Martin Abete is pushing hard on Race Board                              04-14-2008

 

Where are you from?

I’m from Argentina

Raceboard_dia_2 

How long have you been windsurfing?

I start in 1989, racing in long boards(Division 1, Raceboard, IMCO)my whole life.  In 2002, I moved to Miami to study and I didn’t windsurf at all till last year. I look in google for windsurfing in Miami, and I saw my old friend Fernando Martinez in the Miami Pro-Am web page.  I contacted Fernando, and then he introduced me Eduardo and Alex.

 

How long have you been doing Formula?

Last year, I kept training for the Raceboard Worlds in Argentina where I finished 7 nd in Light and 13 in the general. This year, Eduardo Fernando and Tiyo convinced me to start with Formula. They have been helping me a lot.

 

What do find exciting about Formula saling?

It is so much fun than Longboards, more speed and so much more alternatives.

 

So how do you like Miami?

It is nice in here. The weather is perfect to practice this sport the whole year.

Imgp7034 

Thanks for answering these questions, see you soon!

You welcome. See you

Island Style Classic Kona Report  by Mike Rayl

 
Day one:
 It was breezy when we arrived on Sat. winds were 5 to 18 gusty and shifting. 2 races in the morning with an upwind, then broad reach, downwind, broad reach and upwind to finish. 2 laps and a time of 30 minutes on average. Darby Marriott, Bruce Matlack, Steve Gotlieb and  John Cerchio were the front runners. I had trouble with the higher winds, possibly pointing too high on the upwind. Going downwind the wind would be light then a gust would try to throw you over the front of the board. Not enough to plane on the downwind.
Day two:
 The day started out with no wind and I tried some stand up paddling with the Kona, nice to cruise around and see what was swimming under the water. I noticed the wind was picking up and went in to tell the race committee that the wind was coming up and I would sail out to test it. There was barely enough wind to race and we called everyone out to a lot of complaining. I knew that this was better wind for me. The first race the wind switched at the start and most started on Port with a straight upwind to the mark, no tacking. Everyone was bumping into each other at the mark rounding. I was second in Kona with Steve Gottlieb in first and Bruce Matlack in third. Bruce passed me on the reach but I passed him to gain back second. The next race the line was good and most started on Starboard. A lot were over but the race committee said go anyway. I started way back and tacked to Port immediately to gain clean air. A good choice as the other Konas were in dirty air behind the longboards. I rounded the windward mark in first for Kona and held on to the finish.
 The racing finished up with Steve Gottlieb in first, John Cerchio in second I took third overall. There were awards for age groupings also. Good sailing, good wine, Steaz energy drinks and lots of fun courtesy of the Sarasota Sailing Squadron.
Austin Emser                                                                       02-16-2008   

        I   I started windsurfing because my mom signed me up for a summer camp so my friend and I could do something together. I was mad at the time because this “windsurfing” was going to cut my vacation short by a week. However, I took the lessons and instantly fell in love with it. This February will be my 7th month windsurfing.

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The part about windsurfing that I enjoy so much is the thrill you get from the speed and the people associated with the sport. Everyone is so nice and helpful, and both of my coaches (Britt & John) are awesome.

·         At my first regatta I really liked the excitement of competing, but it was more about having fun and a great learning experience.

·         I use the Exocet Kona One. The Kona’s true beauty is that you can sail it in almost every condition, and it’s a great way to get into racing. For our team’s practices, there are 10 knots plus, maybe 1 out of 5 times, so the Kona works great.  Plus, right now I couldn’t afford formula. The Kona class is a great and  inexpensive way for me to get into regattas since it’s a one design class.

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  I like practicing racing at the sailing center a lot, but sometimes it’s just fun to get out on the water and go freeriding.

·         I loved the Alex Caviglia regatta and plan on doing it next year. It was really exciting and I learned a ton about racing.

·         I think a great way of expanding the team would be to try to get public schools involved in the area. I’m sure many kids would fall in love with the sport just as I did, and that would create a greater awareness for the sport.

·         Looking out the window, geometry is about the furthest thought from my mind. All I can think about is getting out of school and heading out on the water. My dad is a math teacher at my school, so that keeps me from straying too far ;-)

·         I love being a windsurfer. None of my friends understand why I care that a front is coming next Tuesday and the winds are going to be great, and why I would possibly want a front to come that brings all that cold weather to Florida.

·         My greatest dream is to someday race formula. I really want to compete in that class and be a part of that crowd. I think that would be a thrill to compete and work my way up the ranks.

·         I love it and wouldn’t give it for the world. It’s pretty groovy being able to go fast, enjoy the water, and I’m stoked to use words right out of the 80’s. It’s just such an exciting, thrilling, rewarding sport. Before windsurfing I was always searching for something that I liked to do. Most kids play football, basketball, or skateboard but I windsurf and am happy and proud of it.

·         My parents are great and I am really happy they make time to take me windsurfing. My parents are always busy, but they make time to get me out on the water because they know I love it so much. I thank them by telling them that I do appreciate all their time and that it means a lot. The whole thanking them thing is great for when I have to go windsurfing next Saturday and Sunday.

