dumped you in the drink just as the flag dropped?

SeanH,
I assume there would have been some great deals with all the pro's selling off their gear at the conclusion?

Fin broke! Not completely but it cracked so I just spun out in to the water.... had to limp home. Kinda annoying cause I had a sweet start and was hoping to have a good finish there and get in to the Top 24 (prizemoney!)..blehhhhhhh