Race Recap & History by Ron Kern,  December 11, 2007

Wow, it’s hard to believe this is the 5^th year of the I-to-I race.  When it was suggested 6 years ago by Danny Steyn that the windsurfers piggyback on the Hobie fleet 44 Commordore’s Cup and run the course the comments were from other windsurfers, “It’s too far,” “It’s too dangerous,” “What if it’s offshore, we’ll blow out to sea,” and on and on.  The only valid concern I had was the safety issue.  That summer on our annual trip west I entered the San Francisco Bay Classic, a long distance race of 20+++ years running that takes you on a tour through San Francisco Bay from the Golden Gate to Berkeley and back in 10-35++ mph winds, wicked chop, ocean swell, water that’s quite cold to a Floridian, fog, ship traffic, ferry boats, etc. making a true windsurfing challenge.  Very seldom do more than about 1/3 of the fleet even finish the race.  I ran the race and was one of the victims falling out from exhaustion and ultimately equipment failure when I went nearly headfirst through my sail on one of the easier and early screaming reaches.  But I learned a lot and wanted to try it again and the I-to-I was a must happen. 

So, December 8, 2002, I ran it solo for about ½ the distance trying it out to see just how challenging it would be.  The conditions that year were 15-22mph out of the NE and things were pretty riled up, challenging but seemingly doable.  I thought it was fun.  I talked it up again and learning of waterproof cell phone cases at the SF Classic as an excellent safety measure I thought a major breakthrough in the safety concern had taken place which would allow the race to be more safely run in a variety of conditions including offshore wind.

We had 5 entrants the first year 2003.  

Ron, Molero, Alejandro, Brian, Van, Dee

The wind at the start was south at 21mph average with bigger gusts.  The course was Start, Hillsboro Inlet, Port Everglades outside mark, Finish. and the gun was 11:05 a.m. 

We had two finishers, taking just under 4 hours to complete for myself and Molero, myself on a formula board and Molero on a long board.  It looked like it was going to be a blow out against Molero until 2 hours into the race, 100 yards from the Port Everglades mark, the wind died and the current was ripping.  It became a close race as the light air performance of Molero on the longboard kicked in.  It took nearly two hours from Port Everglades buoy to finish up at the beach and we finished just a couple hundred yards apart!  But Molero & I made it and it felt good to finish!

A grassroots race with no real race committee, no marks to set, no entry fee, lots of prizes, and a personal challenge for the entrants.  What a concept!  The next year, 2004, the race attracted 7 entries.

2005, 11 entries; 2006, 16 entries, & 2007, 19 entries.  (More group shots to be found on the main page, Photos / Group Photos along with recaps from 2005 on).  It's been worth the effort to keep the race going each year.  The immediate reaction for many of the finishers is, "I'll never do that again!"  But after a bit of rest and reflection on what was accomplished and learned, the enthusiasm for next year's race rekindles.  A followup email from Mike Vogt kind of sums it up:

Man, you've built up something really special.  I think, assuming decent wind, you'll have more sailors next year. I hope next year I will have trained and can do the whole thing. I'm sure I'll still be sailing alone, though, soon after the start. But, maybe my report will encourage other mediocre (but competent) sailors to come out.

So, enough of old news, what happened this year and what was learned by Ron?

Mistakes, mine and others, cost.  I think my setup was about right, 9.8m sail, 67cm fin was the ticket, a 9m sail would have been better on the long reaches allowing the hammer to actually be put down instead of just going, but I’m not sure how it would have done upwind.  

The start and first reach.  I was a bit late to the start, about 5 seconds, but made up for it with speed and a good line to the mark.  I was 5^th in the forming parade to the mark, but went low with better speed and passed Eduardo, Fernando and Alex who pointed up above the lay-line leaving Mathias to deal with.  Nearing the first mark the waves at the spoils island were jacking up, looking like surfing waves.  Mathias was pretty powered up on his 11m and went high to avoid getting air.  I went low surfing the waves and squirted out of the spoils zone with a tidy lead. 

Weather leg.  The first issue rounding the mark is that we’re now in the channel and a very large, attractive luxury yacht, (ship), is cruising down at us at about 8 knots.  I saw I could clear easily without dangers of wind shadows and made it.  Mathias & Fernando I could see would be making a trickier decision.  They went for it without incident.  Next in line at the mark rounding was forced to tack.  I continued on my tack with a little lower angle than Mathias and about the same as Fernando, but had a comfortable margin over both.  I hit a line of weed on the south edge of outgoing tide line in the channel and needed to tack to clear the weeds and thought I’d have a favorable lift from the outgoing tidal current.  I crossed about even with Mathias and kept going to the other side of the channel current tacked again and did the same on port one more time and laid the mark perfectly.  I had a hefty lead now.

