Day 2 of the Costa Brava PWA slalom event. When you hear people like Dunkerbeck and Albeau mention that it was crazy, you can pretty much figure it was. Crazy, in fact, might be a charitable description. And yet these guys are charging. Well, some of them. It's nice to see pros getting bounced out of jibes like the rest of us when things go ballistic.
Albeau killed it, by the way, just like he did the day before (when it was merely blowing really hard). I like his understated commentary at the end, where he nonchalantly explains that he "managed some good starts, good control, and good jibing", hence winning both eliminations. In some of the footage, you can see that while world class sailors around him are bouncing out of their turns and barely holding it together, he's charging.
It's neat to see Albeau and Dunkerbeck duking it out on the tour this year. These guys are the ultimate power sailors. There was an article in Windsurfing Mag last year bitching about how guys in their late 30's/early 40's squatting at the top of the rankings don't make racing all that inspirational or aspirational for young sailors. BS - they're the freaking silver back gorillas of the sport, and any young gun trying to take over will have to be prepared for a pretty full-on battle. At least that's my interpretation (and the fact that I'm 41 and racing in a local fleet dominated by someone a few years older would surely not introduce any bias...)
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1 comment:
Yes, well said :) And speaking of hard charging silver-backs. And also, hard charging young guns. We did have great examples of those at National's last week in Hood River. Phil McGain as the hard charging "silver-back" who never lets his guard down for a second. And Tyson Poor as the "young gun" matching the legends at every turn, and even beating them, not the least bit, intimidated. It was very fun watching all you top guns :)
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