Great battles and big smiles

21/05/2023

The third and penultimate day of the Défi Wind in Gruissan, Saturday, allowed the completion of a 4th race, which is so important because it is synonymous of the discard. Sara Wennekes and Nicolas Goyard are leading the overall standings and the final victory is on the cards, even if the young Danish Johan Søe puts an end to the French domination.

After a windy Défi Kite and Défi Wing, the Défi Wind is also blessed by the gods for this 2023 edition and 20 to 25 knots, already weakening, are blowing for this 4th day of competition. The 4th race of the weekend is of great importance as it allows the worst result of each competitor to be eliminated from the overall ranking. The day's schedule was the same as the previous days and despite the fatigue that had built up over the days, 1100 windsurfers were present at the start.

After a spectacular start, Nicolas Goyard and Johan Søe went head-to-head. The Frenchman was in the lead at the first mark, but it was at the second mark that DEN-37 made the difference and took the lead. After just over 30 minutes of racing, only two seconds separated the two men at the finish line, showing the intensity of the battle. Thomas Goyard finished 3rd ahead of William Huppert and Enrico Marotti. As Jordy Vonk decided not to compete in foil this time, it was Lohan Jules who shone in fin, finishing 20th and taking the lead in this category, also in 20th place. In the women's category, the Dutch Sara Wannekes had her best race of the week with a 47th place, which allowed her to take the lead in the overall ranking ahead of Justine Lemeteyer and Delphine Cousin.
As predicted by the weather forecast, the Tramontane dropped significantly in the early afternoon. To be on the safe side and to avoid a possible interruption of the race, Philippe Bru and his team finally decided to leave it at that, as the prospect of launching more than 1000 competitors and seeing the wind drop completely was not really appealing to anyone...
Sunday, the last day of this Défi Wind, with a light Tramontane forecast, but the competitors arrived at 9.30 for the first briefing, without Philippe Bru having said his last word...

 

Source: Défi Wind
Photos: Défi Wind/Jean Souville - Défi Wind/Jean-Marc Cornu - Défi Wind/Louis McHugh

tags: Défi Wind Gruissan Sara Wennekes Nicolas Goyard

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