Winter Kiting

After watching kiters for quite a while, I am finally giving it a try. My brother in law, Zinger, has really wanted to try kiting so we decided to take a lesson this week. Kevin Gratton at Windpower Windsurfing & Kiting Center did a great job with us today, and Zinger really took to it. I only worked on kite handling but next time I will get on a board as well. Here are some videos and pictures of our first time out. I'm really impressed by how quick Zinger picked up the sport. We're both excited for the next session!

Zinger on a 12M Naish Ride. This kite worked great for us today!

Google+ Photo Album:

Winter Kiting 27Dec2013

YouTube Playlist:

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

Windpower Championships were this weekend. I did an overall write up over at the MOWIND site. I finished 2nd again this year, with Mark Boersma taking another 1st. Congrats to him on another win - he's very fast and showed tremendous board control in R2 when the wind rapidly increased. That is when he separated from me in the scores and I wasn't able to make it back in the subsequent races. I still sailed a pretty solid regatta and thought it was a good start to the 2013 MOWIND Race Series.

RESULTS:  A Fleet  |  Kona  |  Sport

LINK to photo album from the Fond du Lac Reporter

Pumpkin Race

On Saturday the Windpower Championships RC told us about an "unknown"
race that we should expect at some point. Sunday morning they filled
us in on the details - a series of tricks on each leg, while wearing
costumes, and picking up a pumpkin along the way. Here's the diagram
they drew...

Super Crossing 2012

The Super Crossing went well as we sailed about 9 miles each way from Windpower to TJ's Harbor. It took about 40 minutes going there in about a 15 mph breeze, and about 60 minutes coming back in about a 10 mph wind. I sailed the Phantom with the Severne 9.5.

Supercross Midpoint

We sailed from Windpower to TJ's on the west shore for the supercross.

The severne guys (me, Kevin, and Don) all got across quick and are

having a beer at the bar.

Magnus, Thuder Bay Ray, and Mike Reed are coming in now too.

WP Champs Pictures

I finally got some pictures from the 2011 Windpower Championships on Picasa. Will get a regatta report and some other end-of-year items posted shortly.

2011 Windpower Championship

Results!

A Fleet  |  Sport Fleet  |  Kona Fleet  |  O'Pen Bic

2011 Race Year has Started

The 2011 MOWIND Race Series has started. I was the Race Committee for the Walleye Wagatta in Fond du Lac this weekend. Check out the regatta report on the MOWIND web site.

This coming weekend I am headed to Des Moines, IA (Saylorville Lake) for the annual Dam Jam regatta. This will be the first regatta I will race in this year so I am looking forward to it. I am borrowing an old Fanatic Mega Cat from Kevin at Windpower Windsurfing right now, and had a chance to sail it for the first time this afternoon. It went pretty well but it was a good idea to sail it before the race. It could use some touch-up on the nonskid near the middle of the board so that I don't slip around as much. It was also good to get used to way the mast track and centerboard work. It will be fun to sail a raceboard this weekend especially since Adam will also be on one too. He picked up a Superlight2 a few weeks ago and used it for the first time at Walleye last weekend.

Here are some pictures of the Mega Cat and Adam's Superlight2.

Superlight2 on top of the Mega Cat. Notice the thicker nose of the Cat and thicker tail on the Superlight2

I fixed up the Cat on the right. The one on the left needs some repairs to the deck so went back in the Windpower shed for now.

Lots of longboards...

The Mega Cat has some vee ahead of the centerboard and more rocker than the Superlight2. This picture is from before we put in the new gasket on the Superlight2. Adam said the new gasket worked well this weekend. You can get new material for repairing a worn out gasket at Windpower.

The Mega Cat centerboard alongside Superlight2 centerboard (black) and original Superlight centerboard (white)

All for now.

- Arden