PWA World Cup – Torbole 2023

Slalom returns to Italy for first time in 11 years as world’s best racers prepare to battle it out in beautiful Lake Garda.

Located in northern Italy, Lake Garda is world renowned for its staggering beauty, however, it’s not just its natural beauty that makes Garda famous as it also reliably produces thermal winds (The Pelér and Ora) thanks to its unique geography and towering mountains, which have made it a haven for wind enthusiasts from around the world. The Ora, or south wind, is the most well known wind on Garda and it usually blows around 15 knots plus from noon to 1pm onwards until sunset on a typical sunny day in spring and summer.

The inaugural day of the 2023 Torbole PWA World Cup saw a quiet start to proceedings with a thick layer of cloud engulfing Lake Garda and preventing the usually reliable local thermal effect from kicking in

Alexandre Cousin strikes first blood in the men’s, whilst Femke van der Veen sets the pace in the women’s after a tricky day of racing.

Top seeds survive unscathed before the wind shuts down

A light Ora threatens to provide racing on the penultimate day before ultimately running out of steam

Want to travel to New Zealand? Check out Water Nomads for Watersports Rental and Surfari Trips!