2007 F2 Florida Formula Serie a complete success ---Sponsor by Next Sports Thanks to everyone involved, sponsors, event organizers and volunteers, and especially the sailors, the series was a great success! Ron Kern of Awarded a new 2008 F2 Formula board for winning the 2007 F2 Florida Formula Series presented by Eduardo Owen of Next Sport, of With nine events on the calender, there were plenty of opportunities for sailors from all over Florida and beyond, to participate and get points. With the wide range of venues, there was also a wide range of conditions to compete in, and so heavyweights and lightweights a like had their chances to excel. And, those points were worth it for the top finisher for sure! Thanks to Next Sports, the grand prize for the seasons top points earner was a 2008 F2 Formula board! One of the first to arrive in the US went to Mr. Consistent: Ron Kern of Ft. Lauderdale! Ron, a former US National Tour winner, attended every race and did well at all of them. All the regulars were seen: Fernando Martinez, Eduardo Owen, Peter Ifju, Vincent Barre, Alex Morales, and Rick Randall. This year saw more new faces showing up at some of the events farther from their home bases as well including Tinho Dornelas, Britt Viehman, and Don Wagner. We even had some of the sports' superstars attending events here in the Sunshine State: Jimmy Diaz, Micah Buzianas, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, and Antoine Albeau. Also traveling from a far to some of the events were Steve Sylvester and Steve Bodner of San Francisco, and all the way from Brazil we had Mathias Pinheiro come to a few events. The windsurfing must be good here in Florida! It was also great to see the growth in the Formula fleet as the year went on. Many new faces were showing up to join in the fun this year. 2007.jpg)
Miami Pro-Am "48 hours on the causeway" march 9 -11 , 2007
The first race had just under 10 knots at the starting line, and more on the course. Starts were exciting to watch, with half the fleet on Port and half on Starboard. The second race, the wind built a bit more and the racers were very aggressive this time! On the third race, Mathias started on Port and was forced to duck some starboard tackers, and managed to snag the anchor line of the committee boat. Still he managed to fight back to 4th place!
results: Formula Men
Friday was typical Florida wind conditions: 18-30 knots with higher gusts. This had many of the locals and visitors alike trying to rig their smallest Formula rigs, in the 10 and under range. Every time the sun came out from behind the clouds, and the heat built up, so did the wind. As sailors came in after 3 races before lunch, even the best had a look of exhaustion on their face.
One casualty of the conditions was Gonzalo Costa Hoevel who was taken out by the Brazilian boy wonder Gabriel Brown in an upwind/downwind collision. Gonzalo spent the rest of the day on the beach with ice on his leg, hopefully it won't sideline him for long. Antoine Albeau was the only one out there who did not seem fazed by the conditions, and was smoking around the course in perfect control using his Deboichet R19, which he prefers over the Kashy(he said that he prefers the more even flex, vs the heavy tip flex of the Kashy)........Many other sailors were on Deboichets, and others on the Kashy fins, in these conditions it was hard to say which was really better. Some, including Peter Ifju were using their own custom fins! The F2 2007 Formula board was the most widely used board at the event, and was handling the extreme conditions well. A couple of Starboards were used by Antoine and Micah Buzianas (at lunch I said"nice day for slalom isn't it?", his reply: "I wish...").
The turnout was a bit light compared to years past, but the Brazilians were well represented here, with several taking top honors in their divisions including Mathias Pinhero. We will see what he can do at the upcoming 48 Hours regatta! Team Miami was represented by Fernando, Eduardo, and Alex Morales, Monica Vincent Arche (come on ladies, get out there with her!)) who were all out there battling the conditions, and each other. Other Florida standouts who came were Ron Kern who has switched to the F2 from his beloved Mike's Lab, Joan Pere Aguillo, Britt Viehman (sporting some hot looking Maui Sails TR3 preproduction sails!), and Vincent Barre. Making the trek down for the event other US Tour standouts Steve Sylvester(feels like I never left San Francisco), Steve Bodner (glad I went Formula, not RSX!), Dave (fin man) Kashy, and Alan(12.5 will be no problem) Bernau.
