8th Kona Race Series-Aug 14th

Still getting wind here, most afternoons.
Longboard, Formula and SUP.
Squid Lips: http://www.squidlipsgrill.com/
Here is the location: http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=28.13131&lon=-80.626262&zoom=16&q1=1477%20Pineapple%20Avenue%2C%2032935&gid1=48631584
Hope everyone can make it,
Kona Man
http://konamanmelbourne.blogspot.com

7th Kona Race Series-July 10th

No racing at this one, wind came up too late.

7th Kona Race Series-July 10th

Still getting wind here, most afternoons. Some sailors have a week straight of sailing.
Longboard, Formula and SUP.
Squid Lips: http://www.squidlipsgrill.com/
Here is the location: http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=28.13131&lon=-80.626262&zoom=16&q1=1477%20Pineapple%20Avenue%2C%2032935&gid1=48631584
Bring your SUP paddles!
Hope everyone can make it,
Kona Man

6th Kona Race Series-June 12th

It's been a while for the Kona races in Melbourne, time for another. Squid Lips in where it's at: http://www.squidlipsgrill.com/
Here is the location: http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=28.13131&lon=-80.626262&zoom=16&q1=1477%20Pineapple%20Avenue%2C%2032935&gid1=48631584
There will be SUP racing on Konas so bring any paddles you have.

Race change

I am canceling the April race as the Movie Star is having the Wind and Surfers Challenge on the same weekend, this will be the 6th in the series: http://www.windsurfingtour.com/?p=981

5th Kona Series Race-March 21st

Sunday March 21st is the next race:
At Squid Lips: http://www.squidlipsgrill.com/
Here is the location: http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=28.13131&lon=-80.626262&zoom=16&q1=1477%20Pineapple%20Avenue%2C%2032935&gid1=48631584
I am canceling the April race as the Movie Star is having the Wind and Surfers Challenge on the same weekend, this will be the 6th in the series: http://www.windsurfingtour.com/?p=981
See you there!

Results, 4th Kona Series

We had great conditions, a little chilly at 47 but the sun came out and the racing was great. 1 lap for Kona, 2 Formula.
Kona:
Mike
Steve(I lost your email again, please send it to me)

Formula:
Vincent(On Kona Man's board and fin, no excuses now)
Farrah
Peter
Brad
Don
Alex
John
Also Farrah gave a great report on the Formula racing:
http://farrahhall.blogspot.com/2010/02/florida-is-coldbut-windsurfers-still.html

See you next month,
Kona Man

4th Kona Series-Sat Feb 13th

Forecast is looking good:
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. Windy, with a north northwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
No boat channel to go out, not many boats out and a bar and grill at the site. What else do we need?
I have commitment from Kona and Formula sailors, come on out and tune up for the Island Style.
If any one else needs a Kona let me know.
Kona Man

Other area racing

This from Tom in Jacksonville:

Hi –

I just joined the Rudder Club, which is at the base of the Buckman Bridge (I-295), on the west side of the river. They are in the middle of a Frostbite series, which includes a small course that is set for one-designs and small boats. I haven’t talked to the race committee at this point but my sense is they are always happy to have more participation. There are a few possible courses but they are normal – windward-leeward gate, windward triangle types, and the course size that they use for Flying Scots would match needs for formula or Kona. Let me know if you’re interested in going. It is open to anyone wanting to race, though you may want to put your yacht’s name and port of call on the transom. I’m thinking Moonshadow for mine. The cost is $10. Registration is from 10:30-11:30am, skippers’ meeting at noon, and first warning at 12:55. I am planning to do the Feb. 6 race, at least to go out and sail. As to the facility, the launch is way easier than the US Sailing Center or Shake A Leg, but harder than the wussy launch at Kelly Park or BRR. They also have hot showers, a small bar, and a fireplace. Feel free to pass this along to people you think might drive over for this. If we had a few boards we could of course ask pretty-please for a separate start.

Here’s the notice of race:

http://www.rudderclub.com/FrostBiteNOR2010.pdf

4th Kona Series race-Feb 13th

Squid Lips again:

http://www.squidlipsgrill.com/

Here is the location:

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=28.13131&lon=-80.626262&zoom=16&q1=1477%20Pineapple%20Avenue%2C%2032935&gid1=48631584

We will try for an 11:00 start, hopefully the weather will cooperate but racing must go on! Two weeks later is the Island Style Classic so this is a great warm up.

