Home 2018 EUROPEANS GERMANY’S VINCENT LANGER IS THE 2018 IFCA SLALOM EUROPEAN CHAMPION

GERMANY’S VINCENT LANGER IS THE 2018 IFCA SLALOM EUROPEAN CHAMPION

2018 IFCA Slalom European Championship at the Multivan Windsurf Cup Final Day

 

Vincent Langer | GER-1 Crowned 2018 IFCA Slalom Windsurfing European Champion at the Multivan Windsurf Cup after a 7 Days event in Westerland Sylt, Germany. A total of 5 slalom eliminations were completed with the 5th  on the final competition day. It almost seemed like another event day waiting for the suitable racing conditions to finally show up. Somewhat after 2pm the wind started to build up, gusting from 11 to 15 knots and later 15 to 20 knots.  The races could finally continue, starting with the C finals which eventually got abandoned the day before in the very late afternoon due to insufficient winds.


The 2018 IFCA Slalom European Championship event started of at ease, with all attention – at first – on the second and third day. The forecast predicted strong side-shore winds with waves up to 3 meters. It was day 2 with the most radical racing action with winds up to 30knots and 3 meter high waves. Nicolas Prien | GER-7 was the winner of the first elimination of the event but the experienced Vincent Langer | GER-1 made a come back in elimination 2 and 3, taking the early event lead.


Day 3 was a lay day for the Slalom Competitors after heavy duty racing the previous day, the wind was fierce, the North Sea wild and wavy. The German Wave competition was held instead.

Day 4 and 5 saw way too light winds for slalom racing and the event focus switched to the German competitions in the discipline Course Racing ( mixture of Formula & Hydrofoil equipment ).

On Day 6 it was back to racing in the very late afternoon, 1 full elimination could be completed in winds from 11 to 14 knots, Gunnar Asmussen | GER-2 was the winner of the 4th Elimination. Vincent Langer | GER-1 came in second and still leaded the event rankings by 1.3 points, Nicolas Prien | GER-7 – dropped down to the 3rd position. The 5th elimination, sadly could not continue, it was very late and the wind started to fade away. The  C Final got cancelled and the tension was on for the next A Final. Four out of the top 5 managed to qualify, missing out was the Dutch Youth Ennio dal Pont | NED-46 who struggled timing his starts in the gusty conditions.


The excitement continued on the final competition day, the tension was still on and only 3 Final heats left to complete the  5th elimination of the event. The conditions were offshore and light, some competitors already started to give up as the end of the last possible start scheduled for that day was getting closer and closer.  At 14:30 the green light was given by the Race Director,  the wind was suitable enough and the action could finally continue. 2 General Recalls in the A Final, everyone was pushing their limits, during the first start it was Arthur Orjubin | FRA-755 and in the second start -with all eyes on Vincent Langer | GER 1, who got squeezed between some competitors – it was Hubert Mokrzycki | POL-25, Gunnar Asmussen | GER-2 and also the event leader Vincent Langer | GER-1 – who all crossed the start line too early. After the A Final started with a clean start it was  Nicolas Prien | GER-7 who gave everything, but crashed the last jibe at mark number 4 making room for the strong Youths –    Damien Cervera | FRA-422 , Thomas Merceur | FRA-159 and Francesco Scagliola | ITA-353.

It was thrilling till the end

Said the Class President Mr Bruno de Wannemaeker while enjoying the events live stream from a distance.

On the IFCA Class website – event page you may re watch the live stream of some of the competitions or check on the IFCA  facebook page.

Top 5 After 5 Eliminations and 2 discard:
1 Vincent Langer GER-1 | 2018 IFCA SLALOM EUROPEAN CHAMPION
2 Gunnar Asmussen GER-2 | Best Master
3 Nicolas Prien GER-73
4 Damien Cervera FRA-422 | Best Youth
5 Francesco Scagliola | ITA-353
 

Vincent Langer : This Event was ULTRA exciting in every aspect, especially the races in 2 to 3 meter Waves

Check out the Elimination ladders and Full Event Results here

SYLT HAS IT ALL

The Class would like to thank the Choppy Water gmbh Organization and their crew at the Multivan Windsurf Cup  for a successful accomplished event, It was 7 days long with a variety of weather forecasts, mixed with a few lay days, lots of Sunshine and great slalom racing action in diverse sailing conditions.

The Next Class Slalom Championship will be in Torbole Lake Garda Italy where the 2018 Youth & Masters Slalom World Championships will be held from the 2nd till the 7th of July.

Gallery Day 7


Stay up-to-date on the following channels:
Event Page – Live Score and Ticker
Multivan Windsurf Cup
IFCA on facebook

@ifca_class

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Images by: Nicole Riederer | Lightnic Photography

 

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