Friday, July 1, 2011

Formula windsurfing world champs pre regatta update

A quick update from Puerto Rico where the Formula World Championships start next week.

The venue is awesome. Crystal clear warm bath water and a constant 12-20k breeze and so far some rain squalls almost every afternoon.

A lot of the top pros have been training here for some time and many amateurs like myself have been showing up steadily all this week. It looks like at least 50 sailors for the event with Marion and myself from the SF Bay and a 1/2 dozen US sailors from Florida. A great turn out for the first formula world champs held in north America since the inaugural worlds in 2003.

The breeze is side shore and there is a breaking reef 1/4 mile offshore so it should make for some interesting racing putting a premium on tacks and gybes just like the Friday nite series. Outside the reef there is big swell but I'm not sure we will be racing out there as there's only a few places to cross through the reef with out going over the handle bars.

It's definitely shallower than a 70cm fin! Ive lined up the last few days with some fast sailors but anything can happen on race day. I'm ready for anything with a 9.5, 10.7 and 12.0 in my quiver.

The organizers have been super helpful arranging to pick up all the sailors and their gear from the airport.

Sunday we have a practice race. Monday is registration & measurement and racing starts on Tuesday and configures through saturday. I'll update my blog and tweet @usa4.

More updates can be found at www.formulawindsurfing.org

Steve

USA-4

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