2010 has been a great year for the Midwest Speed Quest on Lake Okabena, Worthington Minnesota. This Windsurfing GPS Speed Sailing Event runs through October 15th. The Racing Schedule is open during this time, and the racer may choose the day he wishes to Speed Sail. There are no fees, and the racer may enter as many times as they wish. This has been a popular format.

Thank to the generosity of our Sponsors, we have been able to provide demo gear to all visiting Racers. This includes KA Sails (WIndsurf Deal, California), two Carbon Art Boards (Carbon Art International, New Zealand), Vector Fins (Vector Fins Maui, Hawaii), and Gath Helmets (Murrays Sports, California).

We are proud to offer the finest Windsurfing Gear from around the World to our visiting guests.

The winds for Aug 27-30 were well over 30 mph each day. Our flags were torn to shreds over the weekend!

Windy Weekend!

On May 1, the lead was taken early by David Knight  of Fridley Minnesots. He used the KA Koncept  6.6 Sail and Carbon Art Slalom Board and Vector 28 EX fin. He recorded a personal record with a Ten Second Run of 32.8 knots, and a Max 2 Second Speed of 33.52 knots.

David Knight

On the same day, Ed Melchson of Papillion Nebraska sailed into Second Place, entering a personal best of 30.8 knots sailing the KA Koncept 5.8 Sail.

Ed Melechson

David won a Gath Helmet. Ed won a Gath Helmet and $100 CASH!

Prize Winners!

On August 29, Andrew Anderson of Oakland California took the lead, with new personal best 10 Second Speed of 35.4 knots, with a Max Speed of 37.64 knots. Andrew was sailing the Niel Pryde RS Sail, the Carbon Art SL75 Slalom Board, and Vector Rockit Fin.

Andrew Anderson Oakland California

Andrew Anderson

Arden Anderson of Fon du Lac Wisconsin is in 3rd place with a speed of 32.73 knots, and a Max Speed of 33.64. Arden used a Vector EX Fin.

Arden Anderson Fon du Lac WI

Adam Anderson is now in 4th Place with new personal best 10 Second Speed of 31.2 knots, and a Max Speed of 33.12 Knots.

Adam Anderson, Eagen Minnesota

5th Place is now held by Ed Melechson.

Sixth Place is held by 15 year old Magnus Zaunmueller of Beaver Dam Wisconsin.  He was sailing the KA Koncept 4.4 Sail, the Carbon Art SP53 Speed Board, and Vector EX 32 Fin. This was his first attempt at Speed Sailing, and using the Koncept Sail. The conditions were challenging with the gusty winds and heavy chop. He also set a new personal best 10 Second Speed was 27.12 knots; and a Max Speed was 29.33 knots! Magnus won $100 CASH and a Gath Helmet!

Magnus Zaunmueller Beaver Dam WI

Magnus Zaunmueller

Magnus Zaunmueller

Ken Gacke of Brandon SD hold 7th with a personal best of 26.88, and a Max Speed of 27.85.

Ken Gacke Brandon South Dakota

Jeff Hegwer of Mason City Iowa has 8th place, Jason Swanson is in 9th.

Jeff Hegwer Mason City Iowa

Jason Swanson Bigelow MN

New personal best speeds were ralso ecorded by Wayne Anderson, Piotr Waszczuk, Jim Magnuson, Arnie Cleveland, and Niels Zaunmueller. Congratulations!!!

Wayne Anderson Elkhart Lake WI

Piotr Wasczcuk Minneapolis MN

Jim Magnuson Beaver Dam WI

Arnie Cleveland Prescott Wisconsin

Niels Zaunmueller Beaver Dam WI

Niels Zaunmueller and Dakine Harness Prize

See our Web Site for complete information, the latest Race Results, and lots of new photos.

http://www.midwestspeedquest.com

Also check out the MOWIND Picasa photo album

Thank you MOWIND Members for supporting the Midwest Speed Quest year after year!

See our Web Site for complete information and up to date Race Results.

Best Regards,

Craig Bergh

Timekeeper and Organizer

Midwest Speed Quest

133 Lake Avenue

Worthington, MInnesota 56187

USA

Web:  http://www.midwestspeedquest.com

The  notice of race flyer for the Sept 25-26 Fall Wind Power Championships windsurf regatta in Fond du Lac is now available in  PDF format.    Hope to see you there.   This is the 1st race in the 2011 MOWIND point series of races.    Results of the 2010 MOWIND points series will be presented during the Saturday evening dinner at the Sunset Club in Fond du Lac.      On Friday Sept 24 the free Winnebago Supercrossing long distance race takes place so check the flyer out for details on that.   

