The last French event took place in the South of France in Six-Fours.

Antoine finishes 4th overall in wave and 3rd overall for the French championship. Together with his 12th place on the PWA tour it is a great season for him.
Congratulations !

Check out the new web site of Antoine Questel http://www.antoinequestel.com/

We are proud to introduce our new logo that will be featured in our 2012 collection. “The Turbine” has a clear design inspiration in the modern windmills that surround Tarifa, where Loft Sails was born and has its design and test base. Colours are used to outline the “L” and “S”, Loft Sails.
Our intention is to revamp the image of the brand; this will also be appreciated in our new 2012 sail line, new designs, new names, … improved performance.

Available in Europe beginning of Octobre.

The Loft Team

Alacati Turkey was the background for the Pegasus PWA Slalom event from 8th till 13th of August. With 11 races in the bag, it was the PWA event with the most eliminations completed this year. Alacati delivered some great conditions, it was the windiest Turkish event to date! With sails used from 5.5 up 9.5, it was a great test again for racing skills and equipment in all conditions…

On our trip back from the PWA Fuerte our racing gear never arrived. We packed all our spare gear with us when we departed Tarifa for Turkey- just in case the gear did not arrive as the airlines had no clue were it was. Luckily at the airport we found all the gear! After a quick repack, we were on our way… taking sail sizes down to 7.0, and the big and medium boards (not my smal;l board)- it has never been really windy in turkey .
We were perfectly on time and after paying 60 euros for 9 bags- all was good and ready to go! Here is what happened in the racing:

Elim 1:
The winds were light racing on the biggest gear- The Loft Racing Blade 9.5, and the Starboard Isonic 127 with 48 Hurricane fin. The racing was tight and a lot came down to the start- I did not have a very good one in the final, but wormed my way in to 4th place in the 1st final of the event .

Elim 2 :
Race 2 was on the second day, the winds were still pretty light but picking up. I was now sailing on my 127 with 9.5 for the final. Fighting for second, I made a big mistake on the 3rd gybe- got stuck in someone’s wake and I fell in. I finished last in the 2nd final of the event- so and 8th in Elim 2.

Elim 3:
WInds were still gusty but this time on the medium board (107) and 8.6- this time a better start and a 3rd place finish for final 3.

Elim 4:
Winds were getting better, but only later on in day 3 and the 4th race I sailed 107 and 8.6 again and finished 3rd in the final .

Elim 5:
The first round was done the day before, but now the wind was blowing and picking up fast! I was on 7.8 in the first round of race 5, but then had to go down to my 7.0 sail- the smallest I brought… did not make it to the final, finished 4th in the losers final- so a 12th place for Elim 5.

Elim 6
The winds kept picking up, gusting up to almost 40 knots! I was still on my 107 and my 7.0 as I did not bring my small gear. I was just too overpowered to get around the course fast. I didn’t manage to get into the final but finished 5th in the losers final and that got me a 13th place in Elim 6.

Elim 7
This was the most windy race of the event but we got a long lunch break before the 7th race and I managed to tune my 7.0 and my 107 a little better for this strong winds. This time I did manage to make it to the final, but crashed at mark 2 and finished last in the final- so an 8th . Was very happy this day was over as I should have been sailing on my 87 and my 6.3 (lesson learned)!

Elim 8
The winds were lighter again good for 8.6 and the 107 but picking up again .
Elim 8 final was a little strange because everyone was super close and no pileup at mark one. Mark 2 was a different story as 3 or 4 people went down putting me 3rd behind Volwater and Albeau. Albeau went down on the last gybe with a spinout leaving the door open for Volwater to win the race and putting me in 2nd for elim 8 final.

Elim 9
The winds picked up and went on my 7.8 and my 107. In this one I did manage to get in the final again- with an ok start and a good first gybe I managed to get in to 3rd and finish 3rd.

Race 10
This race was started on the previous day and there were already a few shocking 1st round exits from some top names . All was open for the podium on the last day of competition as the top 6 were all pretty close within a few points from each other any mistake would be disaster . Race 10 I was on my 8.6 and 107 and with a good start only Volwater and Bjorn in front of me at the 1st mark and I managed to pass Volwater on the second reach making a 2nd place finish in this race .

Elim 11
Bjorn had already won the event, but all was open from 2nd till 5th. WIth Finian not making it into the final the door was open for 2nd, but I did have to finish in top 6 and Antoine was close as well. With an ok start I managed to get top 4 to the mark and finished in 4th just behind Albeau- which was enough to jump to 2nd for the event!

