Micah Buzianis, former World Champion, joins MauiSails in 2012. With over twenty five years of racing experience and several World Titles under his belt, Micah will be blending his experience with Barry Spanier, Art Szpunar, and Phil McGain to go after another Title.

Micah commented, “I couldn’t be happier about my new relationship with MauiSails. This is an exciting opportunity for me to work with Barry, Phil, and Art. The knowledge, experience, and history these three guys have in our sport is immeasurable and unsurpassable, with more World Titles under their belt than any other team in Windsurfing. For me to have people like this to work with and support my racing is going to be magical”.

Phil McGain said,“The TR-8 race sails are our best effort yet. They are primed to win and have been delivered to the market. We expect big things in 2012 from a sailor of Micah’s caliber . Having him based here in Maui will advance our development, help him with his preparation, and improve the performance of all our products at MauiSails”.

Micah further comments,”I’ve had some good sessions on the TR-8s already and am very impressed. They suit my boards very well and the comfort and speed is going to allow me to focus on the course, get a good start, pursue a tactically clean race, and finish ahead.  I’ve also had a chance to play with the Legend and the Ghost XT… both feel very light and lively in the surf and in the air”.

All of us at MauiSails wish you prosperous New Year and good winds on the water.

For more information go to mauisails.com

“The new Super Sport designs: Robby Swift K89, Micah Buzianis USA34 and Antoine Albeau FRA192 show the benefits of this sporty and super fast freeride boards which combine the performance of slalom boards with the comfort of the X-Cite Rides.”

JP: This year, the JP annual product photoshoot was lucky to coincide with some of the best conditions seen at the shoot for many years. Here are the highlights of the action from the all-star international JP team

After dominating the PWA 2009 and 2010 Slalom season (Antoine Albeau FRA-192 crowning himself 2x Slalom World Champion on JP) shaper Werner Gnigler introduces the seventh generation of JP Slalom boards for 2011. He is supported by Antoine and Micah Buzianis USA-34 who demonstrate how the boards work on the water.

Watch Antoine and Micah aboard the new JP Slalom VII

After dominating the PWA 2009 and 2010 Slalom season (Antoine Albeau FRA-192 crowning himself 2x Slalom World Champion on JP) shaper Werner Gnigler introduces the seventh generation of JP Slalom boards for 2011. He is supported by Antoine and Micah Buzianis USA-34 who demonstrate how the boards work on the water.

Antoine and Micah, who won the 2010 PWA Slalom Title and the 2010 PWA Slalom constructors ranking for JP, can’t wait to get back on the race course to proof again that no other boards are even close.

Check it out and enjoy the surf.

www.JP-AUSTRALIA.com

Neilpryde: Introducing the new RS:RACING EVOIII and RS:SLALOM MKIV in action with Team Riders, Atoine Albeau, Micah Buzianis, Julien Quentel, Robby Swift and Designer Robert Stroj.

Micah Buzianis

EVENT SUMMARY – MICAH BUZIANIS AND VALERIE ARRIGHETTI CLAIM VICTORY IN TURKEY AFTER A TENSE FEW DAYS ON STANDBY SAW THEM COUNTING DOWN THE SECONDS UNTIL IT WAS ALL OVER.

The beautiful Aegean town of Alacati blessed the world’s fastest racers with an action packed few days of racing at the beginning of the week, followed by a couple of wind less days on hold, leaving those in the lead to endure a nerve racking time before they could finally claim their crowns.

A full fleet of sixty-four professional sailors competed on the crystal clear waters in the men’s fleet, and twenty-one fast and furious females in the women’s. With a strong Meltemi breeze blowing, both the men and women completed two full rounds of racing on each of the first two days in perfect conditions. During the middle of the week a gentle southerly wind put a halt to proceedings, and on the final few days the Meltemi returned late in the afternoon, but with insufficient force to complete any further eliminations, leaving the four completed rounds to count.

Men

Buzianis Bounces Back

Following a fairly rough ride in Fuerteventura, former world champion Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde) was back on form in Turkey with some amazingly consistent results normally reserved exclusively for his team mate, Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)!

Right from the word go Buzianis shot off the line and straight into the leading pack in every single heat. In the first race of the event he appeared to be far more comfortable in the lighter winds and flatter waters of Alacati, and a string of top two results saw him qualify for the winner’s final with ease where he dominated despite a star-studded line up.

The second race of the series saw a new format with the top 20 automatically seeded through. The intention being that the less experienced sailors get more chances to race, and the top guys don’t have to go through the formalities of the first round. Once again Buzianis sailed well despite the extra number of competitors in the heats and qualified for the winner’s final without a glitch. However, plenty of other big players failed to do the same. Of the top five ranked sailors in the world, only two made it through the first mark carnage. Many times world champion, Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic), 2009 vice world champion Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra), and flying Frenchman Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard, North) all fell at the first hurdle in the new elimination procedure! This left a fairly clear path for Albeau and Buzianis to take the top two spots in the final, but after a mediocre start, Albeau was left to play catch up allowing Buzianis a straight run for another bullet – the American had finished the first day with the best possible start to the contest.