Also coming up Sept 11-12 is the Higgins Lake Regatta in Roscommon MI.   That event is held at Higgins Lake South State park campground.   General public and non-racers are welcome,  show up and reserve a campspot by the beach for the day, rig and sail.   Join the group for a fun dinner excursion on Sat evening.   Race headquarters  will be located  towards the west end of the campground around lot 350.     As usual the GLWT (Great Lakes Windsurfing Tour) people plan to be there with demo gear and deals on demo equipment.   So if you are a non-windsurfer ..  this is a great opportunity to find out more about windsurfing and make some new friends.

Sept 18 is the date for the 5th race  in the Canadian Ontario Sailing Race Series.   This one day race is held at the Toronto Windsurfing Club facilites.    The following day on Sept 19 the  17km TWC Mammoth Marathon long distance race around the Toronto islands is scheduled.   Several Mowinders  from the Ohio and Michigan have attended these races in recent years.    Toronto is about a 245 mile drive from the Detroit,  295 from Cleveland.

The rest of the Anderson clan (brothers Arden and Adam and father Wayne) showed up for Saturday sailing along with the Magnunson’s (father Jim and boys Magnus and Niels, with the rest of the family in tow), Jeff Hegwer, Arnie Cleveland, and several others.

Winds were a bit shiftier than Friday making it tricky to get top notch runs, but several people still posted personal bests in various categories. Arden Anderson posted a personal best alpha time of 20.97 knots on his iSonic 121 to move into 2nd in that category behind Andrew. I am pretty sure all of the Magnuson’s set personal bests as well.

Sunday turned out to be the best day so far. Winds were stronger than Friday and more consistent as well. Andrew was on a mission early after being so close to taking the lead Friday. He decided to rig big, and boy did that work. Big hoss logged a 34 knot run early in the day on his 7.8 Pryde RS-R with a 75 cm wide Carbon Arts board, and the hits kept coming. He ended the day with a ***35.4*** knot run, by far the best ever recorded on Okabena. He is now firmly is the lead, but the event does continue through October 15. Arden ended the day the way Andrew felt Friday: with a 32.73 he was just behind David Knight now for second place. Adam Anderson moved into 4th place with a 31.0 knot run. Adam also moved into 4th place in the alpha race category. Magnus was very impressive in the youth category with a top run of  27.12 knots, good for 6th overall. He was looking very good on the 53cm Carbon Arts speed board that Craig Bergh has on hand to demo.

EVENT RESULTS (Preliminary until season ends Oct.15)

All for now. I’m sure Craig will make a summary of the weekend at some point and also provide some great photos. Thanks again to Craig Bergh and his family for being gracious hosts, and also to the event sponsors!

Arden Anderson, EL-11

RACE RESULTS

A Fleet            Sport Fleet

FULL PAGE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

CMWA full page spread - Dryden Observer (Click for larger image)

Finally, Woody has a writeup at his blog: http://windsurfwoody.ca/2010-canadian-masters/2010-cmwa-canadian-windsurfing-championships/

Looks like the regatta was a blast! I wish I could have made it up there. Next year, next year.

- Arden, EL-11

Arnie Cleveland presented the course and then had us off to start at 11:00 am on the button. Wind conditions were about 5 mph out of the north and temperature was in the mid 80′s.

The course was basically a race up to the Kinnickinnic and back, but there were two mark rounding that we needed to complete early in the race ; one on the Minnesota side of the river and one on the Wisconsin side of the river. Adam Anderson jumped out to an early lead and led to the first mark on the Minnesota side, followed closely by the rest of the fleet. The sailors spread out some as they worked there way upwind back and forth across the river. Sailing in the lead, Adam Anderson needed to spot the Wisconsin mark and had a hard time finding it on such a big body of water. Meanwhile Arden Anderson made a tactical decision to tack up the Wisconsin shore in order to spot the mark, and was able to quickly find it and make a clean rounding to continue upwind while Adam and Peter had each overstood the mark. Arden hailed the other sailors to tell them where the mark was and Peter quickly changed course to get back to the mark, but Adam was far enough ahead that he didn’t hear the hail. Adam sailed on for another 10 or more minutes before turning back to go find the correct mark. More on that later…(Update after reviewing gps tracks: Adam took a 35 minute detour – 15 minutes to get back down to the mark once he realized his mistake, and another 20 minutes to get upwind to where he had been).

Peter was still  able to round right with Wayne Anderson, with Tom Stokes in hot pursuit, and the race was on the rest of the way to the Kinney. The next several miles saw Arden and Peter dueling it out on the imco’s with the distance between them varying as they played the shifts. Eventually Peter was able to get into striking distance and make a pass as the river necked down and winds got lighter and shiftier. He worked through the narrow and over to the Minnesota side and opened up a 300-400 yard lead as Arden made slower progress up the Wisconsin side.