Winds on Saturday and Sunday were much lighter, sometimes barely planing conditions even. Check out www.calema.com for results. Rick Randall
Sarasota Island Style Classic --- February 24 - 25, 2007 formula results:
- Gonzalo Costa Hoevel ARG-3 7
- Fernando Martinez ARG-42 9
- Joan pere Agilo ESP-167 17
- Ron Kern K 18
- Schnur Richard 27 33
- Eduardo Owen US-01 36
- Peter Ifju IF1 36
- Alan Bernau US-111 37
- Alex Morales US-188 37
- Britt wiehman FL4 51
- Don Wagner D1 53
- Monica Vicente-Arche ESP-211 64
Stay tune for pictures and reports , also interview with Gonzalo Costa Hoevel ARG-3
Team Miami
fernando martines, gonzalo costa hoevel, alex morales, simona, eduardo owen, monica arche
Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and fernando Martinez ( pupy)
Ron Kern
Alex Caviglia Bluewater Regatta
- 34 USA MICAH BUZIANIS
- 50 BRA GABRIEL BROWNE
- S3 STEVE SYLVESTER
- BRA5 MATHIAS PINHEIRO
- 4USA STEVE BODNER
- K RON KERN
- 42 FERNANDO MARTINEZ
- 5495 FRA VINCENT BARRE
- 1BRA YURI TAGURRI
- 1D DON WAGNER
- 811 USA JOHN GROESBEEK
- 1IF PETER IFJU
- 11I JIMMY DIAZ
- 211 MONICA VICENTE ARCHER
- 9VA DAVID KASHY
- 421 JOAN-PERE AGUILO
- 111USA ALAN BERNAU
- 3 KENT MARINKOVIC
- 01US EDOARDO OWEN
- 188US ALEXANDER MORALES
- 17BRA GERALDO MAGALHOES
- 2USP TINHO DORNELLAS
- FL4 Mr. Florida
- 089US RICK RANDALL
- 1SV2 MIKE PORTER
- U BRIAN BARR
- 302US Alex Stankie
- X X X Sergio Kapul
- TXN KIRK SIMMONS
- 193 CARLOS REYES
Race report by Vincent Barre:
Hi,
Here is a little summary of the I-to-I race….
After a short 5-hour drive I arrived in Ft Lauderdale for a night's
rest. Ron indicated that tomorrow's start would be early, so we got up
just before 0700. Given the length of the race I tried to intake as
much food as my stomach could tolerate at this early hour. I was not
strong enough though to take the infamous Ron's morning stew, whose
recipe will remain secret to the reader.
We arrived at the beach greeted by a nice 10 knot side-onshore
breeze and because the first buoy was so far upwind, pretty much
everyone elected to go on the full light air kit. I opted for 11.7
and a 70cm 8 fin. The course was simple: Go to the horizon to the
furthest offshore buoy at the end of the Port Everglade channel,
dodge a couple of tankers and numerous 100 feet luxury boats on a 11
miles reach to another buoy out of sight and come back.
The start sequence was simple and the 16-boat fleet hit the short
start line relatively together. I got to the pin end of the line on
port and tacked immediately for fresh air going offshore. It paid
off; I got on a plane immediately and was close to Ron and
Fernando. We had very similar speed and angle on that first tack
which made me feel good because I have been trailing these guys for
the last couple of years. I chose to tack first toward the Port
Everglade to get the benefit of the outgoing current. I got into some
light air and lost a lot of ground. I elected to stay at the border of
the channel to avoid any collision risks. Ron and Fernando crossed
right through it and got much more lift from the current. After a few
tacks I passed the big buoy in a very irregular chop caused by dozens
of boats whose size made me feel like a small bug.
After the buoy, the acceleration to the downwind mark was awesome and
I began to cruise above 20mph toward the Lighthouse. This was the
landmark close to which I hoped to find the second buoy. But first
thing first, I had to dodge three moored tankers and two maxi yachts
that were coming toward me. I had to go upwind a little bit but I did
sail the wake of the yachts, which completely flattened the water on
200 yards. I was like having 15 knots of wind on a perfectly glassy
water. I picked up so much speed!
