Josh Angulo's insight into the Fuerteventura Slalom race

I recently made a post about a spectacular slalom race which took place at the PWA event in Fuerteventura. In that post I have been wondering about any differences in the sail size used by the winner Antoine Albeau and Josh Angulo who finished second. Now Josh gives us some insight in to that race.


(Josh Angulo in Fuerteventura, image courtesy PWA-John Carter)

Q: Hi Josh and congratulation for your performances in Fuerteventura. The final when you were leading but later you were passed by Antoine (who eventually won) was spectacular! I was really curious whether Antoine was rigging a bigger sail than you. Can you tell us what size were you rigging versus Antoine and your special insight into that race? Again congratulations and good luck for the rest of the season.

A: Howzit Tonywind, Antoine and I were both on 5.5's and the wind was gusting over 40 kts. That was a pretty sick race. I had a good start and committed down the first leg, had the speed and took it into the 1st mark and remain in 1st up through the 3rd mark, after the 3rd mark Antoine passed me and to be honest it was soooo windy and gnarly sailing, that before the race I told myself just to sail my race, and part of sailing my race was just to survive and in surviving I got second behind arguably the best slalom sailor in the world at this moment. I also had another second , a third and a 1st in other finals that week, so it seems that things are coming together. Next event is Turkey, which is a completely different animal, but I'm thinking the 8.4 and my Magnum 83 are gonna be the key tools there and they are a sick combo.
Aloha,
Josh

So, the conclusion is that Josh proved to be extremely competitive not only in wave (were he's currently ranking 1st) but also in slalom. Antoine is simply a race machine capable of amazing speed especially in the most challenging conditions. Try holding a 5.5 on gusty over-40 knots winds! Undoubtedly the number 1..