Reporting that there is MoFun in MoWind!

The 2008 Moose Regatta resulted in a great weekend in Dryden.  “Smokin winds Saturday gusting over 30, and 20+ mph winds on Sunday.”

 Here are the Results:

Moose Regatta 2008 scores

The Gross Pointe Windsurfing Club regatta took place Saturday June 21st at Patterson Park in Grosse Pointe Park Michigan.   Patterson Park is just off Jefferson Ave about 8 miles north of downtown Detroit.    It’s a beautiful park to sail from with access to Lake St Clair.       I counted about 21 sails out on the course and everyone was battling hard in the 5 to 10 mph breezes.  The fleet got 4 races in before breaking for lunch.   About the time we all finished our pizza thunderstorms blew in and they didn’t want to quit.    Hail, high winds, rain, lightning and more hail came down for near an hour, it was a bit scary.   By the time it was over we were cold, wet and it was nearing 3:30 and more storms were coming so that was it for the 2008 edition of the GPWC regatta.

Of note were two new long boards on the course, a Starboard Phatton 380 and an Exocet Warp 380.   These are boards that might just kick off the start of a real longboard revival.   

At the US Windsurfing nationals in Worthington, MN we were fortunate to get five straight days of racing. The formula fleet had 17 races, and the Mowind A-Fleet had 18 races. Final Results are below. If you have any changes to the scores you can as usual tell Jack about them yesterday (did I say final?)

2008 Worthington US Nationals Formula Fleet Final Scores

2008 Worthington US Nationals Mowind Fleet Final Scores

Be sure to visit Dan Norman’s web page for some professional photographs of the event.

http://www.danorm.com/wow/

This year at the US Windsurfing Nationals, the competitors divided into two main fleets, Formula and Mowind. Each fleet raced with a separate start and course. the Mowind Fleets were A-Fleet, Sport Fleet, and Workshop Fleet. There were 64 registered competitors:

19 Formula, 30 A-Fleet, 12 Sport Fleet, and 3 Workshop Fleet

On the first day we were treated to lots of wind and challenging conditions. Heavy rain and thunderstorms flooded the streets in the morning and the races got off to a late start. The weather cleared enough to get in almost five races. Winds were 20 gusting to 30. We raced the Q course:

Race 5 in the afternoon was canceled as a severe thunderstorm moved in an the tornado warning sirens were blowing.

Day two provided much more moderate conditions with clear skies and wind at 8-10. We completed four races on the gate course G.

Day 3 marked the return of challenging conditions as the wind ranged from 15 to 25 knots. Again the G course was run, this time being the long way up and down the lake. Participation dropped off slightly as did the number of people failing to finish within the allotted time limit. Some competitors took some time to record GPS tracks as part of the Midwest Speed Quest’s “Speed Week.”

Day 4 was a light wind day with wind at 7-10 and five races on the box course B.

The formula fleet was able to complete three of the races.

Day 5 had Moderate winds of 12-15 that fell off throughout the day. We were able to complete two races before heading in to pack up for the trip home and attend the awards presentation. In addition to recognizing those whose help would not have made the event possible, this event was also the birthplace of two new awards.

The Marriott family presented the “Fastest State in the Nation” award. Calculated through a combination of participation and top-3 finishes, Wisconsin won the fastest state award this year.

Josh Sampiero from Windsurfing Magazine presented the inaugural “Arnie Cleveland Most Stoked Windsurfer award” to Arnie Cleveland.

The Midwest Speed Quest “Speed Week” award went to Guy Miller of Texas for his 31 point something knots GPS speed.

The race trophies at this event were handcrafted masterpieces that words really fail to describe, and in this case a picture is worth 1000 words.

Trophies were awarded to the following places:

Workshop

1st Magnus Zaunmueller, 2nd Quentin Dudley

Sport Fleet

1st Woodette, 2nd Randy Moon, 3rd Glenn Kremer

Formula Experience

1st Todd Selby

Formula Men

1st Fernando Martinez, 2nd Peter Bonello, 3rd Stefan Lidington, 4th Peter Ifju

Formula Women

1st Allison Shreeve, 2nd Karen Marriott

Formula Grand Masters (over 50)

1st Ron Kern, 2nd Eric Rahnenfuhrer

Mowind A-Fleet Open

1st Arden Anderson, 2nd Andy Gratton, 3rd Jeff Adamski, 4th Woody, 5th Ian House

Mowind Limited 8.5

1st Peter Hartwich, 2nd Jack Wiley, 3rd Philip Sage

Mowind Hybrid

1st Beth Williamson, 2nd Richard White, 3rd Lisa Kremer

Mowind Women

1st Joanne Marriott, 2nd Chris Marriott

From the May 31 - June 1 TABA regatta.  Here are some clips and images I put together into a video and posted up on You Tube.    In the first racing clip you’ll see Stephanie Todd / CAN7 performing her Stop Jibe at the leeward mark. 

The racing action was great in 2008 with six races all in premium onshore winds meaning there were no lulls to speak of.   A basic two mark course with a windward and leeward mark was used.  

For the first two races on Saturday we did two grueling laps in heavy winds.  I was totally spent having used my Retro 7.5.  Saturday after lunch racing was canceled as winds were well over 20mph and the committee boats were unsafe to anchor as waves broke over the bow.    On Sunday the course was shorter and we did four one lap races in winds where I was powered up to the max on the Prodigy Comp 8.5 One Design sail.  

We had a nice turnout of 11 Mistral Prodigy in the Hybrid fleet.   Two of our RC crew that manned the boats were Prodigy racers so we could of got a couple more out there if we had more local volunteers.  

Scott / #H

I made up some Mowind ID cards with lanyards to both simplify registration and increase the visibility of our organization. As people get entered into the Mowind database they can get a card printed out. Lanyards are available for $5. If you would like a card you can either email me a picture of yourself with your information, or you can sign up at the US Nationals in Worthington.

Jack Wiley / F1