After a few miles the chop calmed down and a nice SE swell allowed
for some long surf. I tried to change my stance every 20 to 30
seconds to avoid cramping. Fernando was getting closer and closer and
I was hoping to pass him before then end of the downwind. However my
mast foot began to inch forward and I had to stop and reset it. That
put Fernando out of reach. Ron was long gone.
I managed to find the downwind buoy and began to go back upwind.
After about 5 minutes, the wind began to get very, very light. I could
stay on the plane easy but making ground upwind was difficult. I was
getting very tired and low on drinking water. After about 40 minutes
I lost the plane near a pack of condos and as I tacked out I saw that
I was heading back toward the lighthouse. That was not a good sign.
Fortunately on the port tack I had more sail pressure. I assumed that
there was some current heading North and that was really handicapping
my starboard tack. I saw Ron and Fernando's sails finish the course
and I knew I would be no better than third. On the upside there was
nobody behind me. So I elected to stop for a bit and tap into my
reserve water and food. I also knew that the longer I waited the more
chance I would get to completely loose the plane. But it was a good
move and when I lifted the sail back up I had a much more "perky"
pumping and I began to make more ground. Still the progress was slow
and I was getting concerned about completely running out of juice.
Thankfully I got a 5-degree lift due to either wind or current shift
about 3 miles from the end line and I hiked as much as I could,
finally reaching the line without further tack.
Upon exiting the water, my arms were burning with lactic acid from
pumping so much upwind. But after 5 minutes of stretching I was
surprised that I wasnot too exhausted and I felt pretty good. I
congratulated Ron andFernando for pulling a horizon job on everyone
else. I felt competitive against them up until the downwind mark,
albeit my tactical mistake at the Everglade Inlet. But then I just
did not havetheir angle in the light stuff.
After about 30 to 40 minutes Eduardo came in. He was the last person
that managed to do the entire course in the time limit. Joan came in
afterwards but he did not go all the way. Finally, Peter the Iron man
(he told me later the "Iron head"….) came after more than 5 hours of
grueling slogging upwind. Now HE was exhausted. He completed he whole
course but came out of the 4-hour limit. Everyone else had jibed
early and was already back on the shore.
The rest of the day was spent stretching, drinking 2 gallons of
water/Gatorade and having a good time. We had a nice party at Ron in
the evening. After that I headed back North to spend Sunday with the
family.
This was a very good experience. It was also easier than I expected.
It was impressive to sail so far offshore for so long but I felt
fairly safe due to the onshore wind. Only the part in the Port
Everglade channel was a little iffy due to the heavy big boat
traffic. But this was largely offset by the sheer pleasure of gliding
so fast, so far.
Ron did a superb job this year organizing a fun event, definitely
different from running and up/down wind course between inflatable
buoys.
I'll definitely try to go back again.
Best regards.
Vincent. Click here for more
Miami Novenber 2006
Virginia Key; a recreational area that is the chosen spot for South Florida windsurfing on open seas. It can be a great wave sailing spot when it’s windy.
Is there anything significant that you remember from that day, any particular stories?
We had just come back from surf expo with a nice souvenir: the first F2 Formula 2007 that came out of the cobra factory. We were so excited to put in the water and test it!
Were you training for a race? Who was fastest? Who is usually fastest?
We were actually trying the new F2; It took us a few minutes to get used to the new deck shape where you push with your feet to keep the gap closed. But as soon as we lined up together, we couldn’t believe how much easier was to point higher upwind and keep the board stable in that angle. Fernando usually spends more time on Formula gear and is more tuned up, but whoever sailed the new board was going faster to the wind than everybody else

Did you try anything new with your gear that day? Some tuning things that made you faster?
That day we decided not to use plates in the cut out of any of the boards, as the wind was enough to get into a plane quickly. We concentrated on the new F2, trying to see if there was a compromise in upwind vs. downwind performance. As soon as we were convinced that the board was faster upwind, we wanted to know whether it could be fast enough going downwind. Surprisingly, it was easier to take it deeper downwind with the same speed as last year boards! We couldn’t actually test fins that day to see which shape, length, rake, and flexibility will make the new board perform more optimally; I guess it is good to leave something fun for the next session!
Fernando Martinez