The Sagres Windsurfing Festival (15, 16 and 17 August) was the last of the 4 Iberia Pro-Am circuit events. We enjoyed good winds in Sagres... 40 competitors, two rounds of slalom racing and one long distance race. Manuel Plantier ran an excellent event- large tents, Red Bull, music, food and good times!
Friday afternoon the winds were strong- we were blasting on 6.8s and meduim sized slalom boards.

The Marinhal beach was alive with everyone tuning their gear for the very flat, windy and gusty conditions. The long distance race started from the Martinhal beach, around the Sagres point and up the coast on the west side to a mark set in a small bay- then back to Martinhal. The course length around 22km. It was not easy navigating around the point as the winds were offshore- so there was no wind close to the bluffs. I rounded the last mark in Martinhal bay 3rd just behind Martinho and Martinez. On the way around the point things did not go my way, as well on the west side the winds were light which I did not expect, my Blade 6.8 & Exocet 62 were small for the west side winds. I arrived 8th at the finish and moved up 2 places to 6th as two racers did not sail the course correctly.
Saturday saw the winds drop, one round was completed in light, gusty winds- not my favorite conditions!. We were on 8.5s, I managed to finish 5th in Saturdays final with Miguel Martinho, Fernando Martinez, Andy and Augusto Garcia infront of me.



I needed to stay infront of Garcia as he was the Iberia Pro-Am circuit 08 leader... I trailed him in the overall standing only by a few points.
Sunday the winds freshened somewhat, Andy and I were using Blade 8.5s and 7.5s in the eliminations. Sundays final ran quite late, the winds were tricky. Off the line it was Martinho, Garcia, Andy and I. The 10 finalists arrived in a tight, messy group at mark 1- and the winds were very light and we all stopped. Garcia slipped back as he was blanketed, after the mark shuffle I came away 5th and managed to arrive 4th at the finish. Andy dropped way back due to the mark mayhem, and off the podium.



For the event overall standings Miguel Martinho took the top spot convincingly, my 5-4 finishes took me into 2nd place for the event and young Martim Monteiro took 3rd.

I finished 1st in the masters classification, Augusto Garcia 2nd and Luís Franco 3rd.



For the Iberia Pro-Am circuit overall title Agusto Garcia managed to take the win, ahead of me by just 2 points. Agusto is excellent starting, he almost always managed to come off the line well- leaving me to find a way around.
Josie Rudsinska took the womens event title.



There has been a lapse of around 10 years since windsurfing slalom racing had local events! The Iberia Pro-Am circuit www.proam.ws is a wonderful new format! The racing is well organized, relaxed and excellent fun! My compliments to the organizer Manuel Plantier, I look forward to next year.

Monty
Aug 22 08