I-LYA Bay Week
By Scott | August 12, 2010
The I-LYA regatta this year was titled the New Bay Week regatta since it was held on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday verses the usual Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday schedule. The turnout was doubled over recent years with some 150 boats registered. I arrived early Thursday catching the 9:15am ferry over to Middle Bass Island. I got my tent set up and was on the water by 1:00pm getting some good practice in crusing the tops of the big lake swells.
Middle Bass State Park campground
Four other windsurfers camped out with me and we all had a great time sailing many hours over the weekend. Friday and Saturday late afternoon the winds came up big and we sailed both days until dark. The racing was canceled both Fri and Sat for the day by 10:30 in the morning due to low winds but that left us full of energy to enjoy the late afternoon winds that rolled in like an angry whale on steroids. We windsurfed until near dark on Saturday evening knowing the RC had move the first gun up to 7:55am which meant we would be getting up in less than 10 hours to go racing. That late evening fun session was surely a mistake as I was stiff and sore Sunday morning from three days of windsurfing.
Sunday morning things were on schedule and the wind was up. I left shore about 7:45am and it was blowing hard .. I stuck with my 8.5 but everyone else returned to get their 7.5 sails or they already had them on. I was kept thinking I should go change to my 7.5 which was already rigged but I was getting around the course ok. After the third race I was pretty spent and now I believe I probably would have done better on the 7.5. However my efforts were good enough with the 8.5 to get a third place flag. I was like 2 seconds from getting a first place the first race but messed up twice the last minute going to the line. When I tacked to go to the line for some reason I headed to the windward mark again – duh – I realized my mistake after about five seconds and then had to bear off hard to head to the finish line where I actually passed USA-064 to leeward and as I headed up hard I let up thinking I had crossed the line .. but I hadn’t crossed it quite yet .. and USA-064 got the win.
My Award Flag
In all this was a great summer weekend of windsurfing. The Middle Bass State Park campground is right on the water with a great launch that gets the westerly onshore winds that blow near every morning in early August.
Middle Bass beach with Rattle Snake Island in the background
The campground beach there with it’s mashed up shells is a white color and if you didn’t know better you would think you were in Florida. We had 8 windsurfers enter this 2010 event. I hope a few more people make it out next year in August 2011 to race and or to just fun sail a few days. It’s a blast to cross the channel and circumnavigate Gibraltar Island passing through Put-In-Bay harbor. In early August the water temperatures are perfect being in the high 70′s. Some days a weed fin is needed but other days it’s not and as of yet I’ve not figured out why that is.
The Erie Islands are a place everyone should experience at least once! There are some strange customs like at sunset the Boardwalk Restaurant at Put-In-Bay sounds a huge horn for a few seconds, then plays a song over the PA system. The horn is so loud they say it wakes sleeping babies.
Topics: Hybrid Racing | No Comments »
Secret Spots
By Scott | August 1, 2010
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$3.00 launch fee
Go down the drive just by the end of the Lally’s Marine building and park at the far east end away from the launch dock. Go up the steps and pay your fee, they are closed on Mondays but other days open like 10 to 5.
Lally's back stairs
The secret spot in the river is about two miles upstream of the Providence Dam. The river is wide and deep here for several miles. The direction of the river here is west to east.
Looking west down the river
Lally’s has a little boat launch dock but at the bottom of the picture above in that spot about 20 foot of the shoreline is small fill stone which extends out into the water a few feet, then it drops off quick which is perfect for launching a windsurfer or kayak.
Far East end of Lally's parking area .. some shade and grass for rigging in.
So there you have it .. another spot to windsurf at in the Toledo area. That said let me warn you that on hot weekend sunny summer days during July and August there is a bunch of boat traffic here. The shoreline here is lined with cottages and boat docks. Still the river is plenty big, you just got to keep a sharp eye out. I’ve found the busiest time is after noon then it quiets down around 3:00. On week days or if the weather is just a bit off and cool you’ll have the water pretty much to yourself. The water quality is good with none of the green algae or weeds we are plagued with in Lake Erie in late summer.
Topics: BAF | No Comments »
Raceboard Class – Hybrid
By Scott | July 30, 2010
The past few years I’ve been promoting and racing the Mistral Prodigy. It’s a heck of a board but we will have to eventually move on to something else. I’ve now got some new links on this page going to some of the other Hybrid boards out there. In the future I’ll probably be posting news on Hybrid equipment in general. However I do plan to keep sailing the Prodigy for quite some time .. heck I still have some new ones setting in the shop all just begging like a little puppy to be taken home.
