R1 and R2 results

Course is upwind, downwind, upwind, reach across to a finish line at the top of the course.

R1: Nevin Sayre, Jochim (sp?), Jochim's daughter (katjas?), Andrea Gauthier (maybe swapped with steve), Steve Gottleib, Woody, me in 7th.

R2: Nevin, Jochim, me, katjas, ?

R1 I had a decent start at the pin on port. Running upwind decent in the light, shifty wind and when I a couple tacks up I tried crossing someone while on port and they tagged the last foot of my board, so I ended doing penalty turns. Probably around 10th at the windward mark and made up a couple on the run down. Held my own coming back up and reeled in a couple more places. Woody had been a ways back from me at leeward mark but sailed a fantastic second upwind to beat me to the top. I followed him to the finish.

Race 2 the wind filled in to a nice 10-15. I got a nice start at the boat with Nevin and was able to get out on him. I played shifts up the middle and got to the top in first. Jochim got around in second after banging hard left (he went off the start on his fin/no centerboard when he went left). There appeared to be a puff on the outside of the course when I rounded, and Jochim and I planned over there on a fairly high course hoping to catch it. No dice. Nevin and Kasja sailed dead downwind and made ground on us with Nevin getting to the bottom first. Jochim caught a nice swell near the bottom mark and got past me with board speed. We held that order back to the top and across the reach.

We came in for lunch and formula fleet is out racing in the breeze.

Midwinters quick R1 R2 update

Nevin Sayre is top dog with two bullets. Race 1 was pretty light, maybe 6-8 mph. Race 2 was puffy 10-15. I have 7th and then 3rd. Brand owner Jochim (sp) has two 2nd's. I am feeling faster in the breeze. Led to upwind and 1/2 downwind of R2 before Nevin passed me. More later.

Midwinters Tomorrow

It's been a while since I've been to Calema in Cocoa Beach, FL. I think my last trip was around 1999 or 2000, so really looking forward to some sunny Florida weather for the upcoming race. I'll be in the Kona fleet, so that will be a first for me.

Racing is Friday - Sunday. I'll be in the middle weight (8.2 sail size) division.

The forecast looks great:

Friday: Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 84. South southwest wind between 5 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. South wind around 10 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Windy, with a south southwest wind between 10 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. South southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69. Windy, with a west northwest wind between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.

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

Phantom Raceboard in a Moderate Breeze

Plus: We got some wind over the Holiday weekend.
Minus: Had a family get together to attend.
Double Plus: Family event was at a lake house!

I sailed the Phantom Raceboard and Severne 9.5 in about 10-20 mph winds this afternoon. The board and sail handled the higher winds quite well. The Phantom initiates the jibes better than expected and the wide tail makes it easy to exit with speed. I added more batten tension to the sail the last few times out and that has helped add stability in the breeze. Need to raise my boom a bit next time out.

Got a few good photographs in while my wife was on the pier with the camera.

Enjoy,
Arden, EL-11

Phantom Raceboard in Moderate Breeze

Lechner A390

Well, it's the end of an era for me. Now that I have the Starboard Phantom and plan to compete mostly in the Raceboard Class, I sold my Lechner A390. I sailed this fantastic Div2 hull throughout 2006-2010, winning the MOWIND Series Championship five times in a row as well as the 2008 US Windsurfing Open Class National Championship.

I took a bunch of pictures of the A390 tonight, and posted them on Picasa along with some action shots through the years.

Lechner A390 Photo Album

Lechner A390

Severne ReflexII 11.0 on Lake Winnebago

I got my first ride on the new Severne ReflexII 11.0 on July 9 at Lake Winnebago. It has lots of pull on the low end and has a nice slippery feel at speed. Offshore south wind so very flat and not many big gusts to really try it out. It was also a nice day to get some more time on my double chicken strap installation.

Check out the pictures and the gps overlay. Lake Winnebago is quite large (about 30 miles long) except when you consider that Lake Michigan is about 40 miles to the east. It is very nice to have so many bodies of water to sail on around here.

Severne ReflexII 11.0 on Lake Winnebago

GPS Overview of Lake Winnebago