Movember

This year I am participating in Movember with several coworkers at Mercury Marine. During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men's faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo's, these men raise vital awareness and funds for men's health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

It's the last week of Movember and this thing needs to go. Hopefully it did some good for Men's Health.

You can view my Movember space at
http://mobro.co/ardenanderson

Click HERE to donate.

Halfway point

Yikes

I just got done jamming with U2

Near the end of the month

I got rid of the handlebars for the last week

Front Page

Windpower Championships got some coverage on the front page of the local newspaper.

The start of the yard cart

Here are the materials I'm starting with for the yard cart / windsurf
dolly. The aluminum frame is from the vertical blinds we're taking out
of the house. Bought the tires and bearings to attach the axle to the
frame, and a piece of 5/8" steel rod for the axle.

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.

Fall Winds

The fall winds are kicking in. 30+ mph gusts throughout the day. I got out for a quick sail after work on the 6.2 Reflex III with the 100L slalom board and 32 cm fin. Took a few broad reaches down to Deadwood Point and then sailed with the kiters for a bit. The wind and chop was crazy off the point - the only place I've sailed with more confused steep chop is SF Bay. I never got the hang of it there, and still haven't mastered it here, but I'll keep trying.

It was hard to fit in good gps speed runs with the chop, but I was glad I took out slalom gear. I need more time in the challenging conditions until I can get the technique and geared dialed in to be more comfortable.

I hope the wind continues to this weekend for the annual Windpower Championships, just a mile down the road. The forecast is currently for west winds about 10-15 mph. The early registration numbers are good, so we should have a strong fleet this weekend. Racing all Saturday and Sunday!

Link to GPS Results
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=107861&uid=2116

Sandy Beach to Deadwood

Good wind today, around 20-25 knots out of the SSW. Sailed a few runs in front of the house to get dialed in and then cruised down to Deadwood Point where a bunch of other people were sailing. Used the 6.2 Reflex III on the Copello with the 30cm Tectonics Goldwing.

Link to GPS results.
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=106374&uid=2116

Tuesday Night Sailing

I saw Kevin and Magnus at Windpower on my way home from work. Kevin was planning to sail in the scow races off the south end of the lake by the light house, so Magnus and I decided to sail down there and join them. Here is the gps track from the trip. Magnus met me en route off the Windpower launch.

There wasn't much wind when we first started, but then the afternoon east wind kicked in about halfway to the lighthouse so we had around 5 knots the rest of the time. It was nice getting back on the Phantom 380 and 9.5 RB after the Kona racing this weekend. Next event for me is the Windpower Championships September 22-23!

Kona North Americans 2012

I went to the Kona North American Championship in Waconia, MN this weekend. It was nice seeing many familiar faces from MOWIND as well as other parts of the country, Canada, and beyond. The Anderson family had a respectable showing - I finished 3rd overall (2nd in medium weight, green sail), Adam in 5th (2nd in heavy weight, red sail), and Dad in 15th (6th in heavy weight, red sail).

Racing on the Kona's is tight since the board speed doesn't vary much with the sailor skill, so the tactical decisions make more difference than in other classes. This made for interesting racing, especially in the last two races where we had the entire fleet of 50+ on the course.

Thanks to Mike Fox at Fleet8, Steve Gottlieb at Progressive Sports, the Event Sponsors, and all the other volunteers for making this happen!

RESULTS
Fleet Scores
Class Scores

Kona North Americans 2012

Lake Winnebago makes Yahoo's travel news

My home waters of Lake Winnebago were recently included in an article for Yahoo Travel. Check it out!

http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/america-s-best-lake-vacations.html

GPS Speed Action in Windsport

There was a nice article in the recent issue of Windsport Magazine about the Midwest Speed Quest. It's on page 30 and has a cool picture of my Severne Reflex II 7.8. I wish I could say it's me in the picture, but it is actually my older brother, Andrew. I got blown off the 7.8 by a good bit that day last October, but Andrew was able to keep all that power in control and blasted his way to the win at 34.31 knots (39.5 mph)!

First launch off Sandy Beach

I'm heading out for my first session off the new house on Sandy Beach.
7.5 Turbo and isonic 121.

Update:
Here are some pictures from the first time out. Click to view the photo album at Picasa.

