2008
Race Recap by Ron Kern
The pre-race. It
was a bit disappointing having to postpone the race from the original date
because of such lousy forecasts for the two days, but the wind forecast and the
wind for the rescheduled day delivered as promised and then some. We had
a skipper's meeting at 9:00 a.m. which answered questions, gave the course for
the race and announced the wait for wind. The wind at 9:00 a.m. was still
offshore and light. At noon that all changed when the wind clocked to
sideshore and eventually to side-onshore and picked up. Most competitors
in the formula fleet had in their minds they'd be rigging an 11m for the
forecasted 15-20 mph NE breeze, but when the white caps came streaming down the
beach, most everybody grabbed a 10m sail.
I think my setup was about right, 9.8m sail, 67cm fin was the ticket, a 9m
sail would have been better on the 11 mile downwinder possibly allowing a
bit more relaxing ride, but doubtful.
The start and the upwind to
Hillsboro Inlet.
I was on time to the start, counting out loudly so those whose timer was off
could hear, but I got confused when I looked at my watch and saw 11 seconds
displayed after I had finished the countdown. I thought we'd started
early and I stopped to go back, but realized the watch was counting up and off
I went, now a few hundred yards behind. So much for a good start as I was
behind Peter Ifju, Fernando Martinez and Alex Morales for the start of the
journey upwind. It quickly turned into a three board race for me,
battling Fernando and Peter. We were quite even in VMG with Pete initially
footing a bit, Fernando pinching a bit, and myself kind of in between.
The lead changed back and forth with Fernando a few times and then
with Pete. I got into what I thought was a lead about half way up and my
harness came unhooked and the sail went ripping out of my hand. Good news
for me after a 10 yard swim to catch the kit was the sail had fallen into an
easy waterstart position and off I went on the other tack which I
was thinking was a good thing. On the next tack or so I realized that I'd
gained a lot of ground on Fernando and Pete likewise had on me. By the
time Pete & I were on close to the last northward layline for the Hillsboro
Inlet mark he'd wound up a bit to weather on me with what I guessed was a
50-100 yard lead. I remembered low-tide was at 2:20 p.m. and it was now
1:40 p.m. and I was forming my plan as to when to tack as we approached murky
water coming out of the inlet. I figured I might get an advantage if I
rode the outgoing current from the inlet to the layline and was hoping Pete would
tack early, which he did. I kept going straight to the layline and when I
headed towards the mark I could see I was gaining speed and angle on Pete being
in the deeper channel water. I tacked, Pete considerably overstood and I
rounded with a decent lead in first place.
Downwind leg. My plan for the
downwind was not to worry about getting outside and running straight to the
mark, but was instead to stay closer to shore aiming my board parallel or even
towards the shore to stay inside where I thought I might pick up favorable
currents from the tide switch and have smoother water. I came off the
weather mark and headed in about as close as I thought was safe to avoid the
breaking waves on the reef and waited to go sliding down a nice big wave to pull
off my jibe which went as planned staying lit up as I headed south. I was
really powered up and flying but amazingly relaxed and in control except my
rear leg calf started to cramp. I just wasn't going to let this happen so
I flexed my foot around a bit while going warp speed downwind and thinking
positive thoughts that I wouldn't knot up. A few hundred meters later, my
leg was relaxing and I was getting a groove. So far so good! Miles
of shoreline were flying by and I made it pretty painlessly to Sunrise Blvd. at
a pace certainly faster than I could have driven on A1A following a retiree in
a Cadillac. At Sunrise I changed my course slightly to go about where I
thought the Port Everglades marker might be not being able to see that far
amongst the spray and bouncy ride. The water state was changing rapidly
to a more confused and difficult pattern. I was getting tired. I'd
taken some bad waves with my right, (rear footstrap), leg pretty stiff and
landing had over-extended my tired knee which were really starting to hurt.
I didn't want to crash. I looked back quickly and saw nobody.
I was trying to mix things around changing from upper to lower chicken
straps, hooking in, unhooking, all to avoid a crash and smooth out the ride.
