Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓

Midwest Speed Quest Report August 31, 2010

2010 has been a great year for the Midwest Speed Quest on Lake Okabena, Worthington Minnesota. This Windsurfing GPS Speed Sailing Event runs through October 15th. The Racing Schedule is open during this time, and the racer may choose the day he wishes to Speed Sail. There are no fees, and the racer may enter as many times as they wish. This has been a popular format.

Thank to the generosity of our Sponsors, we have been able to provide demo gear to all visiting Racers. This includes KA Sails (WIndsurf Deal, California), two Carbon Art Boards (Carbon Art International, New Zealand), Vector Fins (Vector Fins Maui, Hawaii), and Gath Helmets (Murrays Sports, California).

We are proud to offer the finest Windsurfing Gear from around the World to our visiting guests.

The winds for Aug 27-30 were well over 30 mph each day. Our flags were torn to shreds over the weekend!

Windy Weekend!

On May 1, the lead was taken early by David Knight  of Fridley Minnesots. He used the KA Koncept  6.6 Sail and Carbon Art Slalom Board and Vector 28 EX fin. He recorded a personal record with a Ten Second Run of 32.8 knots, and a Max 2 Second Speed of 33.52 knots.

David Knight

On the same day, Ed Melchson of Papillion Nebraska sailed into Second Place, entering a personal best of 30.8 knots sailing the KA Koncept 5.8 Sail.

Ed Melechson

David won a Gath Helmet. Ed won a Gath Helmet and $100 CASH!

Prize Winners!

On August 29, Andrew Anderson of Oakland California took the lead, with new personal best 10 Second Speed of 35.4 knots, with a Max Speed of 37.64 knots. Andrew was sailing the Niel Pryde RS Sail, the Carbon Art SL75 Slalom Board, and Vector Rockit Fin.

Andrew Anderson Oakland California

Andrew Anderson

Arden Anderson of Fon du Lac Wisconsin is in 3rd place with a speed of 32.73 knots, and a Max Speed of 33.64. Arden used a Vector EX Fin.

Arden Anderson Fon du Lac WI

Adam Anderson is now in 4th Place with new personal best 10 Second Speed of 31.2 knots, and a Max Speed of 33.12 Knots.

Adam Anderson, Eagen Minnesota

5th Place is now held by Ed Melechson.

Sixth Place is held by 15 year old Magnus Zaunmueller of Beaver Dam Wisconsin.  He was sailing the KA Koncept 4.4 Sail, the Carbon Art SP53 Speed Board, and Vector EX 32 Fin. This was his first attempt at Speed Sailing, and using the Koncept Sail. The conditions were challenging with the gusty winds and heavy chop. He also set a new personal best 10 Second Speed was 27.12 knots; and a Max Speed was 29.33 knots! Magnus won $100 CASH and a Gath Helmet!

Magnus Zaunmueller Beaver Dam WI

Magnus Zaunmueller

Magnus Zaunmueller

Ken Gacke of Brandon SD hold 7th with a personal best of 26.88, and a Max Speed of 27.85.

Ken Gacke Brandon South Dakota

Jeff Hegwer of Mason City Iowa has 8th place, Jason Swanson is in 9th.

Jeff Hegwer Mason City Iowa

Jason Swanson Bigelow MN

New personal best speeds were ralso ecorded by Wayne Anderson, Piotr Waszczuk, Jim Magnuson, Arnie Cleveland, and Niels Zaunmueller. Congratulations!!!

Wayne Anderson Elkhart Lake WI

Piotr Wasczcuk Minneapolis MN

Jim Magnuson Beaver Dam WI

Arnie Cleveland Prescott Wisconsin

Niels Zaunmueller Beaver Dam WI

Niels Zaunmueller and Dakine Harness Prize

See our Web Site for complete information, the latest Race Results, and lots of new photos.

http://www.midwestspeedquest.com

Also check out the MOWIND Picasa photo album

Thank you MOWIND Members for supporting the Midwest Speed Quest year after year!