With a growing emphasis on longboards and light air windsurfing in the windsurfing community, Kona’s are taking off.  This coming year you will start to see more teenagers sailing Kona’s at Florida races.  The windsurfing team from Tampa Bay, Florida was formed with cooperation with North Beach Windsurfing School and Clearwater Community Sailing Center was shaped much akin to a high-school dinghy team or Optimist team.  The team members skills are increasing quickly with twice-weekly practices. Practices are broken up into freestyle, racing, when there is wind, planing skills. The Kona concept is works great, not only because the board is easy to use, but also because it is an affordable one-design concept. The members started windsurfing in this summer and are doing rail-rides, heli-tacks, starting to plane, and beginning to learn how to race. The neat thing is that the kids are competitive and if one starts to get a trick or win a race then it drives the other even harder. The parents are stoked that the kids are involved in something productive. The biggest indicator of success is that the kids are upset if they have to miss a practice for whatever reason.  pictures soon..........

Miami Pro-Am               Kona report by  : Mike Rayl         11-18-2007

 

    Day one: The winds were light all day with some chop generated by boats. Sailing upwind was fairly easy with few shifts requiring tacking. Bruce Matlack dominated in the light air except 1 race where   John Cerchio finished first. 4 races were completed, some 2 laps. Most lasted 15 to 20 minutes. A little cloudy and cool winds.

 Day two. Winds were lighter and steadier. The course was set up with Port favoring so two sailors started the 1st race on Port and cleared the remaining fleet by 10 seconds. After the 1st race some sailors tried to block the Port starters by running down the line but the favored wind and one less tack still gave port start the advantage. Positions changed a lot in these races, some sailors fell, some over or understood the windward mark. The wind was too light for Formula at times so Kona had 4 races to Formula 2.

 Bruce Matlack held on to 1st, 2nd John Cerchio and Steve Gottlieb secured 3rd.

 Kona sailored partied hard and had a lot of fun.

 The Movie Star and Simona put on a great event (as always).

Kona Fleet  report  by :    Jim Desilva                 october -30-2007

 

“A pantload of Konas showed up at Liquid Surf and Sails Fall Showdown, hosted by the Fort Walton Yacht Club.  Steve and Marty from Aerotech have jumpstarted the Kona Class here in America and the concept of it is good….2 sail sizes to equal up the racing (based on body weights), no pumping allowed to make the class more just pure sailing vs. an air rowing contest and a one design board that works in all conditions.

The two sail sizes are interesting.  One is a 7.4, the other is a 9.0.  Both are no cams with little luff curve, so the rigging is very easy but there is a large tuning range available to sailors of all sizes for all conditions.  With a number of Prodigy sailors whom I used to race against now in Kona, I had some good benchmarks as to speed and what the difference in sail sizes amounts to.  For instance, in lighter and medium winds, Darby would always kick my ass due to his lighter body weight.  Now, with him on a 7.4 and my more portly size sporting the 9.0, we were exactly the same speed around the course….I know this to be true because he passed me some, I passed him some and the racing was tight.  In the old days, everybody had the same rig and they broke things out by weight classes….this is actually better because all the sailors are the same speed now, so the emphasis is on sailing, not weight and conditions.

And the other part of Kona sailing is the no pumping rule.  You can’t pump.  At all.  Ever.  So Jim had to find this out the hard way, and disqualified himself from two races, one when he pumped all the way down the reach in marginal planning conditions, passed Steve and Bobby right at the finish who were just standing there, and suddenly realized that the Kona rule supercedes the rule of normal sailing, which allows pumping to promote a plane.  We may never see Al Simmons in Kona, but Jim was slowly figuring it out as the regatta went on (relax…no pumping, take it easy…)  But what no pumping does is to even the field between those who might be more physical and those who are less and put the emphasis back onto strategy and technique and less on physicality.  I believe that this is the correct direction for all new racers to pursue and it is also good for those who got out of racing because of the ridiculous amount of gear needed or they were intimidated by the physical nature of RS-X style sailing.  The racing in Kona is very tight and even, works in all conditions (we raced the first day in 1-4, second day in 12-20, the third day in 7-14) and requires one sail.  And the board is something that beginners can sail on but it works pretty good when it is windy.  I hear Pepi even sailed it in the Gorge Blowout, which is the ultimate test of high wind racing.

The sail has a huge adjustment range.  Because of this, the tuning is a major issue and you have to spend some time on the board to understand what works and what does not.  Baggy is good in light wind, twistier and flatter is better when it is windy, but the question is to what degree because the luff curve looks like it came off an original windsurfer or something.  There is no sliding track, so placement of the mast foot is important, and you can sail it upwind with the dagger up, but this happens much later than it does on an RS-X or Prodigy due to the shape of the board.  But the duck tail works when it is windy, and the board reaches very nicely with the dagger up downwind.  It also gybes great, which is an added bonus.  An adjustable outhaul is highly recommended, maybe even a North Power XT on the base for adjustments out in the water to the downhaul, but you got to ask Steve as to whether this is legal….

Local Miami Kona champion Rafael Sanchez, when asked for tips on making the board go fast, could only comment on how he liked the Hibiscus flowers on the deck and how they matched his sailing shorts so nicely.  Though fashion is important, perhaps we can come up with some more technical info on sailing the board at another time.  Rafael was not able to make this regatta but vows to defend his Kona Honor at the next event.

Well, with no pumping and everybody going the same speed, guess what?  The best sailor wins, and that was Sonic the Hedgehog in first, Newman Darby in second (both on 7.4’s) Jim DSQ in third and Bob Dog the event Organizer in 4th.  These two both were on 9.0’s.  So give it a try at the next opportunity, the Miami Pro Am in November, the i to i in December or the Caviglia in January at Shake A Leg.   If you are looking for a fun and simple way to race, Kona is the answer….and the fleet is getting bigger.

And let’s give it up for Movie Star, the AWIA Windsurfer of the Year!!!!!  Nobody is more deserving, but we will talk about that later.”