First race of the year

I raced in the Walleye Wagatta in Fond du Lac this weekend. I won all 7 of the course races but didn't fare as well in the two distance races. Don Altmeyer finished 2nd in 6/7 course races and won the first distance race and took 2nd in the other to really make it tight. I managed to win by one point. Click over to the Mowind web site for the race report.

I was very happy with the Starboard Phantom 377 and Severne Raceboard 9.5 combo. The 377 is a nicer board for me at 170 pounds than the outgoing Phantom 380 was, especially upwind. I love how the 377 rails up in even a light breeze and slices through the chop.

Click for Results

Video of last race (R10)

Here are the last two legs of Race 10 (last race) of the Walleye Wagatta. Winds were light so the last race was a one lap windward-leeward course for A Fleet, and the Sport Fleet had a shortened course that sent them to to upwind mark and then finishing downwind through the start line. Magnus Zaunmueller won the A Fleet on the big course at virtually the same time his younger brother, Niels, crossed the line coming downwind to finish 2nd in the Sport Fleet race (behind Victor Hora). Their Dad, Jim (MNH), is also seen at the pin end of the finish line in the video.

There are five Severne Raceboard sails seen in this video. I lent mine to Magnus since he is between rigs right now, and he put it to good use winning this race. He also won the first two races of the day, and finished 3rd in the other.

Adam Anderson won the overall event title with near perfect sailing on Saturday (1-1-1-1-2-1) and a strong showing on Sunday as well (2-3-2-4), so he kept 5 bullets and 3 seconds. Alex Monroe and Don Altmeyer finished in 2nd and 3rd place overall, respectively.

Walleye Results

The results are in!
A Fleet  |  Sport Fleet  |  Kona

Walleye day 2

Four races completed this morning to give is 10 total for the regatta.
Magnus Zaunmueller made it to the event today and was the top
dog...even without his own gear. He had no rig so I lent him my
Severne Raceboard 9.5 and he put it to good use with finishes of
1-1-3-1. Alex Monroe won the third race.

Time to do the scoring... More later.

Walleye Wagatta - Saturday Wrap Up

We had a great start to the MOWIND season. The weather was better than forecast, with 15 mph winds for the first two races, and sunnier weather with 5-10 mph winds for the next two. The last two races were light winds but at least the sun was out. Congratulations to  everyone on the great racing. Thanks to Kevin Gratton and the team at Windpower Windsurfing and also to Esther Monroe for helping on the committee boat.

Here are a bunch of pictures and video I got today from my iphone on the boat.

Picasa Photo Album (click to open)

Walleye 2012, Saturday

See you on the water tomorrow!
- Arden

Alex Monroe wins R5

Alex got off to a great start in R5 and held off a late charge by Adam
for the bullet.

R4 Finish

We're back from lunch and 3 more races planned for the afternoon. Adam Anderson made a late move again to keep his streak of bullets. This time he overtook Don Altmyer near the leeward mark and was able to hold him off to the finish.

Here's a sequence of videos from the race.

R3 finishes

Adam Anderson got another bullet, with Andy Gratton again in hot
pursuit. Don Altmeyer got 3rd in A Fleet. Mark Schmitz won Sport Fleet
and Larry Reed won Kona.

Lunch break for about an hour...

RC update

Arden Anderson and Esther Monroe on the 36-ft WindPower tri-toon committee boat.

R3 update

EL111 is leading through he jibes followed by USA81, USA06, USA87, USA8,
and US292.

R2 wrap up, R3 start

Adam Anderson squeaked out another win after Andy Gratton almost went
through the (closed) start line on the downwind leg. Adam snuck past,
Andy held on to 2nd with Mike Reed close behind. Larry Reed and Del
Carpenter again finished 1-2 in Kona, and Mark Schmitz won Sport.

These pictures are from the start of R3. The A Fleet leaders are
making their way through the jibes on the first lap now.

R2 pictures

Walleye Wagatta is underway

First race is done and R2 is in sequence. Adam Anderson won the A
Fleet followed by Don Altmyer and Andy Gratton. Larry Reed finished
first in Kona. Mark Schmitz finished first in Sport Fleet.