First Launch at Sandy Beach

More Info: I got the gps tracks processed for this session. A few quick runs off the beach and back, an upwind to Windpower Windsurfing, and a downwind run back home.

session_date	Monday, July 16, 2012
Spot	Sandy Beach, United States
Board	Starboard iSonic 121, 2010
Sail	Severne Turbo 7.5, 2012
Fin	True Ames Teardrop 40
GPS type	Navi GT-31
Average speed	24.31 knots ( 25.66 25.53 24.36 24.19 21.81 )
Max. 2 sec. (software)	25.96 knots
100 m run	25.74 knots
250 m run	25.23 knots
500 m run	24.55 knots
Nautical mile	22.48 knots
1 hour	0 knots
Alpha racing	17.69 knots
Distance	12 km
Duration	00:22:00
Windspeed	12 - 20 knots
Wind direction	S ( 270)

Worthington Video

The Daily Globe interviewed Adam and I after the race in Worthington. They have some nice video clips worked in from the action on the water.

http://www.dglobe.com/event/article/id/57861/group/Regatta/

Worthington Wrap Up

Great sailing again on Sunday. Winds were 20-30 mph and I sailed basically the same thing as yesterday to win 3 out of 4 course slalom races today. iSonic 121 with 40 cm fin, but today I switched down to a 7.0 Reflex3 because the wind was higher and more filled in, and the reaching legs were longer so more emphasis on speed. Adam sailed his 7.8 on the Hornet again and was tight on me in races 1 and 2 and beat me out in race 3. He took 2nd place in the event.

Check out the summary on the MOWIND page, and also check out the regatta coverage at the Worthington Daily Globe. They even have a nice Photo Album and I inserted some pictures below.

I also put some GPS tracks at the bottom of this post.

Results:  A Fleet  |  Kona  |  Sport  |  Workshop

Worthington Daily Globe Images

Cruising on Sunday

Powering up to run at the start line

Starting on port tack

One of the performances for the Unvarnished Music Fesitval

Spectators for the Worthington Windsurfing Regatta & Unvarnished Music Festival

GPS Tracks: Saturday's GPS results and Sunday's GPS results.

Saturday - Races 1 & 2

Saturday - Races 3, 4, 5 (a bit more shifty on the inside jibes near shore)

Sunday - Races 6-9. I took one long run to the west end of the lake and back between  R8 and R9, and did 23.94 knots fora one nautical mile stretch.

Worthington Updates

I posted to the MOWIND site.

http://www.mowind.org/wp/?p=1765
http://www.mowind.org/wp/?p=1767

Great racing today with Adam, me, and Steve Johnson sailing the same
course slalom gear that we used at Dam Jam a few weeks ago, since the
wind was in the 15-30 mph range. Very gusty and shifty too.

I was on the Starboard iSonic 121 with a 40 cm fin and a 7.8 Severne
Reflex2. Adam was on a 145L F2 Hornet with a 42 cm fin and a 7.8 Pryde
RS-R. Steve Johnson was in his Starboard formula 155 and a Loft sail.

We did pretty well against the longboards, usually trailing to he
first upwind mark, catching up through he reaches and jibes, and then
holding our own on the long upwind leg to start he second lap. If the
wind was particularly shifty on the upwind legs the longboards could
get back in the mix. It also made a big difference how the wind lines
up going through the reaching legs. If the wind was up towards the
beach it was easy sailing. But if the wind was down or really gusty it
made the reaching legs much much slower.

More wind forecast for tomorrow.

Worthington Regatta this weekend

The Worthington Windsurfing Regatta & Unvarnished Music Festival is this weekend.

The NOAA forecast calls for fantastic 15-30 mph winds for Saturday and Sunday!

The city and people of Worthington are gracious hosts and make this a great event for windsurfers and non-windsurfers alike. Check out some of the press they are already doing leading up to the event:

http://www.dglobe.com/event/article/id/57727/group/Regatta/

More updates through the weekend...

Enhanced Dam Jam Photos

I cropped and applied effects to some of my favorite pictures from the Dam Jam and posted them to a Picasa Album.

Dam Jam 2012 enhanced photos

Here are a couple of favorites:

7.8 ReflexII with iSonic 121

Me following Adam into a jibe, with Don already around

Me and Adam blasting down a reach during course racing Sunday

Dad approaching a jibe during course racing Sunday

Adam reaching to the beach after slalom racing Saturday