Suppose you have 2 weeks of annual leave to burn and a free airline ticket anywhere in the US. What to do? Call your buddy in Florida and see if he can pick you up at the airport, put you up at his place, lend you gear, feed you, take you riding in the ocean on formula and SUP gear, provide a personal yoga instructor and more. Nice dream. Yeah, I thought so. So I did it. Guess what, it worked. 4 days, 3.3 nights at Casa Kern, I was IN.

After a midnight arrival, a few hours of early morning board repair to get my borrowed L8 in shape, I awoke Friday morning after about 3 hours of sleep. I had lots of work to do on my computer so I set it up in the kitchen and proceeded to get some done. Ron and Sue arose a couple of hours later. We ate, cleaned up the board with appreciable speed as Ron owns some heavy duty tools. A little fairing compound and we went off to the event launch site. I was on new gear and Ron wanted to test a mast in his 9.5 sail. As Ron reported it was a tough go. I was attempting to make a really bad setup better by making some changes on the water. It was obvious to Ron I was not tuned but not so obvious to me that he was having troubles too.  Finally he said lets go in and reset. Music to my ears!

I re-rigged and Ron changed his mast. WOW what a difference. Upwind, downwind just flying along. At one point it seemed that I even had some speed on Ron off the wind. A good sign I thought but I was not going to be silly and tell him I would challenge him for the I-to-I challenge just because I got a good run  for a couple of minutes. I knew that the forecast was for big wind and bigger seas so I kept that remote possibility to myself.

Saturday dawned as Friday. Me up early, I went through all the kitchen cabinets and found the supplies to make a strong pot of coffee. Ron and Sue coming in after I had eaten, this time I was just looking at the forums and all the various wind reporting and forecasting sites. WIND, yes, NOAA had upgraded the forecast. IW was showing solid upper twenties… Yup it was going to blow today, Ah, but I had a secret weapon (K52S-T0 slalom fin). I did not mention it to Ron until we were at the beach and the gusts were registering in the low 30’s.  I knew this was the ticket. Ron had his doubts.

Looking around we saw none of the kiters that had pre-registered, then it came, a text from Patrick. “Getting a bagel… be there in 15”. He was there to run the race and to show us who was king (Kites over Formula). This was one goal, but the other was to give a go on some Kashy Fins. But this would have to wait until after the racing. When you go into a long distance race go with what you know. These words were troubling me too. Last time I rode a “slalom” fin on a formula board was about 8 years back, before there were Kashy fins. I had to give it a try. Ron had already called a skippers meeting and the wind had stopped gusting over 30. Still my experience from years back told me I could go upwind on a very small fin. So before the start I decided to give it a go. I rushed out and sailed the 52. Actually it was quite decent. I had decent upwind angle and no control issues, one small but easy to recover spinout. But since the wind was similar to Fridays where I used a K65XS-T1 I decided to go between these fins. I followed the guidance of my Sensei = Steve S from Berkeley CA. He said if 9.0 go with 61cm and that is a fin I have.

After coming in on the 52 and swapping it out for the K61XXS-T1, I knew I had spent a bit of precious energy. But I was still invigorated and pretty confident I could remain in the hunt. I launched at about 10minutes to the start. I sailed well upwind thinking I could foot off if needed for extra speed. I was probably ½ mile off shore with all others to leeward. My borrowed watch was running to assure a good start. Well back from the line at 15 seconds I saw Ron starting to sheet in about ½ the way to the beach from me. For a long time Ron was the only one I saw then I notice Patrick a bit ahead of Ron and even closer to the beach. I began to wonder if I had made a mistake by being so far out to sea. So slowly I let myself slip down closer to them. After about 20 minutes I knew we had a long way to go as I start to see what I thought might be the light house where we needed to tack. The swell/chop was quite big and as I slipped lower some were changing to breaking waves. After a couple of serious body slams I realized that I was getting a bit tired. Ron was probably a couple of hundred yards ahead when I caught my first big weed. I had to stop, backup and then go, no problem… wrong, the weed did not shake off. So I did it again. Looking up Ron lead had doubled… bummer but by then I knew it was more about finishing than beating him. Then Patrick tacked and he crossed below me. I was in second and a smile came to my face. Still there was lots of time and distance to go and all formula sailors know that upwind is easier than down! The weed also cost me some distance to the beach and I found myself looking into what would be a great wave sailing area, but not during a race and not on a formula board, so I through in my first tack. I sailed out a bit and after flopping back I saw Ron ahead and on the opposite tack. The lay line was near. I saw the mark! Joy and fear. My “gentle” ride upwind was nearly over. Time for Savasana (final relaxation) and some more liquid. The downwind would be rough. No breaks, full on concentration, major pounding, no time for rest or drinking… or so I thought. I rounded about 2 minutes behind Ron with no other sailors in site. No need to let off the outhaul, I was plenty powered to let it rip! I put my back foot in the chicken strap bore off and accelerated. 30 seconds later, minor cramp and gust. KaPow. I was down. OK I was wrong, time for a both a rest and a drink, Ron was gempty of water, I guess there was work to do and it would not get easier to start again than this.one. A couple of minutes without gravity would do me well. But wait, what’s this, my rig had rotated into perfect water start position, the luff was

Off I went. Blasting downwind all by myself. Where the heck was I? I looked at the shore, nothing to recognize, this was my first I to I. As I went along I realized my stomach was churning more than the seas. Still I was making good distance and angle. Slowly getting closer to shore but no idea how far to go. I figured it was 15 minutes before I splashed again. This time I said I don’t care if my rig wants to go I’m going to sit for a full 5 minutes. 3 minutes later Patrick (the Kite-Guy) sails just upwind of me. I look and see I still have 2 minutes to rest; I drink, feel sick and ready to puke. But up and off I go. Another 5-8 minutes, ouch my stomach…biff, I’m in the water. I climb on to the board, sit and rest…OK tough guy, time to head to the beach. I see the first pier we sailed by, just go in your time has come! I’m resigned not to finish, I uphaul and sail off on starboard surfing the 6-8 ft swells, wait, what’s this… Fernando. Ok… one more run. I jybe and start to chase him. He’s going fast and making his way home, I’ll follow. I’m in pure survival mode, and not pushing at all, I see he is moving ahead. What will he do? Then I see him head up. That’s that. He’s going the distance and I’m not. I keep heading down and then see the yellow and white hotel. I’m nearly home and I have not puked, and what’s this, Ron coming back from the outside mark. If I jybe at the right time I can beat him to the shore, minor victory. Denied, I biffed again. In the drink more time for rest… then 75 yard off shore I realized I have to sail it in or give up the rig. One last burst of energy, sail to the beach, pick up the rig just ahead of the crashing shore pound, and carry it up past the impact zone. Full 360 turn as the gear falls gracefully to the sand so to I. Next thing I know Ron and Mike are asking if they can p__ on me. Do I care? I’m glad to be in Savasana for the final time.

Epilogue

After a long recovery I meet up with Patrick. One of his ulterior motives and of mine was to see how my fins work in a kite board. Patrick is resting too but wants to give the fins a go.  Well we set him up and he goes out. Dan the other kiter that participated in the event is giving me his read on Patrick stance and what he sees. Patrick comes in and says he is done. I say wait you need to try the softer version. He relents and goes again. The report… well maybe later let’s leave it as:

Patrick is now the first and only guy to ride 3 Kashy fins at one time J.