Alex Caviglia Blue Water Regatta                    01-18-2008

Bluewater Regatta Wrap Up....................

The final day brought us what we had all been waiting on, wind!  Though many competitors were freaking out about the potential for nuclear winds, with iwindsurf reporting winds around 34 knots an hour to the North, we never quite got there.  The race committee was also a bit worried and set the course closer to land, with the upwind mark only 50 yards from shore in the lee of some giant condos.......

By the first start, which was missed by about half the fleet, there were gusts solidly over 20, and the holes in the wind, especially around the upwind mark were just as large.  The famous Biscayne Bay weeds were there too, which added to the challenge.  A port favored line, mad the final races of the event quite an experience.  In the third race of the day, the wind shifted and made a starboard start catastrophic ( what was I thinking! ).  The final race was held as the breeze died off, and as in the earlier races, finding a puff as you rounded the upwind mark was critical to success.

Standouts at this race were of course Jimmy Diaz, the winner, who was incredibly consistent and had great speed on all points of sail with his 2008 F2 and 08 North Warps.  Last year's winner Micah Buzianas came in second after a tie breaker and sailed really well too on his 2007 NP's and Starboard( hmmmm thought he was sponsored by JP.....).  In third was Mathias Pinheiro who was really fast on his 2008 F2 and 2008 North Sails also, and he is really a nice guy too ( he smiles and waves as he flies past you).  Local hot shot Fernando Martinez was hot on their heels riding a 2008 F2 and new Norths also.  With all the North Sails out there, it must have been really hard to tell who was doing what from a distance!  Ron Kern was doing well out there on his NP/Mike's Lab also, narrowly beating Steve "the Professor" Sylvester.  Also in the top 10 were Vincent Barre on the new Exocet/Aerotech, Robert Willes on NP/?, and Peter Ifju on North and his homemade special the first 2 days, and then using his L7 ML the last day.   Britt "I love the light air" Vieheman on TR 3/Starboard 161 was next in line.  The windsurfer of the year Alex Morales sailing a 2007 F2 with some custom plates, and using 2008 Norths, was hanging in there in the varied conditions.  Raul in his first major race, sailed really well too.  Part time local Natalie did really well especially as the wind picked up, with some blazing speed downwind.  Eduardo who was feeling under the weather was still fast out there, and would have finished higher if not for some equipment failure in one race.  Alex Stahnkie came down as had some good results, and another young guy, Pieter Botha all the way from Texas was fast and showed great promise.  Alas, this reporter did not fare very well with the light wind the first 2 days, and managed to find every hole downwind, after getting to the top mark in 6th to 10 th place in each race on the final day.........

We will have some detailed equipment reviews, and impressions coming from Team Miami members soon, as well as interviews with some of the key players.  All we can say at this point is North and F2 look to be good bets for 2008!

Rick Randall  

 

Day 2---------------------   Well, the wind never really materialized today, hovering around barely planable conditions with tantalizing puffs that lasted only a few minutes.  The often present Biscayne Bay weeds and weekend boat chop contributed to the difficulties.  Of course the top guys managed to make it around the course but it was obviously an extreme effort even for them, and they too had long minutes of not planing.

It was quite frustrating that the race committee even ran some of the races, and even lengthened the course after lunch!  They have had a year to figure out what it is we need as a class, and just simply refused to accommodate us.  They did lengthen the line a little but never did make it square forcing most of the fleet to port tack starts.  At least this year we have Steve Bodner here who as the North American class representative, can have some say in what happens if conditions are totally bad ( www.stevebodner.blogspot.com ).  Today is dawning with good winds of more than 15 knots as I write this, so the next report should be a lot more positive!  The much cooler temps are going to be the thing which will affect us today I am sure.

Rick Randall

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Day 1  ------------------------  The first "big" event of the 2008 US Tour began today.  The usual suspects from Florida showed up, including Windurfer of the Year Alex, Ron Kern, Fernando, Eduardo, Peter "I am a shaper now" Ifju, Vincent Barre, Sergio, and Rick R.  Also comming down for the event were the STeve's from San Francisco(Bodner and Sylvester), the Brazilian Mafia, Mr Mathias Pinheiro, and the Polish girl ( we know her as Natalie).  And the superstars:  Jimmy "El Presidente" Diaz, and Micah "formula is cool" Buzianas. 

Today was spent talking about gear, icluding our first glipse at the Black Beauty: the Exocet (wow it looks like a starboard.......but black), and Peter's new project(wow it looks like a starboard) which he put some nice innovations into, like homemade deck pads, and footstraps!