I’m also very interested in windsurfing class called the RaceBoard Class see www.raceboard.org . Think of the RaceBoard Class as the International Parent for Longboard and Hybrid racing style boards. The RaceBoard Class is a member of the IWAF International Windsurfing Association. A very nice Rules of Racing Guide for Boards is put out by them!
The international grand daddy of sailing authorities is the ISAF International SAiling Federation). Some general Rules for the Raceboad Class were published by them way back in 1990, see the ISAF document at http://www.sailing.org/5710.php
The official listed Hybrid boards registered in the RaceBoard class are currently:
A Hybrid board is defined simply as a production Raceboard 320cm / 10′ 6″ or less long. The Mistral Prodigy for example is 298cm / 9′ 10″ long, 87cm / 35″ wide, 255 in volume.
Some exciting news I recently received is that there will be a new X2 Hybrid/Raceboard coming in 2011 from Exocet. If you had not noticed there was no Pacer 300 Hybrid in the Exocet model lineup in 2010 so I’m assuming that board has been discontinued. The USA Exocet distributor does have a few Pacers left at some good close out prices so see your dealer if you been looking to get a new Hybrid board. I’ve raced against a Pacer 300 a couple times now on the Prodigy and believe they are pretty close performance wise.
Enjoy the new links under Hybrid Racing and be sure to check out the Raceboard class site.
Topics: Hybrid Racing | No Comments »
mast track rope
By Scott | July 22, 2010
My Prodigy track car hasn’t been sliding well all season. It was taking a lot of force to move it so I decided I’d replace the rope in it. I’m not sure but I think the silicone lubricate I spray in there every month the last few years might have done more harm than good. The rope looked a bit swollen and frayed with fuzzies. You would think that track rope would stretch out over time but it still was real tight. Here is a quickie guide for the track rope replacement procedure.
* take track out of board
* remove end cap on pedal end
* pry up the little cookie 1/8 inch .. you might need to use a small screw driver inserting it underneath into the spring and pry on one side at a time.
* now flip track over and ever so gently tap the pin on the pedal side just so it goes in .. too much and you’ll break the cap on the other side if it catches the lip on the cookie plug!
* now push the back assemble towards the middle to loosen the rope
* now tap in the front pin gently
* slide / pry a bit if need be the front assembly out
* take care to put loose parts in a cup
* slide back assembly out
* slide car out (careful don’t lose the little wheels)
Mistral Mast Track - a bunch of parts
* take rope off car and lay flat next to new rope
* For the new line I used Robline rope and since I know it has a bit of spring in it I cut with hot knife about 3/8 shorter than old rope
* hammer ends to flatten a bit, then hammer in a small finishing nail about 5/16 inch on each end to make holes for the track car holding screws .. leave nails in rope for now
* check the rope ends will fit on the car ok by checking nail end goes into screw hole and rope end snugs up against channel wall.
* now a critical step … you must Super Glue the rope ends up good .. I use Super T by Satellite City. Leave nails in rope and really saturate end area with glue and let dry a couple hours then take nails out. If you don’t glue the rope end will unravel from the stress and pull off the screw!
Now the fun part of putting it back together.
* slide track car in
* slide back assembly in as far as it will go again and snug rope against back roller
* now a trick …
a small 5/8" wide metal prybar
* to slide the front assembly in you got to pry the rope down with the right size little piece of of steel as seen in the picture above.
* When in position, tap down the metal pin in the front assembly
* now slide the back assembly back to the pin hole , you should have to pry it a bit with a screw driver to hold in position as you want good tension on the rope .. then gently tap down the button on the pin to lock in place the assembly.
* the button plug in back is off center and can be turned with a coin to either loosen or tighten a bit the rope
* tap down the cookie plug
* you should be all set and the car should move easily in the track with your new rope installed
If the rope is very tight .. the car will move very hard …
If the rope is very loose .. the car will slide too easily ..
Hopefully you’ve got a middle setting ..
Spray a bit of silicone stray underneath the front and back assembly ends so it gets in the little wheels on each end. Likewise a bit of spray on the track car wheels also. Use one of those little red spray nozzle straws to keep silicone spray off your board deck!
Topics: Rigging Prodigy | No Comments »
There goes the neighborhood.
