Niikura tops Marianas Cup

After taking third place in last year’s championship, Japan’s Shoichi Niikura relied on his own power to propel himself to victory in the 3rd Annual Marianas Cup on Saturday to kick off the start of the wind surfing season off the coast of Micro Beach.

While the trade winds failed to make an appearance along the waters off Micro Beach during the weekend, Niikura beat out Saipan’s Haramitsu Ohno and countryman Masataka Hattori for the men’s open title.

In the absence of strong winds, the racers needed to pump their sails to move ahead, making the traditional race of speed and skill into an endurance event.

Niikura finished the three-heat slalom competition tied with Ohno with 5.7 points apiece after the Saturday action, and Hattori was just a point off of the pace with an overall 6.7.

Niikura finished second in the first heat behind Ohno, but scored 0.7 points in the second heat to move ahead of Ohno who took third. In the final heat, Hattori was the first to cross the line, ahead of second place Ohno and third place Niikura. In the end, the judges broke the tie when they chose Niikura.

In the master’s division, Japan’s Takeshi Miyashita was able to beat local windsurfing legend Shigeru Tomita to take home the championship.

Miyashita finished the three-heat event with 10 points, while Tomita, the man who brought the sport of windsurfing to Saipan, finished in second with 15 points. Japan’s Ryuichi Yamaguchi improved from last year’s finish to take third place with 16 points.

Six experienced windsurfers from Japan entered the women’s open division, but it was professional windsurfer Sachiko Shibazaki who conquered the weather conditions and the competition to take first place.

After being edged out in last year’s contest, Shibazaki was determined to come away with the win, as she took first place in all three of her heats to finish with 2.1 points. Shibazaki was too much for the field of boarders, but Japan’s Haruna Furusawa (9) and Noriko Miyashita (15) finished in second and third place, respectively.

On Sunday morning, the organizers met for the customary 9am skipper’s meeting where the issue of the day was the lack of the seasonal trade winds. Officials decided to wait until the wind speed reached 12 knots, and pushed back the start of the races hour by hour until there was no time remaining to hold the second day’s heats.

Nobody seemed disappointed, as this meant that there was more time for all of the sport’s enthusiasts to assemble for the post-race festivities. While the wind wasn’t as cooperative as officials would have liked, according to windsurfer Ed Johnson of the Marianas Visitors Authority, due to the smooth water and the sand bottom, the location of the race is about as good as the racers could hope to get.

“Micro Beach is ideal for the beginners and the conditions are great for the professionals as well,” he said. In all, a total of 32 windsurfers competed in the nine races of the Marianas Cup. The event drew a crowd of locals and Japanese tourists alike. Many of the visitors came to Saipan to watch their friends and family compete in the first of three major events to promote windsurfing on Saipan.

The three finishers of each division received a championship plaque and gifts courtesy of sponsors Windsurfing Saipan and Hyatt Regency Saipan, while all of the participants received a Saipanda backpack from the MVA.