Race History as of November 2012
Wow,
it’s hard to believe this is the 10th
year
of the I-to-I race. When
it was
suggested 11 years ago by Danny Steyn that the windsurfers piggyback on
the
Hobie fleet 44 Commordore’s Cup, a long distance catamaran race, and run the course with them, 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 2003 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.
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.