For the third race in Alacati race director, Juan Antonio Aragon decided to switch back to the tried and tested 8-man heat format due to the short course, and lighter winds that the sailors were experiencing. Buzianis played it fairly safe to ensure he qualified for the winner’s final, and Albeau followed suit. When it came to the final however they both hit the water with all guns blazing. Albeau was back on unstoppable form, and surely hungry to seal the deal for his fifth consecutive slalom world title, leaving Buzianis to settle for second.

Race four saw another slalom giant with an appetite for success going by the name of Finian Maynard. His results thus far had been less than consistent, which surely psyched him up for the final. With a point to prove, he flew out of the blocks and straight into the lead where he remained for the duration. This left Buzianis to settle for another second, whilst Albeau fought hard for third.

Buzianis didn’t quite match his perfect first day, but it wasn’t far off! Two seconds had secured his place in the lead with Albeau and Maynard trailing in his wake.

Micah Buzianis

Tense Times

The forecast didn’t look too promising after the first two days, but the Meltemi was supposed to return in time for the weekend crowds, which left Buzianis comfortably leading the fleet and expecting more racing. However, after a long stint on standby on Friday, it became apparent that the racing might not recommence after all, and Buzianis could possibly win his first world tour crown of 2010.

Saturday dawned with a light Meltemi breeze firmly ensuring the sailors were on the edge of their seats for the entire day. It was a nerve-racking time for those at the top of the fleet who could only lose out by racing any further. After a gruelling six hours on standby the first few heats finally began, but the pressure had already been lifted. With the possibility of only completing one race, Buzianis had the event in the bag. And, as it turned out the fifth race didn’t get any further than the first round anyway before the wind disappeared causing it to be obsolete.

Albeau Secures 2010 Title

Despite not winning in Turkey, the 2009 world champion, Antoine Albeau has secured his fifth consecutive PWA slalom world title with an event to spare. He’s consistently finished in the top two this season, and is now untouchable at the top – he doesn’t even need to step on his board in Sylt! However, Albeau being Albeau he certainly will race in Germany, not only to stamp his authority on the fleet, but to also claim as much prize money as possible. Congratulations Antoine!

What About Dunky…

Following a mediocre start to the week due to his kit not arriving on time, and therefore having to beg, borrow, and steal for the first day – even though he arrived three days in advance to ensure it would all be there – he began the second day of competition with a discard under his belt already. He then ended up in an early round heat on the second day with five of the top eight ranked sailors in the world, leaving absolutely no room for error. Poor old Dunkerbeck got buried at the start with no way of coming back, and therefore had to count a terrible result. Worst case scenario, he’ll need a top three result to maintain his second place ranking for the year in Sylt.

Standout Sailors

Frenchman, Julien Quentel (RRD, NeilPryde) had an excellent event, being one of only three sailors to qualify for the finals (winner’s and loser’s) in every single race to finish the competition in fifth place. Now that a discard has come into effect in the overall rankings, and having not entered Korea, he’s shot up to eleventh, and could easily break into the top ten if he repeats such a performance in Sylt.

Italian, Alberto Menegatti (Starboard, Simmer) also had one of the best events of his career to date, with a second place in the first race making him one to watch throughout the week. His seventh place finish in Alacati has lifted him into twelfth overall.

Julien Quentel chases Buzianis

Event Results

1st Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde)

2nd Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)

3rd Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra)

4th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard, North)

5th Julien Quentel (RRD, NeilPryde)

6th Bora Kozanoglu (JP, NeilPryde)

7th Alberto Menegatti (Starboard, Simmer)

8th Sylvain Moussilmani (Starboard, Simmer)

9th Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic)

10th Enes Yilmazer (JP, NeilPryde)

Overall Rankings

1st Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)

2nd Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic)

3rd Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde)

4th = Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra)

4th = Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard, North)

Women

Outstanding Arrighetti

The 2009 world champion, Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou, Loft, Mystic) sailed the most consistently out of all of her rivals on the first day of racing to place herself ahead of the pack, with a third in the first race behind current tour leader, Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne) and transatlantic hopeful, Sarah Hebert (Naish, Naish). And, a bullet in the final race of the day.

During day two, Arrighetti consolidated her position at the front of the fleet with yet another first place, and a second behind the 2010 freestyle world champion, Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra). The freestyle world champ was firing on all cylinders on the second day of competition, and had there been any more races could have been a real threat to those ahead of her, but she was desperately in need of a further discard after a less than ideal first day.