We compared fins, talked about some crazy things like our custom plates for the F2 boards, and bithed about the lack of wind.  Well the race director must have heard us talking about going to buy some beer to pass the time, because as soon as the wind hit 3 knots, we were sent out to the water.  We proceeded to drift out to the course to watch the Kona fleet slog around, and worked on our tans.  Finally the North American Formula class representative Steve Bodner told the race commitee we were all heading back to the beach!  Once we got in, we had some ice cold ones, and some nice dinner while discussing the virtues of Formula sailing.

Stay tune for the real excitement, which should start happening tommorow as the wind fills in!   stay tuned for more pictures, reports and results

 RR

Alex Caviglia Bluewater Classic, Jan. 18, 19, 20 2008

(ACBC)

Shake A Leg Miami, 2620 Bayshore Drive, Biscayne Bay, Miami, Fl. USA

Classes—

Formula ,RS-X ,Kona ,Longboard (anything with a daggerboard) ,Open Bic ,Hobie Adventure Island ,Sonar ,Access ,2.4, Scud ,J-24

After a very successful ACBC last year, this years event is looking bigger and better than ever. …"the formula fleet looks insane, and our representation with the other board classes will be even better this year, so we are anticipating over 200 competitiors" says organizer Jim DeSilva from Liquid Surf and Sail in Miami. "We are anticipating some top level pros, even more so than last year, and a very strong international turnout." January in Miami….wind, warm, South Beach and the best competitors on earth—you can’t beat it. Stay tuned to http://miamiwindsurfing.com/ for more details and pre-registration information….but book your tickets now

Alex Caviglia Bluewater Regatta                                 

 
Performance of Team Florida and Friends                             jan 15- 2007
 
Well it is obvious that the warm, sunny and consistently breezy conditions of the Sunshine State have enabled Florida sailors and frequent visitors to train a lot.  The list of sailors who did well at the Caviglia regatta was a who's who of Florida windsurfing.  The US Windsurfing National Tour is going to have a lot of Florida sailors at the top of the list this year for sure, especially with the addition of the Florida Formula Series to the calendar.
For anyone serious about racing, the benefits of training with partners was demonstrated fully this weekend.  One obvious example was Dave Kashy and Alan Bernau, who not only traveled down together, but who both train together on a very regular basis over many years.  Of course it also helped that they were both using Dave's famous fins!  John Groesbeek who is also form the same neck of the woods as those guys was really tearing up the courses, showing that being in tune with your gear is as important as having the latest gear.  They were always finishing pretty close to each other in most races. 
Others who sail together a lot were Don Wagner and Peter Ifju who were both blazing around the course and whose finishes were always near each other as well.  Joan-Pere Aguilo and Vincent Barre who both hail from Northern Florida were really cooking around the course.  Of course we cannot forget to mention Tinho Dornellas who is just an amazing sailor who spends almost every day on the water.  One guy who spends an incredible amount of time on the water who always does well is Ron Kern.  He sails a lot by himself, but also travels up and down the coast to sail with others, and his results show what TOW(time on the water) can do for you! Two other notables who sail together regularly were Steve Sylvester and Steve Bodner ( hmmmm, perhaps Steve is a fast name, maybe I will change my name to Steve) who are both San Francisco sailors who put in huge amounts of time training in strong winds.  This obviously helped their results this windy weekend! 
 
That brings us to Team Miami, who put in lots of time sailing together, testing and tuning equipment and generally helping each other out.  Fernando Martinez is just plain fast!  But all the time that he spends sailing with Eduardo and the Movie Star really pushes him to that next level.  Rick is just getting back into the Formula thing and sailing with those 3 guys is really getting him up to speed quickly.  We all spend a lot of time examining our gear, switching boards, fins, and rigs to see what is working the best.  It certainly helps that we have access to all that good stuff from F2 and those really fast North Sails!
 
With only a few exceptions this weekend, most sailors were on very similar equipment.  Of course Micah was on the new Neil Pryde sails, and a JP formula board(not! they don't make one!).  There were a few guys sailing on L7 or L6 Mike's Labs such as the Steve's(North Sails), Ron(NP), and Peter(North).  The rest of the fleet was mostly on North Sails and F2 formula boards, a lucky few ( Gabriel, Jimmy, Mathias, Fernando, Dave, and Alex)  had the 2007, the rest were on 2006.  The one thing that was really dominating the fleet was the Dave Kashy fins!  Those things are really fast!  DAVE, MY BROTHER, GO TO THAILAND AND GET THEM MASS PRODUCED MAN!  The world wants them!  