Kona Man

Caviglia results

This race was tough, we sailed in 20 kt winds, rain and 6 kt wind.
Results:
Michael Rayl
John Contos
Steve Campbell
Christopher Conlon

Race Dates

I have changed one race date and added one:
Feb 13th-Melbourne
Mar 21st-Melbourne-changed
April 10th-Melbourne
May 8th-Clearwater
June 12th-Melbourne-added
A schedule of all the races can be found on the Shell Point Site:
http://www.20knotsnob.com/

3rd Kona Race series, Vincent Barre report

I arrived today at the Squid Lips launch around 1030. This is a really cool race site with a small private beach that the restaurant let us use for the race. The Area has multiple markers within a mile, which makes it a very good venue to make races without logistical support. Add to that a rabbit start like the 505 fleet does and basically Mike has a way to run an event absolutely turnkey with only participants. What a cool concept.

But back to today.... By 1100 the racers all bundled in a truck basically sent the let's get in done signal. With 34f and rain there is no smart way to stay warm. Only the brutal "pile on the layers" trick works. I opted for 7mm of wetsuit, an impact vest and finally a sailing jacket complete with hood and neck warmer.
We all rigged up and gathered under the propane warmer at Squid Lips Tiki bar.
We setup for an up-and-downwind course on the river. I set out to check the course to find the wind lighter than expected and very lopsided to the East of the river. The few minutes used to wait for everyone allowed me to realize that I was very warm and not suffering at all except the hands that were really taking a beating.
Mike was the rabbit which was the best position, putting him ahead toward the favored side. I chose to let him go quite a ways before crossing his line to get a start fairly upwind in the pressure zone.
I saw Brad downwind from me getting buried so I tacked to stay east.
I then proceeded to several short tacks at the edge of the pressure zone. I had no idea where the buoy was but I could find a series of landmarks going upwind that Mike described to me. Being in the lead I had to compromise making too many tacks and missing or over standing the mark. I did ok tacking 4 times to finish 60 feet from the upwind mark about a mile upwind. I got lucky to catch a gust to plane to and back out of the dead zone where the buoy was.
The downwind was easy: track east as fast as possible and feel the pressure increase.... I jibed ok to be within 30 feet of the downwind mark, being a bit careful of the short crisscross reflected chop from the seawall.
I did not see people close behind so I chose to make a small tack right after the mark to approach the finish line (in the light air zone) a broad reach position.
When I came back to shore I was still warm, which was nice. But my hands were really under hypothermia. When the blood came back it did not feel good for a few minutes.

All the racers made it back safely.
By the time everyone was back I had packed enough heat to go out again. This time free sailing and in a much stronger wind I really enjoyed the feeling of gliding at full speed in the brisk wind. There is a feeling of peace, poetry and solitude that marries itself oddly to the rush of adrenaline of blasting just over the water. I always wondered how to describe this to a non windsurfer. I think that it could be like reading poetry while listening to a music that combines Mozart and Heavy Metal coming at you at the same time.... Anyways I like it and I like it enough that I was smiling while being a wet speck in 34f on the Indian River!!!!

We then all gathered for a very enjoyable lunch. We parted ways under a few snowflakes that reminded us that our day was a bit special!!

We did it!

Winds 8-15 knots coming down the river, 34 degrees. 1 race upwind downwind and
finished at Squid Lips. Pretty cold, my fingers went numb a couple of times.
Have to call this one the Kona Frostbite regatta. After we warmed up with lunch
funded by Vincent and Tahia Barre.
Results:
Kona:
Dominique Valle
Steve Gottleib
Martin Lefebvre
Mike Rayl
Jean-Sebastian Fusere
Formula:
Vincent Barre
Brad Coudon

3nd Kona Series Race-Jan 9th

Happy New Year everyone!
Time to start racing again. This one is a Squid Lips again, it seems to be an excellent race site.
Here is the list of the races so far this year:
Jan 9th-Melbourne
Feb 13th-Melbourne
Mar 20th-Melbourne
April 10th-Melbourne
May 8th-Clearwater
This Sat we had winds of 10-20 running down the river, hopefully the 9th will be the same. We will try to start at 11, this worked well last time. Hopefully Miami will get up a little earlier. The rabbit start worked well so we will continue this.
Squid lips has an excellent happy hour so plan to stay if you can!
Kona Man