With just two days of racing, Arrighetti endured the same stress as Buzianis, with four nerve racking days on hold before she could finally claim her first crown of 2010.

What About The Women’s World Title?

With four events now on the calendar, and more importantly a discard, most people believed that Arrighetti would have a shot at claiming the 2010 world title despite not entering Korea. However, close scrutiny of the PWA general rules (section 1.15.5 – Ties) has revealed that even if Arrighetti were to win in Almanarre and therefore match the current tour leader’s counting results she would not be able to take the world title from her, as long as Jaggi actually enters Almanarre. This is because the tiebreak would go down to the sailor with the greater number of firsts, seconds, and so on. Which, at a glance looks like they’d have the same, but in actual fact Jaggi would have one higher score simply for entering the final in Almanarre compared to Arrighetti’s non existent score for not entering Korea. Therefore, Jaggi’s 2010 slalom world title is well within her grasp, and would only slip out if she fails to turn up in France!

Valerie Arrighetti

Event Results

1st Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou, Loft, Mystic)

2nd Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne)

3rd Sarah Hebert (Naish, Naish)

4th Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra)

5th Fanny Aubet (JP, NeilPryde)

Overall Rankings

1st Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra)

3rd Alice Arutkin (Starboard, North)

4th Sarah Hebert (Naish, Naish)

5th Cagla Kubat (Starboard, North)

Constructors Championship

Following on from the action in Alacati, Starboard have consolidated their position at the top of the hotly contested board brand rankings, and NeilPryde remain in the top slot in the sail brand category.

Board Brands

1st Starboard

2nd JP

3rd Tabou

4th Fanatic

5th Patrik

Sail Brands

1st NeilPryde

2nd North

3rd Gaastra

4th Severne

5th Simmer

Next Stop

The PWA World Tour moves on to Almanarre, France for the women’s slalom final from the 4th to the 8th September. Be sure to check out www.pwaworldtour.com for live coverage, and daily updates from the event.

Event Winners: Micah Buzianis & Valerie Arrighetti

Micah Buzianis and Valerie Arrighetti claim victory on the crystal clear waters of Alacati, and Antoine Albeau secures yet another slalom world title with an event to spare!

The Meltemi returned today but failed to blow with full force playing havoc with the competitors and crew. Race director, Juan Antonio Aragon and his team made every effort to get a fifth and final elimination completed, and very nearly managed the first round, but there were just too many lulls over the course causing it to grind to a halt early in the evening. This left the results unchanged, and many sailors frustrated after waiting patiently on standby for much of the day.

With the results the same as day two, former world champion Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde) can now breathe a sigh of relief after four nerve racking days in the lead. He’s claimed his first event victory of the season here in Alacati ahead of his team mate, and 2009 world champion, Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde), and 2009 vice world champion, Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra).

In the women’s fleet, 2009 world champion, Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou, Loft, Mystic) also endured a frustrating four days at the top of the table, but finally took her first event crown of 2010 this evening ahead of former world champion, Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne), and transatlantic hopeful, Sarah Hebert (Naish, Naish).

Champion Sound

Micah Buzianis:

“It feels amazing to be first here in Alacati because it’s been a while since I last won an event on the world tour. To win this one feels extremely special because I enjoyed the conditions, with the flat water and the lighter winds, which I think favored me much more than I expected. I didn’t use a huge amount of kit here during the first two days that we actually raced, just my 9.5 and 8.6, along with my 132L board. The last four days have been pretty nerve racking being on standby. The couple of days in the middle I felt less so because I was fairly confident that we weren’t going to race, but the last two were hell – it’s always quite terrifying holding on to first place at such a huge event with so many good sailors in the fleet.”

Valerie Arrighetti:

“I had a fairly low start to the world tour this year because I didn’t compete in Korea, and when I went to Costa Brava I didn’t think I’d carry on racing because I had some important personal issues. However, I found that I was still competitive, even without any training, and could still take on the top females such as Karin. This helped with my motivation and so I entered Alacati, where my goal was to win like every year. And, that’s what I did, so I’m really happy.”

Results

Men

1st Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde)

2nd Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)

3rd Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra)

4th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard, North)

5th Julien Quentel (RRD, NeilPryde)

6th Bora Kozanoglu (JP, NeilPryde)

7th Alberto Menegatti (Starboard, Simmer)

8th Sylvain Moussilmani (Starboard, Simmer)

9th Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic)

10th Enes Yilmazer (JP, NeilPryde)

Micah Buzianis

Women

1st Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou, Loft, Mystic)

2nd Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne)

3rd Sarah Hebert (Naish, Naish)

4th Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra)

5th Fanny Aubet (JP, NeilPryde)

Overall Rankings

Men

The 2009 world champion and current tour leader, Antoine Albeau has sailed consistently enough throughout the season now to secure the 2010 PWA slalom world title with an event to spare. Many times world champion, Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne) remains in second overall despite his bad result here in Alacati, and event winner, Micah Buzianis has firmly held onto third.

