Reporting that there is MoFun in MoWind!

The ice is off Lake Winnebago, the wind is blowing, and it’s time to start thinking about racing again! The MOWIND Race Series will start May 4-5 in Fond du Lac, WI at the Walleye Wagatta. Click HERE for the Notice of Race. Contact Arden Anderson at arden.EL11@gmail.com with any questions.

I’ll see you there!

Arden

The date this year is Sat-Sun May 18-19, 2013 as Memorial day weekend comes early this year.

Paul Sandstrom posted on Cownet there would be some changes this time around in 2013.    Instead of launching at the marina the group will be using an area in the campground itself.    Did I mention that Chris and Paul got a nice RV last year?      See the details  on the Mowind Alum Creek page.     This will be a fun start to the new summer season in Ohio!

Be a snow bird and head down to Florida for some windsurfing fun this winter.   These events need more longboard riders!   But know with fewer entries your chances of getting on the podium increase!  Also note both races have KONA fleets and it is usually possible to rent a KONA and rig but you’ll need to reserve one in-advance.

The Windsurfing Classic regatta is scheduled for Feb 23-24, 2013 in Sarasota hosted by the SSS.   For information see the following sites:

http://www.mswindsurfing.com/
http://www.sarasotasailingsquadron.org

The week afterwards the famous Calema Midwinters runs 4 days  Feb 28 – March 3 with Thursday being check in day with a welcome party in the evening.    See the Calema web site for details:

http://calema.com/calema-midwinters-2013/

RESULTS:  A Fleet  |  Kona Fleet  |  Sport Fleet

The 2013 MOWIND Race Series kicked off with the Windpower Championships this weekend in Fond du Lac, WI. The annual Winnebago Super Crossing took place Friday afternoon as a prelude of things to come. Click HERE for some details on this year’s Super Crossing.

The official racing started at noon on Saturday with southwest winds at about 10-15 mph. The race committee set the (in)famous Windpower “M” course. The first race was a pretty standard MOWIND affair with the start and upwind tactics playing a large part in the finishing order. The second race was a different story. The wind increased substantially to well over 20 or 25 mph and sail handling became the most important factor. Plenty of crashes were seen through the jibes and several wipeouts also on the downwind leg.

After racers scrapped there way around the course, a quick break was called for lunch as a figure-8 slalom course was set (3 laps per race). The wind stayed in the 20+ range and a few guys on slalom boards took advantage for the top few places in Race3. But in R4 the winds backed down to 15-20 mph with a a southerly shift making it a much tighter reach on starboard tack and quite broad on port tack. The slalom boards struggled with the high angles so the longboards took the top spots again. With diminishing winds and plenty of sore sailors, racing was called for the day after R4.

Wind chart for the weekend

Saturday night we were treated to an excellent meal at Schmitty’s Oar House, just up the road from Windpower Windsurfing. Awards were also presented to the winners of the 2012 MOWIND Race Series (results here). After dinner and the awards, Windpower hosted their annual bonfire. NASA reported that the flames could be seen from space.

The Sunday forecast was for more wind in the 10-20 mph range, but the early risers saw no indication of it as they got to the race site. The race committee had warned us of an “Uknown Race” during the skipper’s meeting Saturday and finally gave details – we needed to complete a series of reaches and jibes (easy enough), while performing tricks like sail 360’s and sailing backwards between the marks (a bit harder), while wearing RC-issues costumes (getting weird), collecting a pumpkin before the final leg (even weirder), and finishing once the pumpkin was delivered to shore (at least we didn’t have to carve a jack-o-lantern). Sounds like fun, and it was. Hopefully we can get some pictures posted soon. The costumes were quite odd. For now, here’s a picture of the diagram the RC drew of the course.

Pumpkin Race

The wind started filling in during the pumpkin race, so we went directly into more racing on the same “M” course from Saturday. Winds were in the 8-15 mph range. We got in three races back-to-back-to-back and then were up to our 2:00 limit for our last start. Racers derigged and had subs and other treats ready for them at Windpower. We’ll get results and pictures posted as soon as they are available.

RESULTS:  A Fleet  |  Kona Fleet  |  Sport Fleet

LINK to photo album in the Fond du Lac Reporter

Thanks to all the volunteers that helped organize the event and do Race Committee.

– Arden, EL-11

Congratulations to all the participants of the 2012 MOWIND Race Series. This was another fantastic season with a variety of events. After all the races were tallied up, awards for the 2012 Race Series were presented to the following racers at the Windpower Championships dinner this Saturday.

A Fleet Women

1 Denise Rdznoveiz

A Fleet Junior
1 Magnus Zaunmueller

A Fleet Unlimited
1 Arden Anderson
2 Adam Anderson
3 Don Altmeyer

A Fleet 8.5 Limited
1 Gordon Bittle
2 Mark Drotleff
3 Saulisu Mullolis

KONA Fleet

1 Steve Callaway
2 Brad “Woody” Woodworth
3 Jeff Adamski

Sport Fleet Women
1 Andrea Gratton

Sport Fleet Junior
1 Niels Zaunmuller
2 Kylan Johnson

Sport Fleet Men
1 Mark Schmitz
2 Gary Lovrine
3 Igor Tereshchenko

Sport Fleet Senior
1 Jim Magnuson

Workshop Fleet

1 Kale Johnson

2012 MOWIND Series Final Scores

2012 MOWIND Series – A Fleet

2012 MOWIND Series – KONA

2012 MOWIND Series – Sport Fleet

2012 MOWIND Series – Workshop

Scores from previous seasons are available on this page.