The Meltemi returned today but failed to blow with full force playing havoc with the competitors and crew. Race director, Juan Antonio Aragon and his team made every effort to get a fifth and final elimination completed, and very nearly managed the first round, but there were just too many lulls over the course causing it to grind to a halt early in the evening. This left the results unchanged, and many sailors frustrated after waiting patiently on standby for much of the day.

With the results the same as day two, former world champion Micah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde) can now breathe a sigh of relief after four nerve racking days in the lead. He's claimed his first event victory of the season here in Alacati ahead of his team mate, and 2009 world champion, Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde), and 2009 vice world champion, Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra).

In the women's fleet, 2009 world champion, Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou, Loft, Mystic) also endured a frustrating four days at the top of the table, but finally took her first event crown of 2010 this evening ahead of former world champion, Karin Jaggi (Patrik, Severne), and transatlantic hopeful, Sarah Hebert (Naish, Naish).

Champion Sound

Micah Buzianis:

"It feels amazing to be first here in Alacati because it's been a while since I last won an event on the world tour. To win this one feels extremely special because I enjoyed the conditions, with the flat water and the lighter winds, which I think favoured me much more than I expected. I didn't use a huge amount of kit here during the first two days that we actually raced, just my 9.5 and 8.6, along with my 132L board. The last four days have been pretty nerve racking being on standby. The couple of days in the middle I felt lees so because I was fairly confident that we weren't going to race, but the last two were hell - it's always quite terrifying holding on to first place at such a huge event with so many good sailors in the fleet."

Valerie Arrighetti:

"I had a fairly low start to the world tour this year because I didn't compete in Korea, and when I went to Costa Brava I didn't think I'd carry on racing because I had some important personal issues. However, I found that I was still competitive, even without any training, and could still take on the top females such as Karin. This helped with my motivation and so I entered Alacati, where my goal was to win like every year. And, that's what I did, so I'm really happy."

Results

Men

1^stMicah Buzianis (JP, NeilPryde)

2^ndAntoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)

3^rdFinian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra)

4^thCyril Moussilmani (Starboard, North)

5^thJulien Quentel (RRD, NeilPryde)

6^thBora Kozanoglu (JP, NeilPryde)