Sunday, November 18, 2007

Miami Pro Am Day 2


Another day of light breeze but stiff competition.
Sunday's forecast looked dim as sailors shlogged out the the starting line from the US Sailing Center on Biscane Bay in Mami Florida. Again the RC started the day off with the postponement flag as the breeze teetered to 10knots. Finally at 12pm there was enough breeze to race. The right side looked favorable with better breeze so I started on port tack with Jimmi, Fernando and Ron- all of us able to cross the fleet who sat on the line. Jimmi - on the new F2- and I made it out to the right side first but quickly ran out of wind while the left side of the course filled in and the fleet got a port lift to the mark. I sat on the outside corner watching my lead disappear. Sylvester on his 11.0 rounded in front by a good minute or 2 while the rest of the fleet struggled to get planning and around the top mark. In the cheap seats- Fernando and I waited to get a puff to get going again and rounded deep . Slowly we were able to claw back the next 3 legs and finish 7th and 8th while Sylvester got the bullet.
The next race started similarly with most of the fleet not planing off the line. Fernando was the furthest to leeward and had room to foot off and pump to a plane. I was next behind Peter and got off to the left side and some breeze. Fernando was quick to gain in the light stuff- being the master of light air racing and rounded the top mark in 1st. Jimmi and Steve snuck in there to round just in front of me and continued down on starboard. I had no choice but to gybe and find another path to the leeward mark. It worked out well enough that I found a puff just near the finish and finished in front of Jimmy for 4th.
That was enough to keep 3rd overall as Sylvester snuck into 2nd with 2 solid races under his belt today. In the end it was Fernando on the podium in first,Syvester in 2nd and myself in 3rd. I did get a chance to race the new 08 11.9 warp. It had a real good low end- especially with the adjustable downhaul setting that allows you to take up or let out a 1cm adjustment on the water. Time will tell if its durable enough to trust but my first impression was excellent. Overall a good warm up for next weeks world championshipsin Brazil. Im off traveling for the ne day to Fortalezza where I'll race the Brazillian open and the worlds next week. Look for more reports then. Untill then check out http://www.miamiwindsurfing.com/ for videos, photos and reports.
Special thanks to next sports as well the Movie-star and Simona for their help during the event.
Below are some photos form the event from Ron Kern:



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