I am Super stoked with my second place in this event, and I am very happy how all my gear is working. Its been a very good year till now with 4 podium finishes. I am looking forward to the last event, the PWA in Sylt, stay tuned for that!

Gear combo’s used in this event :
Starboard Isonic 127 with 49/48 Hurricane fin and 9.5 Loftsails Racing Blade
Starboard Isonic 107 with 41 Hurricane fin and 8.6 Loftsails Racing Blade
Starboard Isonic 107 with 40/39 Hurricane fin and 7.8 Loftsails Racing Blade
Starboard Isonic 107 with 39/38 Hurricane fin and 7.0 Loftsails Racing Blade

1 Björn Dunkerbeck SUI-11 Starboard,Severne Sails,Mystic,DunkerbeckEyewear
2 Ben Van Der Steen NED-57 Starboard,Loft Sails,Mystic
3 Antoine Albeau F-192 NeilPryde,JP
4 Finian Maynard KV-11 RRD
5 Micah Buzianis USA-34 NeilPryde,JP

Report from the Flying Dutchman who managed his second PWA podium in a row- taking second place between Dunkerbeck and Albeau at the PWA Aruba event… here are his words about his amazing Aruba race week that has made “Van der Steen” a big name in professional windsurfing:

A great 4 days of racing in Aruba, with good trade winds blowing every day, it was the perfect setup for the PWA Slalom.
The water was flat and warm, and the racing was hard and close. With 8 eliminations completed, it was a successful event.
I used only 1 board- my Starboard 107 iSonic, and 1 sail- my Loftsails 8.6 Racing Blade, and 1 fin- my Hurricane 41. During the day the conditions were a little up and down, but in the end I always stayed on the same gear- sometime a little overpowered sometimes slightly underpowered, but it always seemed the best choice.
Here is a short review for each of the 8 elimination rounds:

Elim 1
Good start of the event getting to the final and finishing second. I was catching Bjorn for the win on the last leg, but he only just managed to finish ahead of me.

Elim 2
Bad start in the semi resulted in a loser final, but I managed to win the loser final- so 9th place in this round.

Elim 3
In elimination 3 I managed to get back in the final… Antoine was gone, I was battling for 2nd with Gonzalo and just managed to get the edge on him to finish second in this final.

Elim 4
Again a final this time- 3rd just behind Antoine and Bjorn.

Elim 5
Disaster-, last place in the first round with some weird chop from the boats. I hooked in my harness on the last gibe and got stuck with my sail straight down… there was no getting up.

Elim 6
Nice to come back to the final after the disaster round I had in race 5! Back up into the final after a few good battles in the quarter finals and semi finals… ended up 3rd in this final.

Elim 7
Close call on the semis but just managed to scrape in front of my team mate Questel in a fight to the finish and went on to do the final. Finishing elim 7 final in 2nd, there was only a small gap left to get in to 2nd place in the overall standings… I needed some luck because it depended on what the other competitors would do.

Elim 8
In elim 8 it was all or nothing! I could not loose 3rd place overall, but I could climb up to second with the fortunate event that Antoine and Bjorn both went over early in their semi! It was up to me to get to the final- and win it !
I managed to fight my way to the final, were I had a fairly good start, but Steve Allen was ontop of me as he had a little better start. At mark 1 I arrived just ahead of Steve, and managed to stay in front the entire race. Winning the last final of this event put me in second overall for the PWA slalom standings in Aruba!

I am super stoked about my result, arriving in between “the big boys”.
I am super stoked with the way my gear is going- my Loftsails 8.6 Racing
Blade with the Starboard iSonic 107 is a magic combo!
…now back to Tarifa to prepare for Fuerte and Turkey ! Stay tuned !

Gear used:
Starboard iSonic 107, Loftsails Racing Blade 8.6 and Hurricane 41 fin.

Hi Antoine! Congratulations for your 7th place in Aruba ! Could you describe for us the conditions during the event ?
Antoine Questel: I arrived in Aruba with a very strong mental attitude after my positive result in Korea! It was likely we would have similar conditions here in Aruba… trade winds about 18/25knts every day- this is the kind of winds I am used to. I have been very consistent during the Aruba event.

We´ve seen you with a great speed, how did you mange the heats ?
AQ : I had a great feeling with my kit, and so I had very good speed, going thru the heats one by one as they came, without too much difficulty. During the semi´s I was a bit ahead of the fleet and managed to create room between me and the next guy down wind- to make space and so starting as fast as possible.

Which gear did you use during the event ?
Antoine Questel : Mostly my Racing Blade 7.8 and Isonic 107, some heats with my Racing Blade 8.6.