After two days enjoying the sun and friendly training sessions, finally the Venezuelans from Lanzarote offer perfect conditions to take off the II Lanzarote International Regatta, winds between 10 and 16 knots, flat seas with few waves, spectacular for some slalom regattas, one of the modality of the flying boards of iQFoil. This third day has begun with the men's regattas, led by the Dutchman Huig Jan Tak, who achieved 3 victories in the 3 slalom regattas, although he finished ninth in the windward-leeward regatta. The second place in the general classification is held by the Israeli Yoav Omer, followed by the British Matthew Barton. “It was a very long day, but for me it was a fun day, with good speed, good starts and good tactics,” said the leading Dutchman.
Representing Spain, the Canarian Ángel Granda stands out, who remains in the top 15, but will have to try to be in the top 10 to be able to compete in the race for the medal table. "Today we have been in the water for a long time, I have had good starts, but I have lacked speed", commented Granda. For the Canarian sailor, the change to the iQFoil class has been "quite hard", it is that in the RS:X modality you want to weigh 70 kilos sober, but the iQFoil requires you to weigh between 90 and 100 kilos, "The more heavier, faster, since it puts more power into the foil”, explained the original athlete from Gran Canaria. In his opinion, “The Canary Islands are one of the best places to practice sailing, we are already seeing it here now with so many competitors in Marina Rubicón”.
In the women's iQFoil regattas, it is the English Islay Watson who manages to dominate the classification, followed by the French Lola Sorin and the Italian Marta Maggetti. And it is that the weather in Lanzarote has surprised the sailors, after a morning sailing calmly in zigzag, elvaino has rolled from the northeast to the north, so it has become a very unstable land wind and has caused many disqualifications. This has delayed the favorite local sailor, the Andalusian Pilar Lamadrid, who, despite a disqualification in the first regatta, manages to stabilize in eighth place. "It has been a very unfair regatta, because both the men's and women's fleets have gone out of line, it has been a disconcerting day," said Lamadrid. However, the Spanish Nicole Van Der Velden surprised with a fourth place, with very good results in all the races.
For the men's and women's iQFoil final this Tuesday, we foresee 2 more windward-leeward regattas (racing modality), in addition to the medal races. “But the medal race cannot be done until we have 6 races finished and right now we have 4”, explained Alejandro de Juan González, secretary of the Canarian Sailing Federation, organizers of the Lanzarote International Regatta together with Marina Rubicón and Dinghycoach. .