See our Web Site for complete information and up to date Race Results.

Best Regards,

Craig Bergh

Timekeeper and Organizer

Midwest Speed Quest

133 Lake Avenue

Worthington, MInnesota 56187

USA

Web:  http://www.midwestspeedquest.com

The stellar forecast for Worthington this weekend came through, as sailors flocked there for 25-35+ mph winds and the Midwest Speed Quest. David Knight started the weekend leading with a 32.80 knot score.  Andrew Anderson flew in from California for the weekend becuase of the forecast and came within a sneeze of Knight at 32.77 knots on Friday and also put up an alpha racing speed (~250 meters each way with a jibe in the middle) of 21.11 knots to take the lead in that category.

The rest of the Anderson clan (brothers Arden and Adam and father Wayne) showed up for Saturday sailing along with the Magnunson’s (father Jim and boys Magnus and Niels, with the rest of the family in tow), Jeff Hegwer, Arnie Cleveland, and several others.

Winds were a bit shiftier than Friday making it tricky to get top notch runs, but several people still posted personal bests in various categories. Arden Anderson posted a personal best alpha time of 20.97 knots on his iSonic 121 to move into 2nd in that category behind Andrew. I am pretty sure all of the Magnuson’s set personal bests as well.

Sunday turned out to be the best day so far. Winds were stronger than Friday and more consistent as well. Andrew was on a mission early after being so close to taking the lead Friday. He decided to rig big, and boy did that work. Big hoss logged a 34 knot run early in the day on his 7.8 Pryde RS-R with a 75 cm wide Carbon Arts board, and the hits kept coming. He ended the day with a ***35.4*** knot run, by far the best ever recorded on Okabena. He is now firmly is the lead, but the event does continue through October 15. Arden ended the day the way Andrew felt Friday: with a 32.73 he was just behind David Knight now for second place. Adam Anderson moved into 4th place with a 31.0 knot run. Adam also moved into 4th place in the alpha race category. Magnus was very impressive in the youth category with a top run of  27.12 knots, good for 6th overall. He was looking very good on the 53cm Carbon Arts speed board that Craig Bergh has on hand to demo.

EVENT RESULTS (Preliminary until season ends Oct.15)

All for now. I’m sure Craig will make a summary of the weekend at some point and also provide some great photos. Thanks again to Craig Bergh and his family for being gracious hosts, and also to the event sponsors!

Arden Anderson, EL-11

Hats off to Woody and the crew up North for a very successful Canadian Masters Regatta – 55 Racers! Now that there has been some time to breathe since the big regatta, we were able to get the scores, stories, and even a full page newspaper article posted here at MOWIND.org.

RACE RESULTS

A Fleet            Sport Fleet

FULL PAGE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

CMWA full page spread - Dryden Observer (Click for larger image)

Finally, Woody has a writeup at his blog: http://windsurfwoody.ca/2010-canadian-masters/2010-cmwa-canadian-windsurfing-championships/

Looks like the regatta was a blast! I wish I could have made it up there. Next year, next year.

– Arden, EL-11

Five hearty sailors showed up to race in the 3rd annual Tour da Croix,  a long distance challenge from Point Douglas in Prescott, WI sailing approximately 5 miles upriver/upwind to the Kinnickinnic and then another 5 miles back. Total distance covered by the sailors due to tacking upwind was about 14 miles.

Arnie Cleveland presented the course and then had us off to start at 11:00 am on the button. Wind conditions were about 5 mph out of the north and temperature was in the mid 80’s.