Peter maintained his lead up to the turnaround point. Here are the rounding times (remember we started at 11:00 am so a 1:00 pm rounding took 2 hours of elapsed time):

1. Peter Hartwhich PJ1 – 1:09 pm
2. Arden Anderson EL11 – 1:13 pm
3. Adam Anderson EL111 – 1:17 pm
4. Wayne Anderson EL – 1:21 pm
5. Tom Stokes USA099 – 1:32 pm

The times show Adam Anderson working his way back towards the leaders after his detour early in the race. He showed a lot of determination sticking with the race after the big setback early. Realizing it was a long race though he stuck with it to grind his way back into site of the leaders.

On the way downwind Arden was able to close the gap on Peter and Adam continued to whittle away at the leaders After working through the narrow part of the river Peter, Arden, and Adam were virtually tied. As they reached the wider part of the river and could see the finish a few miles ahead, Arden and Adam pulled away from Peter as they stayed towards the Wisconsin side of the river. The rest of the way to the finish Adam was able to finally put some distance on Arden and complete his comeback, winning the 3 1/2 challenge.

Final Finish Times (start at 11:00 am)

1. Adam Anderson EL111 – 2:28:28 pm
2. Arden Anderson EL11 – 2:29:56 pm
3. Peter Hartwhich PJ1 – 2:33:33 pm
4. Wayne Anderson EL – 2:50:44 pm
5. Tom Stokes USA099 – 3:40:44 pm

An interesting note is that this race featured all three of the official Olympic Windsurfing boards. Adam Anderson sailed on the Div2 Lechner board featured in ’88 and ’92, Arden and Peter each sailed the IMCO board and sail that were used in the ’96, ’00, and ’04 games, and Tom Stokes sailed the Neil Pryde RSX that was used in the ’08 games. Wayne Anderson was the only sailor on a non-Olympic board, but he was on the unofficial MOWIND one design board, the Equipe II.

Tom Stokes won the Sport Fleet and is congratulated for completing the distance race on his first attempt. He also won the “Long Distance Traveler” award for driving about 500 miles from Indiana. He said that he will be driving back to Indiana Sunday and will return to Minnesota again next weekend for the Waconia Wind and Wave event. Hats off to Tom for his dedication.

The racing was followed by All-You-Can-Eat PRIME RIB at The Point in Hastings, MN. A great way to recharge after a long race. Many thanks the The Point for their hospitality and especially to Arnie Cleveland for all of his Race Committee efforts.

We will post pictures when we get back to a computer. 

As promised, pictures have been loaded to a Picasa Album.

- Arden & Adam via smart phone at The Point

Good Omen in the Ferry Line

The 2010 new Bay Week (Fri - Sat – Sun weekend ) regatta had great winds each day,  unfortunately the wind came late afternoon on Friday and Saturday after racing had been postponed for the day.    However being full of energy us windsurfers got in several hours of  great fun sailing until dark both those days.   Just in case you are wondering … let me say the wind wasn’t little puffs either …   it was great powered up full on shore 7.5 conditions that blew hard even after sunset.        There were 150 entries total in the regatta  eight of them being windsurfers.   That’s a heck of a big fleet and the Put-In-Bay harbor was jammed with sailboats boats stacked five deep at the docks.  In the centerboard fleet that us windsurfers were part of, the big class was a group of 25 Hobie 13′s.    Those Hobies 13 really know how to flip!    

On day one and two USA-136  Eric Rahnenfueher  set up  practice marks so we could perfect our mark roundings during our fun sessions.  Novice lady windsurfer Denise Roznovsky got in some good wave sailing practice on an RS:X.    Early Saturday afternoon a gang of five of us SUP paddled our windsurfers over to the west point of Middle Bass where JJ graciously gave us some refreshments for our efforts.   However while drinking those refreshments a breeze started kicking up so we had to get back and as it did late afternoon the day before the wind magically returned.          When we woke up on Sunday morning  the wind was still blowing strong and it seemed to be building a bit.    

On day three we established what I believe is likely a new MOWIND record for windsurfers.   Because the centerboard fleet had not raced on day one or two the RC wanted an extra earlier start time to make sure we got at least three races in on Sunday morning.      The windsurfer class was start three in a fleet that had four starts and the course that day was a  triangle with an extra sausage leg around the windward and leeward marks.      The RC the evening before moved the first warning gun up to 7:55 am  meaning we might need to leave shore at 7:30 am if winds were light.       Fortunately for  us windsurfers that were staying at Middle Bass Island state campground it was an quick easy ten minute reach to the start line.    The reason it was so easy was the winds were building quickly and three guys even returned to shore to get their 7.5′s on.       As far as the MOWIND record …   I believe an 8:10 am start with three races completed by 10:15 am  for windsurfers has to be some kind of record.      