Sunday                                                                   January 14, 2007

Well the spirit of Alex Caviglia was certainly present at this regatta!  The final day had wind that was just as strong, and even more consistent than the preious days.  As sailors showed up at Shake a Leg, the mood was pretty universal, "oh, another day of 20 knots....".  The previous 2 days had definitely taken their toll on the fleet, and it was good that the race committee ran only 3 final races, otherwise there might have been even more serious injuries than had allready taken place.
The mighty Micah showed what it takes to be a champion, by manageing straight bullets once again.  But just on his heels was Gabriel Browne of Brazil.  The 15 year old wonder will be one to watch for the future (anyone remember a kid named Bjorn?).  Steve Sylvester, past president of US Windsurfing was in 3rd place, and showed no signs of wanting to retire to the Kona class!  The other Brazilian blazer, Mathias Pehniero, came in 4Th.  And gracing the event while on layover, was none other than World Cup superstar Robert Teriitehau (interview).  He was ripping around the course after a nearly 10 year layoff from racing!
 
Thanks to the "goodie bag" that was Eduardo's van, lots of sailors enjoyed 3 great days of racing on some top of the line gear from North Sails and F2 (thanks Eduardo!!).  Except for the top of the fleet, many of the results are being disputed, therefore it is possible that this race may be dropped from the scoring for the Florida Formula Series....... Though it was obvious that a lot of effort was made to pull off this regatta, it had some serious issues which need to be resolved for it to be a true success in coming years.
 
Team Miami went at it once again, with some impressive sailing from Fernando, Movie Star, Eduardo, and Monica.  Rick made it out for the first race, but headed in afterward after pulling a muscle, but did get a good head start on beer drinking to even out with the Movie Star.  We all decided that we are going to spend plenty more time working on the leg excercises at the gym from now on, in order to handle the downwind sailing in strong winds.
 
stay tune for full reports , results and pictures.
 
This is just the beginning, and Formula sailors are definitely going to Take the Power Back!
 
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Saturday                                January 13, 2007

Day 2 of the race had slightly lighter winds of around 18 knots, but it was steady unlike Fridays’ gusty chaos. The only thing chaotic about day 2 was the course changes by the race committee! About half the fleet was confused about what course to sail, and where the marks were located. The pile of forms for scoring corrections was about 3 inches thick apparently.

The leaders at the top of the pack stayed pretty much the same as on Friday, with Micah still blazing around the course in first. Jimmy Diaz was close to him until he managed to almost amputate his toe on the Kashy fin he was using! A school of sharks was seen following him into shore as he headed in for some stitches. The Brazilian boys were battling it out for the next couple of spots again, with Steve Sylvester just behind them. Dave Kashy managed to rise from the dead, and was up there as well. The wind got just a bit lighter after lunch on Gilligan’s Island, but was still well over 15 knots. There were a total of 5 races, 3 before lunch and 2 after.  

 As for Team Miami, Fernando once again was showing great speed with some very high finishes. Eduardo continued to show good speed as well, until he had some equipment failure and had to go in for some repairs. The Movie Star was very consistent in his sailing, being very fast and taking it a little easy going downwind which worked very well. Rick was going very well upwind, but managed to get lost and generally sailed the wrong course most of the time. His strategy was to make sure he always had clean air. On another note to all racers out there, Rick suggests that you not use duct tape to make your sail numbers, as the race committee will usually just not even score you if your numbers are not pretty. Also sailing very well in the high wind conditions was Monica, the star female of Team Miami, and taking a break from the fashion circuit Sergio came out too.

Day 1    F…ing Fast                 Miami  jan-12-2007

 
 Well The first day of the Alex Caviglia Bluewater Regatta is done, and what a day! The wind forecast was 15-20, and that just proves the weathermen are always wrong. Wind readings in the area showed it to be steady over 20 all day long. While the RSX sailors were out in force, the Formula sailors were there in force to take the power back!

It looked like a North Sails one design event in the Formula fleet, with a large majority of sailors going Warp Speed around the course. The new F2 V was being ridden by some of the top sailors in the event, and they were going really well. The Brazilians were killing it at the top of the fleet, just behind Micah who showed why he was a World Champion, and Jimmy Diaz was in the hunt at the top of the fleet too. Other Rock Stars in attendance included Dave (wrong way) Kashy, Alan (me like big sails) Bernau, Ron (Canadian National Champion) Kern, Steve ( you call this wind, I’m from San Francisco) Sylvester, as well as Peter and Don from North Florida. Even the great Tinho Dornales made an appearance on Formula gear. Of course Team Miami was there to represent. Eduardo was flying, Fernando was rocking, Monica was styling and there were some mighty battles between the Movie Star and Rick. On 2 separate occasions, as Rick tried to pass Alex going downwind, he was defeated by the invisible force field created by the Movie Star personality, resulting in tremendous wipeouts……….............................With a forecast for the same, possibly stronger winds for tomorrow, stay tuned for more excitement!

Jimmy Diaz ISV-11 ,Micah Buzianis US-34,  to see the complete list click here