The course was basically a race up to the Kinnickinnic and back, but there were two mark rounding that we needed to complete early in the race ; one on the Minnesota side of the river and one on the Wisconsin side of the river. Adam Anderson jumped out to an early lead and led to the first mark on the Minnesota side, followed closely by the rest of the fleet. The sailors spread out some as they worked there way upwind back and forth across the river. Sailing in the lead, Adam Anderson needed to spot the Wisconsin mark and had a hard time finding it on such a big body of water. Meanwhile Arden Anderson made a tactical decision to tack up the Wisconsin shore in order to spot the mark, and was able to quickly find it and make a clean rounding to continue upwind while Adam and Peter had each overstood the mark. Arden hailed the other sailors to tell them where the mark was and Peter quickly changed course to get back to the mark, but Adam was far enough ahead that he didn’t hear the hail. Adam sailed on for another 10 or more minutes before turning back to go find the correct mark. More on that later…(Update after reviewing gps tracks: Adam took a 35 minute detour – 15 minutes to get back down to the mark once he realized his mistake, and another 20 minutes to get upwind to where he had been).

Peter was still  able to round right with Wayne Anderson, with Tom Stokes in hot pursuit, and the race was on the rest of the way to the Kinney. The next several miles saw Arden and Peter dueling it out on the imco’s with the distance between them varying as they played the shifts. Eventually Peter was able to get into striking distance and make a pass as the river necked down and winds got lighter and shiftier. He worked through the narrow and over to the Minnesota side and opened up a 300-400 yard lead as Arden made slower progress up the Wisconsin side.

Peter maintained his lead up to the turnaround point. Here are the rounding times (remember we started at 11:00 am so a 1:00 pm rounding took 2 hours of elapsed time):

1. Peter Hartwhich PJ1 – 1:09 pm
2. Arden Anderson EL11 – 1:13 pm
3. Adam Anderson EL111 – 1:17 pm
4. Wayne Anderson EL – 1:21 pm
5. Tom Stokes USA099 – 1:32 pm

The times show Adam Anderson working his way back towards the leaders after his detour early in the race. He showed a lot of determination sticking with the race after the big setback early. Realizing it was a long race though he stuck with it to grind his way back into site of the leaders.

On the way downwind Arden was able to close the gap on Peter and Adam continued to whittle away at the leaders After working through the narrow part of the river Peter, Arden, and Adam were virtually tied. As they reached the wider part of the river and could see the finish a few miles ahead, Arden and Adam pulled away from Peter as they stayed towards the Wisconsin side of the river. The rest of the way to the finish Adam was able to finally put some distance on Arden and complete his comeback, winning the 3 1/2 challenge.

Final Finish Times (start at 11:00 am)

1. Adam Anderson EL111 – 2:28:28 pm
2. Arden Anderson EL11 – 2:29:56 pm
3. Peter Hartwhich PJ1 – 2:33:33 pm
4. Wayne Anderson EL – 2:50:44 pm
5. Tom Stokes USA099 – 3:40:44 pm

An interesting note is that this race featured all three of the official Olympic Windsurfing boards. Adam Anderson sailed on the Div2 Lechner board featured in ’88 and ’92, Arden and Peter each sailed the IMCO board and sail that were used in the ’96, ’00, and ’04 games, and Tom Stokes sailed the Neil Pryde RSX that was used in the ’08 games. Wayne Anderson was the only sailor on a non-Olympic board, but he was on the unofficial MOWIND one design board, the Equipe II.

Tom Stokes won the Sport Fleet and is congratulated for completing the distance race on his first attempt. He also won the “Long Distance Traveler” award for driving about 500 miles from Indiana. He said that he will be driving back to Indiana Sunday and will return to Minnesota again next weekend for the Waconia Wind and Wave event. Hats off to Tom for his dedication.

The racing was followed by All-You-Can-Eat PRIME RIB at The Point in Hastings, MN. A great way to recharge after a long race. Many thanks the The Point for their hospitality and especially to Arnie Cleveland for all of his Race Committee efforts.

We will post pictures when we get back to a computer. 

As promised, pictures have been loaded to a Picasa Album.

– Arden & Adam via smart phone at The Point