Second reach.  Woo hoo!  I’m going fast now over very bumpy water and rolling swell.  Lots of chances to biff for sure.  The weeds are still somewhat of an issue but small jumps are clearing them along with the speed in the mid 20’s.  To combat being in one position for 30 minutes constant I moved my foot to the upper center strap on the L7 a few times along the way.  The 60-second change of stance really helps!  As I approached the mark, about 1.5 miles to go, I realized I was heading too low.  The board I could see behind me was at least 500 yards behind and had followed me as well, so no damage from the mistake.  I was able to point up a bit and go more on a close reach to the HI buoy.  But somewhere along the way I hear a bad noise from something on my rig.  The outhaul was now almost all the way out on the other side.  Not good and I’m wondering what happened and more importantly what broke.  I tightened in the side I was on and was planning what to do at the mark and when I jibed.  I decided I’d let out the side I was on and yank it on the other side after the jibe which I did.

Third reach.  Heading south on the last reach, I yanked in the outhaul line but it did nothing.  The sail didn’t flatten like I wanted it to so I could put down the hammer on the last reach in the inside flatter water and take the win.  The first board I met going back was Mathias, then Fernando and then Vincent.  At this point I still had a big margin, 500 yards or so, and I’m wrestling with the sail being so full and changing draft position from such a loose outhaul.  I’m trying hard to put these issues out of my mind and just sail the best I can under the circumstances and thinking don’t fall and you’ve got the race.  Not long after that though, bad chop and big gust combined, to knock my balance off in my already unstable setup, and I was swimming.  The ugly yard sale and slow uphaul ensued and by the time I was up and going Mathias was almost even and 50 yards below me.  My advantage was gone of my smaller sail for the reach, a board that handles rougher water better and the control I had on the previous 17 miles of leading had disappeared and I was in a drag race to the finish without the right tools for the battle.  A tight sail on an overpowered reach is a huge factor in putting the hammer down and mine was a rubber hammer now!  After a few miles of trying it looked kind of hopeless and if I fell again I’d possibly jeopardize my second place finish so I resigned myself to just going as fast as I could without risking another crash and finished 30 seconds behind Mathias.  From the GPS log I could see I wasn’t going for 37 seconds when I fell and the outcome may have been different.  Mathias sailed a great race with just a few errors and maintained a good position to take advantage of my misfortune. 

Finish.  Mathias first, 30 seconds behind, myself and 2 minutes later Fernando.  Really close for 24.9 miles of racing!  Coming into the beach was going to be a bit challenging.  It’s now very low tide and still a shore break and I’m tired, real 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 on to my rubber legs and struggled with the last of my energy to get everything up undamaged to dry sand.  I took a big breath and then got Mathias to help the others in.  We helped Fernando and then he joined in and we got everyone safely back in except Van & Jim DeSilva who landed out of our reach and unfortunately they each broke their masts but luckily had no sail damage for Van, but Jim wasn't so fortunate.  Maybe he can find somewhere to get a deal on some new gear. 

De-rigging I finally figured out what the outhaul issue on the water was.  My boom push pin opened up and one side of the boom extension was moving in and out.  Moral of the story, check everything 2x after rigging.  Broken is slow!  (I’m lucky the extension didn’t break!)

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 and then a pull from the gift pile in order of finish, 1^st Formula, 1^st Kona, 1^st Women’s Formula, (Big note here -- Monica Arche is the first woman to ever finish the whole race and finished 10th of 19 competitors who showed up), and then the finish order.  We made it through 2 pulls short of twice around, with awesome stuff from Neil Pryde, Next Sports, and (3) separate gift certificates from Adventure Sports, (1) from Evolve Watersports and (1) from Aerotech/Sandy Point.  Very notable was the motivation award Jim DeSilva and Liquid Surf & Sail put up, $200 Liquid Bucks for the 7^th place finisher overall that completes the whole course awarded to Peter Ifju. 

Party.  This year's party was subdued.  A Sunday afternoon wrapup makes it kind of hard to organize much other than with some people with short drives.  Late lunch and a beer with about 10 of us at Oasis Cafe on one of their 10 passenger table gliders!