A few more hard wave tops and my knee and legs were getting buttery and
hurting more and it was miserably bumpy and getting worse as the PE marker
approached. The good news was even being cautious, unhooked, not fully
sheeted, I was still flying and the mark gratefully came up pretty quickly I
jibed around the PE mark exhausted. I bobbled the sail and fell in
waterstart position and just took a deserved 10 second break. I saw
nobody near me.
Finishing reach. Woo hoo! I’m almost
done. The close reach back to the beach was going fast over very
bumpy water and rolling swell, unhooked, unsheeted and chicken strapped, just
wanting to finish without a swim. Lots of chances to biff for sure.
It was nice to be on another tack after the half hour downwinder on one tack!
A quick minutes clicked off and I was almost to the end, still nobody in
sight.
Finish. It’s now low tide and still
a shore break and I’m tired. I sailed in on the back of a wave until I
was past the worst of the pound and went until my fin hit the sand hopped off.
I was very happy to have an assist getting my gear out of the water and
gladly accepted Eduardo's and Alex's help. I took a big breath and was
told I'd finished first. Pete came in next and we helped him and then
Fernando in with their gear and we got everyone safely back until Don
Wagner landed a bit out of our reach hopping off the kit kind of early and
unfortunately broke the mast track out of the board releasing to board to
flip over and put his fin through a panel of his sail.
Race committee Karen Doyle & Sue Kern had been keeping
tabs on the fleet and out on the water were two Konas and Beth. Beth
called Sue's cell to let her know she'd called it quits and was in Pompano.
She said things were okay, that she was greeted by very cute young
lifeguards who helped her get her gear out of the water and took her to guard
headquarters to get warmed up and wait for a ride back. New entrant,
James Douglass, finished the whole race and won in Kona taking 4th place overall.
Awards. Thanks again to the generosity of
the shops and distributors we had another great year of prizes to hand
out. Everybody that participated in the race got stuff. Multiple
DVD’s from Eduardo Owen of Next Sports and then a pull from the gift pile in order finish order. We made
it through twice around, with awesome stuff from Neil Pryde, and Adventure Sports.
Very notable was the motivation award Jim DeSilva and Liquid Surf & Sail put up,
$100 Liquid Bucks for the 8th place finisher overall which was awarded
to young Alex Stankie. Alex must be one heck of a salesman because
somehow he talked his parents into letting him blow off the ACT test he was
supposed to take and come to the race!
Party. This year's party was back at our
house for pizza and beer.
Wrap up. It was a tough race this year.
The 15-20 mph NE forecast wound up 20-30mph NE with a good helping of
chop and swell to contend with. This was the windiest i-To-i yet.
Of the 10 starters 4 did the whole course, 3 on formula gear and James
Douglass on Kona. James' blog had an interesting graphic and post
regarding the race.
In addition Don Wagner, Beth Winkler and Mike Rayl rounded the Hillsboro
channel marker and Don & Mike made it back. Alex Stankie, Alex
Morales, and Eduardo made the short course surviving the launch and landing
without incident. A lot can be said for just that. I wish a speedy
recovery to Martin Abete who cut himself on his fin and needed some stiches.
Warning, trailing edges of fins are really dangerous. Avoid them at
all costs! Martin isn't the only person to be badly cut over the last few
years having witnessed national champions and pros take an unplanned trip to
the ER for some stichery! It was great to see so many returning entrants
along with quite a few new entrants.
Next
Year. Hope
to see you all back next year along with some new entrants give it a try.
Keep December 5-6, 2009 open on your calendar. The ocean is a fun place
to challenge yourself, improve your technique and enjoy being outdoors where
some days you can be miles from the next human being which is often times
difficult to do on land. An added bonus is it's cool seeing the varied marine life along the way. Sail safe, carry a cell phone with you! When you
break it’s really a comfort to others who care to at least call home and let
someone know your status when you are running really late. They may even
take pity and come and pick you up! It worked for Beth. Thanks to all for helping make the event happen.
Ron