2008 CITGO US Wind & Water Open Presented by the Corpus Christi Caller Times May 9-11, 2008

2008 U S WIND AND WATER OPEN

DAY 1 - Friday was a 10.0 day for most with southeast winds in the 20 – 25 mph range.   Jon Jay won all five races with Todd Selby, Guy Miller, Pieter Botha & Ken Merten generally following.

DAY 2 – Southeast winds in the teens.  Jon Jay again took five wins with Todd Selby, Guy Miller, Miles Borash and Karen Marriott following. At the end of day 2 unofficial results indicated it was: Jon Ernst (F2-Maui Sails), Todd Selby (Starboard-Sailworks), Guy Miller (Lab-Mauisails), Pieter Botha (Starboard-Sailworks), Karen Marriott (Starboard-Saverne) and Myles Borash (F2-North).

DAY 3 - Sunday morning brought north winds gusting into the 40’s.  The slalom course was set and races began afternoon with onshore winds gusting into the 30’s.  Jon Jay took the first race and Todd Selby won the second.

formula  results       1st: John Jay Ernst      2nd: Todd Selby         3rd: Guy Miller

REPORT BY : kirk simmons ( TXN)

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CORPUS CHRISTI — Saturday was a fun day for free, said spectators lining the McGee Beach seawall at the 2008 Citgo U.S. Wind & Water Open.  "It's a great family activity," said Karol Mann, peering through binoculars to track one kite-boarder through buoy gates. "The weather's perfect." The sand was dotted with beachgoers as about 20 kite-boarders and windsurfers staged their rigs at 1 p.m. for the delayed start of the water events for the three-day event formerly known as the Velocity Games. The rights shifted last year to Epic Sports and Entertainment LP, which offered $7,500 in prize money for competitors.  Four 15-foot-tall crayon corner posts of a children's jump attraction shimmied to the rapid bass of Sean Paul reggae rhythm at McCaughan Park, across from the beach, which was staged with family activities and refreshment stands and hosted new land-based events. 

This year's roster for the water events included a former Olympic ski jumper, an international pro from Sweden and a local dentist who is a grand master windsurfer, organizers said. We needed to wait for the wind," said Kirk Simmons, 49, a petroleum land man from Huntsville who was cinching a crossbar on his sailboard. "It hasn't drawn the international crowd after terrible wind last year, but Corpus Christi still has a name for wind."   here for more http://www.caller.com/news/2008/may/...guys-and-gals/

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2007 Cheniere Energy U.S. Open Windsurfing Regatta

Hot Time In Texas

 The weather is being a bit difficult this year, with an unusual weather pattern set up over the normally windy Corpus Christi area.  Winds that normally come from the South are out of the north today.  Yesterday, the first day of competition brought a thunderstorm driven easterly breeze that got the racing started.  Doug Hunt, the Principal Race Officer, got the racing going as soon as he saw sailors planning consistently.  The first race saw good steady wind, but many competitors did not make the start, due to a little confusion on their parts.  The second race had wind at the start that was around 10 knots, and then as the rain came through a few minutes later, the wind became a bit more squirrelly.  The wind died off to the point that the race was abandoned.  The third race had decent wind, but it was very puffy and those who found the right line prevailed.  The final race of the day was to be 2 laps, and the wind was becoming lighter all the time.  The top places went to the guys who had the stamina to pump through the lulls, and who had been spending time recently sailing in similar conditions on the European circuit. 

 

Racing is on hold at this time, waiting for the breeze to clock around out of the East or South, which may happen around 2 this afternoon. 

 

 

Lots of the downtime is being spent discussing equipment and tuning.  A huge majority of the racers are using the F2 Formula board, and Gonzalo has been sharing some tuning secrets learned at the last few events in Europe.  The fin of choice is still the Kashy, for those lucky enough to have them. 

 

Hopefully, the next report will be filled with a bit more excitement, but that will depend on the wind.  The F2 Speed challenge is scheduled for today, and Doug is really hoping that we will get the required 20 knots to pull off a slalom round before the end of the event.

 

 click here for pictures 

 

Results:

 

1. Gonzalo Costa-Hoevel
2. Wilhelm Schurman
3. Seth Besse