Kurosh Kiani PWA update

The second leg of the PWA tour this year comes to Ulsan, Korea where the great Korean hosts once again received the sailors for a round of high end slalom racing. After only one race in Italy I know that more or less everybody was keen on getting some more racing done at this second leg of the PWA tour.

I got to the event site just the night before, had a great night of sleep and the next day we were racing. This year I brought my whole SCR quiver with me. Everything from 5,5 to 9,5. And all my boards and fins. I was prepared for any kind of conditions.

As usual, the first couple of days we had the wind coming from the right side, which means gusty winds, flat water and a very light swell. I mostly had my 9,5 and 8,6 out the first day, but as the days progressed, I actually had my 7,8 on the water as well in these gusty conditions. The reason is that the sails this year have a huge range and I am not scared of going on a smaller sail than I´m used to as I know I will be planing early and having the power needed to race through the slalom course.

Racing wise I can feel that I am still very rusty after the long winter hiatus, and this is certainly something that needs working on for the upcoming races. There is no question that speed wise, I had what it takes to go far, but the starts were unsharp and even through my gybing has improved, they could still be better. Once I got the start nailed I was in the front pack and could stay there, so there has definitely been an improvement over the winter, and I cant wait to get more racing in as I feel that the more we race, the better I get.

The last couple of days the wind came from the opposite side which brought swell, lots of chop and lots of things floating in the water which made the racing very exciting. Dodging seaweed and jumping was a regular thing during these days. In the choppy conditions I felt my equipment performing even better. I was only using my 8,6 and 7,8 SCR along with my Fanatic Falcon 113 and had no problems planing and keeping the power through the gybes. After couple of very good heats, a disqualification for an over early start and couple other unfortunate heats, I found myself at 29th place which is a bit from where I would like to be, but it also gives for some things to work on for the upcoming races. One thing is curtain, all the guys on Simmer have improved their speed, and I believe that we are looking at a successful season for this years team.

Aloha,
Kurosh Kiani D-13
Simmer Style, Fanatic