Below USA 064 Rod Clevenger accepts his 1st place flag and cup from the I-LYA Commodore.    Rod also won the daily award (first finisher in the first race) a nice I-LYA logo fleece vest and hat.  In the background in the straw hat,  JDX  Jim Donahue pours a beer at the beer wagon.

Rod Clevenger - 1st in Windsurfer Class

Fleets results for windsurfer class.
1.  USA 64  – Hybrid -  Rod Clevenger
2.  USA 136  – Unlimited – Eric Rahnenfueher
3.  H – Hybrid – Scott Haas
4.   JDX – Hybrid – Jim Donahue
5.   W -  Hybrid – Gary Smith
6.  12 – Hybrid – Philip Dufresne
7.   D  -   Women Sport – Denise Roznovsky
8.   S1 – Hybrid – Scott Foley

Hopefully more windsurfers will come out to Middle Bass Island in August 2011 for the next I-LYA Bay Week event and enjoy a few days windsurfing.    Yes there is a race but you can also elect to just race a couple races if that’s all you want.    2010 was an epic year  as we had several  days in a row of beautiful 85 degree temperatures, wind and no rain!     The islands offer something for everyone and for photographers there are lots of beautiful views of boats sailing by .. click image for larger view!   

Two sail boats pass by windsurfer launch beach at Middle Bass State Park Campground.

RESULTS

2010 A Fleet Scores

2010 Sport Fleet Scores

A Fleet Winners (L-R) Mike Reed-3rd, Andy Gratton-2nd, Arden Anderson-1st, with Race Director Steve Vande Corput

8.5 Limited Division Winners (L-R) Alex Monroe-1st and Magnus Zaunmueller-2nd, (not pictured) Roman Kaplan-3rd

Sport Fleet Winners (L-R) Race Director Steve Vande Corput with Gatis Makstenieks-2nd, Niels Zaunmueller-1st, and Jim Magnuson-3rd

Race Committee Jan and Steve Vande Corput

Arden tacking to the finish line. Video from Steve Vande Corput. Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGtuqVEGhr8

Welcome Windsurfers

Windsurf Point at New London Reservoir

The long part of the reservoir runs east west and the traditional west winds that showed  made it possible to set up a large  square course with an M mark in the middle.    The start line was positioned right in front of the beach area at Windsurfer Point where over a dozen windsurfers camped out by the water for the weekend.   Several others camped out in the adjacent campground area while some just did a daily commute from home.   Click small photo for larger view of Windsurf Point.

Results :  Overall_Fleet        By  Division

Windsurf Point

A big thanks must go out to the New London Village and campground  workers and volunteers who worked hard to get the park looking great.    They also stepped up big time  by contributing great T-shirts and large engraved trophies for racing awards. 

New London T-Shirts

The camping atmosphere made for a fun weekend with the group setting around a campfire late into the evening sharing windsurf stories.

Sunset over the west side of Windsurf Point

Saturday from 2 to 8 the Rez Jam was going on with Bluegrass bands playing on a flatbed stage.   So we had music while we raced plus some added spectators.

Rez Jam Bluegrass Bands

Thanks to MOWIND president Phil Sage for organizing the event.  His son Matt was working hard as well as course setter Eric Rahnenfueher.      Plan to make it out next year to race or just day sail and help grow the Reservoir Rendezvous Regatta (RRR).  

Phil gives outs award trophies.

 Scott – #H

Scores are posted on THIS PAGE, and will be updated as new scores become available.

Remember that the Series Score is calculated by totaling your highest FIVE scores from the season. Making sure you get at least five scores registered for the season can greatly improve your ranking at year’s end. The next event on the schedule is a fun one that everyone should make a point to attend at least once: the Door County Breeze Regatta, hosted by Steve and Jan Vande Corput in Ephraim, WI over the 4th of July Weekend. I’ll see you there!

- Arden Anderson, EL-11 reporting

LEADERBOARD – June 20

A Fleet Unlimited

1st – Don Altmyer, 552 points, 4 races

2nd – Arden Anderson, 506 points, 3 races

3rd – Adam Anderson, 420 points, 3 races

A Fleet Limited 8.5

1st – Magnus Zaunmueller, 381 points, 5 races

2nd – Alex Monroe, 375 points, 3 races

3rd – Tim Cleary, 245 points, 2 races

Sport Fleet

1st – Jim Magnuson, 238 points, 5 races

2nd – Larry Reed, 236 points, 3 races

3rd – Gary Lovrine, 183 points, 2 races