By Scott | July 21, 2010
New London Ohio Reservoir Rendezvous Regatta
There goes the neighborhood is what they thought I bet when I arrived in my vintage trailer to compete in the first annual New London Ohio Reservoir Rendezvous regatta. Because I was doing the scoring I asked for a camp lot closest to Windsurf Point with power. Nellie the camp manager put me in an empty space that was surrounded by big seasonal units. I could even see the water and the lot was close to the shower house also.
New London Campground
I got there on Thursday around noon and hit some good wind that Thursday afternoon. You can drive right down to the water out onto a point that is open so there is good wind from any direction to launch in. I enjoyed sailing on what was a private lake for near two days until the group starting arriving late Friday afternoon.
Windsurf Point
We had 14 official entries in the regatta. However 30 some other windsurfers showed up to day sail on Saturday! Did I mention we had awesome winds on Saturday! When you counted in spouses and kids I think the windsurfer group numbered around 80 people. I had not seen that many windsurfers at one spot in Ohio at the same time in decades. It was fun and there were smiles on everyone’s face as they got a good wind fix on a weekend.
Windsurfers
Regatta wise I managed 2nd place in a class of three Hybrid sailors and 7th place overall in A-Fleet. We ran 8 races on Saturday and another 4 on Sunday morning. We could have done more races but decided not to end on race 13. Instead we did a two lap race on the long course for the last race on Sunday after lunch. That last race was basically a mini long distance race. The award trophies and T-shirts furnished by the New London Village were very nice.
Reservoir Rendezvous Trophy
I’m looking forward to this regatta next year. New London Ohio is about an equal distance from Toledo, Cleveland and Columbus areas. Sunday morning we viewed an eagle perched high in a dead tree top dive down to the water and scoop up a fish. There is a great walking path around the reservoir and country roads to bike ride on. The water is clear and weed free making it very enjoyable to windsurf there. You can see more event pictures on my Mowind post about this event.
Topics: BAF | No Comments »
Windsurfing Racing Newbies Wanted
By Scott | June 21, 2010
Talk to any windsurf racer and they’ll agree that we need more people in the sport competing in regatta events. Attendance at windsurf events has dropped off the last decade as the number of windsurfers with the appropriate gear for racing has dwindled. At the Grosse Pointe regatta I heard Ted S. talk about a windsurf racing format called “One Design Team Racing” . After I gave it some thought I’m of an opinion the format could generate new interest in windsurf racing. According to Ted team racing is popular in Europe. There just might be a team type race in Michigan this summer in Traverse City so stayed tuned.
So what is team one design racing? The race organzier supplies several one design outfits. You divide the particpants into teams evenly by weight so for example each team might have two light weights, on middle weight and one heavy weight sailor. Races are ran over a short course interchanging riders every lap. Here’s what I like about the idea, it would split the normal cost of chartering a board between several people. Windsurfers who don’t have race gear can participate. The team format makes it a very social activity. It gets people out on a course and that might just lead to them buying some race gear of their own some day.
Where did the shops and new windsurfer racers go?
In the late 80′s the shop owners and people they had working for them were racers themselves and they helped promote events as well as sell gear for racing. So now that there are fewer shops nationwide the sport keeps losing traction in attracting first time buyers. What happened was many local shops closed because mail order and online Web sales took business away. A second issue is in the early 90′s there was a lot of used long-boards out there for sale and first time buyers were and still are buying them today. In the 2000′s kite boarding started taking potential people away though I’d maintain it has attracted people to try water sports which might be good in the long run. The last couple years SUP has started taking a few people away but there too I believe it will help windsurfing more than hurt it in the long run. In the 2000′s longboards were no longer in vogue and thus used boards suitable for beginners are now harder to find. Also in the 2000′s easy to sail wide style boards were introduced as beginner and recreational boards. Though easy to sail and learn on they are no good for course racing.
Getting Gear Today
There is more variety and better performing gear available today for a fairer price compared to the options we had in the early 90′s. You might have to buy it online or travel a couple hours to a shop but surely it’s available. A windsurfing outfit can last many years. A brand new outfit that runs $1500 doesn’t seem expensive if you spread that cost over five years figuring you will sell it used for a few hundred dollars when you are ready to move on to your next new outfit. If you do buy used try to get a newer sail made after year 2000. Your best bet is to talk to a sales person and deal with them and get modern gear. Some of the best prices are found by getting a complete kit of last years model at closeout prices. There are still plenty of good used long boards available for course racing. A very nice old race board like a 1995 Mistral Equipe can be had for $300 to $600. With a modern 7.5 sail those old Equipes are still winning regatta. There are new raceboards available like the Exocet Warp 380x and Starboard Phanton 380 and we are starting to see some of them out on the race course.