1st Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)

2nd Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic)

3rd Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde)

4th Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra)

5th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard, North)

Albeau Talks

Antoine Albeau on securing the 2010 world title:

“It feels amazing to have finally secured the world title before Sylt. Yesterday I felt pretty nervous because we could have still completed a few more races, and I could potentially have dropped out of the top 3. But, later in the day today I began to feel much more relaxed because I knew that we could only finish one race, and as the day went one it became more and more clear that we wouldn’t even do that. The racing this year has gone really well, although it feels like a bit of a short season, but there’s still one more event to go, and I will definitely be there giving it my best shot to win like always!”

Antoine Albeau

Women

With a second place finish in Alacati, former world champion Karin Jaggi retains her position in first place overall, and has secured a top 2 finish for the year. Due to official tiebreak rules – if Valerie Arrighetti were to win the next event – all Jaggi needs to do to win the 2010 world title is simply turn up in Almanarre and race. If for some reason she failed to do this then Arrighetti would still be in with a chance of claiming first on another tiebreak rule. The 2010 freestyle world champion, Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra) has retained her position in second, and Alice Arutkin (Starboard, North) remains in third.

1st Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra)

3rd Alice Arutkin (Starboard, North)

4th Sarah Hebert (Naish, Naish)

5th Cagla Kubat (Starboard, North)

Keep in the groove

For more information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, click on www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

• Check live elimination ladders

• View results

• Read daily news summaries

• Browse awesome action photo galleries

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.surfnsound.org

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Robby Swift

DAY 5 – THE WAITING GAME CONTINUES AS THE MELTEMI FAILS TO RETURN WITH ANY FORCE, LEAVING THE PWA’S ELITE RACERS SHELTERING IN THE SHADE ON ANOTHER GLORIOUS DAY IN ALACATI.

A day of changeable weather patterns caused chaos amongst the world’s best slalom sailors today. They awoke to a light Meltemi breeze, but by the time they’d eaten their breakfast a stronger southerly sea breeze had pushed in, putting the contest on hold yet again.

After a couple of hours on standby the Meltemi fought back, and with gusts of 14kts caused those sailors in the early heats to frantically rig in time for the start. Unfortunately, the wind was simply playing games with everyone, and just as the start sequence was about to begin, huge holes appeared in the course with lulls as low as 3kts. Race director, Juan Antonio Aragon and his crew made every effort to get the racing underway throughout the afternoon, but the wind failed to cooperate.

Judgement Day

The 2009 world champion and current tour leader, Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde) is just a day away from securing the 2010 world title. As it stands, if Albeau can maintain his position in 2nd, or even overtake his team mate and current event leader, Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde) then he will have done enough to take the 2010 title without actually having to step on his board in Sylt.

If however, Albeau falls out of the top 2 here in Alacati then the title will go right to the wire in Sylt, and will all depend on where his nearest rival – one of the undisputed legends of windsurfing – Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne) finishes there. This event is almost bound to be Dunkerbeck’s discard now, but if he wins in Sylt he could still beat Albeau and claim the title. Although, for that to happen Albeau has to finish 3rd or worse both here and in Sylt!

There’s a similar situation in the women’s fleet too, with former world champion, Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne) battling with the 2009 world champion, Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou, Loft, Mystic). Jaggi is currently lying in second place here, but if she overtakes the current event leader, Arrighetti then she too could secure the 2010 world title with an event to spare.

However, if Arrighetti can stay ahead of Jaggi here then she will have a shot at the title in Almanarre at the beginning of September. Even if Jaggi and Arrighetti were tied on points, whoever wins the last event would take the title.

There are a huge number of if’s in these calculations, and you have to remember that all of it can change in an instant. But, we could still potentially see two world champions walking away from Alacati!

Results After Four Races

Men

1st Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde)

2nd Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)

3rd Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra)

4th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard, North)

5th Julien Quentel (RRD, NeilPryde)

6th Bora Kozanoglu (JP, NeilPryde)

7th Alberto Menegatti (Starboard, Simmer)8th Sylvain Moussilmani (Starboard, Simmer)

9th Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic)

10th Enes Yilmazer (JP, NeilPryde)

Dan Ellis

Women

1st Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou, Loft, Mystic)

2nd Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne)

3rd Sarah Hebert (Naish, Naish)

4th Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard, Gaastra)

5th Fanny Aubet (JP, NeilPryde)

Eye On The Horizon

The Meltemi is forecast to return for the final day of racing ensuring a crowd pleasing finale to the Pegasus Airlines World Cup.

Keep in the groove

For more information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, click on www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

• Check live elimination ladders

• View results

• Read daily news summaries

• Browse awesome action photo galleries

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.surfnsound.org

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com