2012 I-to-I Recap from Zack Marks
I had heard all the stories, “people get stuck in the
shore break, there are no chase boats, and some competitors take hours to
finish if they ever do finish.” It
sounded like my kind of race. I had
been sailing a lot but I hadn’t really had the chance to test my kite skills
against other fast craft. I knew that
racing against formula windsurfers would push me to work harder. Plus who doesn’t love a good old distance
race.
So Will and I loaded up the truck and headed down to Fort
Lauderdale on Friday morning. We got
some sailing in on Friday afternoon and Ron met us at the beach on Saturday for
a small clinic. He pointed out all the
marks, explained how to deal with the shore break, and discussed sail and fin
shape. We felt more prepared and decided
to do even more “training” at the Adventure Sports party that might.
The party was awesome.
They had an open bar and some cool swag to giveaway. Even Dave Kalama and Neil Pryde were in
attendance. Some were intent on
partying into the night but we knew we had a long day ahead so we headed back
to our campsite at Easterlin Park to get some rest.
We got to the venue early to check out the breeze and get
set up. I was still debating what to
rig, 11m or 9m. I figured that an 11m
would be safe in case it got a little lighter.
So my setup was a 2011 11m Cabrinha crossbow with a production Mikes Lab
70 and tectonic fins. The fins were
42cm in the front and 38 cm in the back.
We all synced our watches for 10 minutes and headed
out. I had a pretty good start with
good speed and jumped out to an early lead.
It was a reach out to the PE buoy.
I was moving pretty quick and felt good. Past the buoy and time for a tack. Blew it! I thought I had
those figured out. Back on the board
and no distance really lost.
I could faintly see the lighthouse in the distance. I thought it was a bit of a reach so I bore
off a little. Around the time that we
were passing the tanker offshore I realized I needed to head up more if I was
going to make the HI mark in one tack.
The breeze was stronger further from the land and I was just trying to
get in a comfortable position that I could hold for the leg. The waves were
also pretty big so every once in a while I would get launched through the
air.
It wasn’t long before Ron rolled me to windward like a
freight train. At least my kite was
27meters in the air so I didn’t have to also feel his bad air. From then on Ron was slowly moving further
ahead. I tried to hang on but he just
seemed to be able to point higher than me.
I’m not sure if this is my technique or just the limit of my board. I honestly haven’t been sailing against
formula sailors for long enough to tell.
According to my watch we were making great time. It was on rolling 10 minutes so I was able
to count the beeps. It had only gone
off about 4 or 5 times and we were close to the lighthouse. As we approached the HI buoy Ron was on
target to make it. I was going to have
to tack. I watched him round the buoy
and head downwind. That was the last I
saw of him until we hit the beach. I
tacked sailed for about a minute then tacked and sailed for another minute and
finally rounded the mark going straight into a gybe.
I started to push myself hard on the downwind. I was in the outside strap and cycling the
kite up and down. The proper angle back
to the start was somewhere between cycling the kite and just keeping it trimmed
in and hanging on. I felt very fast in
the outside strap working the kite and my aft leg was really starting to burn.
I had two wipeouts and decided to shift myself to a more comfortable
position. So I got in the chicken strap
and just trimmed in the kite all the way.
This was extremely comfortable and something that I could maintain for
the whole leg. Plus it really wasn’t
that slow either.
I tried to look around for other windsurfers but it’s hard
to take in the scenery when you are flying downwind. All I could see were the Hobie 16s that were doing the shorter
course. With the finish line in sight I felt like I had enough
energy to push it again so I hopped in the outer strap and began working the
kite up and down. I felt really
fast. Maybe I should have been doing
this the whole downwind. Wipeout. Not bad though board still next to me. Only a few seconds lost. I crossed the line and headed to the
beach. Wahoo I did it! I finished the Inlet to Inlet and was the
first kiter to ever finish. I knew the
time was fast but I was very happy with 1 hour 13 minutes.
Things I learned for next year: get in better shape, do
less “training” the night before, bring a camelback, and don’t power yourself
with a Denny’s breakfast burrito before you get to the venue.
We had a get together at Ron and Sue’s and everyone got
some cool prizes. Overall it was an
awesome experience and hopefully we can get more sailors from the Tampa Bay
area to come next year.
Zack Marks