My favorite race board is the Mistral Prodigy though it’s technically known as a hybrid windsurfing board not a longboard. The hybrid label came about as this type of board is a cross between a longboard and a formula racing board. The Prodigy is wide and big in volume so much so that it’s like having a small sailboat under your feet. My opinion is that it’s ten times easier to sail than a tippy longboard. There are several hybrid boards available for example the Exocet Pacer is a hybrid board very similar to the Prodigy in size. The Olympic class board the RS:X is also considered a hybrid board.
Topics: BAF | 3 Comments »
Battle Scars
By Scott | June 20, 2010
Green paint from the outboard drive of committee board.
At the Cattail regatta I managed to push the centerboard down so far I could not get it back up using my foot. I forgot about that thinking it was a one time thing .. wrong .. I did it twice at Grosse Pointe and it cost me big time. I had to drop the sail and pull the centerboard bumper up by hand a bit so I could get my foot under it. When I got home the next day I looked in the centerwell and saw the problem in that a bit of the board in the cassette well has broken away allowing the centerboard to over rotate. Below you can see like a V indentation which isn’t suppose to be there.
View of the chip out of the centerwell area.
To prevent the centerboard from rotating to far I’ve added a strap on the board using the cub foot strap position holes. The strap I fashioned from an old foot strap. Now the center board can’t over rotate! I got to wonder now if having that center board beyond 90 degrees has been killing my upwind or not?
new centerboard strap prevent over rotating centerboard
Another problem I had was I had not sailed my new Chinook boom in high winds. It was gusting into the high teens most of the day and planing downwind in the chop was a bit scary at times. My on the fly outhaul line system was too close to my harness lines and I couldn’t move the harness lines back like I needed in the stronger winds. I was able to correct that issue at lunch break and that made a huge difference preventing arm fatigue.
I really need to get out and practice upwind sailing on the Prodigy in brisk winds. Overall I sailed well and never even fell once but other people were just much faster on the upwind leg. Keeping in the lead or close to the lead pack is important because once the leaders round the upwind mark they are on the faster leg and now going double or more your upwind speed. So the distance between the leaders and people behind still going slow on the upwind leg widens greatly in a matter of just several seconds. About the only way to make up that time is to get a good puff or hope the lead pack sails into a lull. The next event is the new New London Ohio Reservoir Rendezvous regatta July 17-18 and I plan to be in tune for that one!
Topics: Hybrid Racing, Rigging Prodigy | 2 Comments »
SuperLightning at Alum – Cattail June 5
By Scott | May 27, 2010
I raced my old 1985 Mistral Superlight at the Alum Creek event and did quite well even getting a second place in one race. Combined with the Prodigy 8.5 Comp one design sail the Superlight moves really great in light winds. The upwind angle I was getting was besting the Mistral Equipes and IMCOs so I was quite thrilled by that. But I wasn’t the only one there sailing retro gear. Ted was there with his 1970′s gear. Take a trip down memory lane and visit Ted’s Original Windsurfer web site.
Above Ted Schweitzer prepares his thirty year old equipment for racing. Ted is a formidable competitor and was finishing in the top three near every race. So I’d like to say to all of you windsurfers out there with older equipment (like 1980’s Superlights) that you think can’t compete with newer gear .. believe me it’s not the board .. dust that old gear off and come on out to the next Mowind event in your area! In lighter winds (like under 12) which we often have at events that old gear still rules. I purchased my Superlight with a rig on EBAY for $110. So if you windsurf but don’t have a longboard to race with please note that you don’t need to spend much to be able to get out there and join in on the fun.
So now you know that near any old big longboard can be raced know they make good SUP (stand up paddel) boards also. An organized SUP race using longboards or hybrid boards would be something to fill the time if no wind shows at events. I’ll have to query the MOWIND group on if that is something to try or been tried.
Cattail Regatta – Sat June 5
Sat June 5th, 2010 .. windsurfers are meeting up at Jolly Roger Sailing Club early Sat morning around 9:30. We plan to compete in their Cattail Regatta, the first start is scheduled for noon with party afterwards at the JRSC. This is sailing on Maumee Bay on Lake Erie, so it’s not a good venue for a beginner unless wind conditions are forecasted to be light.
Topics: BAF, Hybrid Racing | 4 Comments »
New Ohio Windsurf Event
By Scott | March 18, 2010
Some BIG news is that there are TWO new MOWIND Point Series races in Ohio!
The July New London Ohio regatta will be held at the New London Reservoir and Campground. New London is about 75 miles east of Toledo and a nice leisurely drive down old route 20 will get you most of the way there. The reservoir is a 220 acre lake so it’s pretty darn big. This should be a great event and as always I would encourage non-racers to show up also and make a weekend out of it. If you got a camper or just like tenting you can set up right by the lake. See the MOWIND.org site for more details and links to campground information.
The early August I-LYA regatta at Put-In-Bay also has been added to the MOWIND calendar. We’ve had as many as 11 windsurfers in recent years attend the I-LYA regatta. This year we hope to take it to a new level. It would be great if we could get about 25 guys and gals out there. Put-In-Bay is just so much fun and the course setting and race committee crews are first class. Again see the MOWIND.org site for information including details on how to register online.
Topics: Hybrid Racing | No Comments »
Spring Cleaning!
By Scott | January 25, 2010
This is the time of year I get itching for Spring and the sun to come back to Northwest Ohio. We got a ways to go but May is just three months away now. I might get in on a Hatteras trip in April which would be great. In any case it won’t be long until I need to get out in the Amoka garage shop and inspect the gear and ready what I need for the 2010 season. I’m sure there are a couple universal joints I need to replace and I usually replace all the down-haul lines. Also I’m replacing my big boom. The replaced items will eventually get sold as used gear. I also have my lesson trailer to clean out and load up with different gear. Also I’ve been watching on EBAY for a used race sail in the 6.6 range. There’s lots to do!
Things have changed a bunch at Amoka Wind Sports for 2010. Early last fall I closed out all of the power kite products I had. Also I sold my kite building business and decided to end the windsurfing lesson service I was doing. Part of the reason for all that was to make time for the Boogie Beau keyboard thing but also to make time for more windsurfing. Too many times I’ve spent a summer afternoon herding beginners around on the inland lake while a short distance away there was good wind on the big lake I was missing. Also I usually don’t feel like going out windsurfing the day before or after a windsurfing lesson. So one day of lessons often uses up three days of a week. It wasn’t uncommon to have a couple days of lessons in one week during the season. Thus I might go a couple weeks at time without any good personal windsurfing. Windsurfing lessons are not easy … they give me a bigger workout than personal windsurfing does. That was especially so if the students weren’t doing well and I’d have to kayak my butt off downwind to catch one. About the time I finished coaching him back up wind I would need to take off and go rescue his buddy.
This 2010 season I plan to double my windsurfing time on the water and hit all the good days! I’m also polishing up the 94′ Mistral Equipe and ’86 Mistral Superlight and putting them on the old lesson trailer. I’ll also be able to take along probably an extra Prodigy and one or more used short boards I have for sale. I have at least four used short boards I need to clear out. Oh yeah one big old Hifly Motion I used for lessons needs to go also.
Topics: BAF | No Comments »
Prodigy 2001-2009
By Scott | November 2, 2009
Being a Prodigy rider and promoter I was very saddened on hearing about the abrupt end of this great product. For almost a decade now the Prodigy has lived up to it’s reputation of being a board that does it all. I surely will keep racing and riding my Prodigy and Amoka Wind Sports still has a couple new ones in stock. Given the prices I’ve seen on 2010 boards across all brands you would be wise to purchase a new second edition Prodigy now before they are gone!
So what happenned at Mistral? If you haven’t heard the skinny is that Mistral’s windsurfing business has been licensed to Anders Bringdal. As far as I’ve been able to deduce all the old shapes and product names are gone as they were owned by the former licensee Boards and More.
What will the Mistral 2010 Hybrid Look Like?
What will a Mistral 2010 Hybrid look like? Well that is the $2010 dollar question and I can only speculate for now. Recently I emailed Anders Bringdal and heard back from him the next day. My question to Anders of course was about the future of the Prodigy. His reply in short was that the Prodigy was shaped by the now former Mistral shaper Mark Nelson. Replicating that shape exactly is out and Anders will be starting from scratch to create his own and improved replacement. Anders hopes by summer of 2010 to have three long boards available. He mentioned he does plan to have one board that is simular to the 2001-2009 Mistral Prodigy but with improved light wind performance. If you want to put in your suggestions (please no complaints) about a new hybrid board you can find Anders’s email address on the contact page of the Mistral web site. The more Prodigy owner’s that relay their experiences and desire to keep the Prodigy Hybrid board alive the better the chances are that we will see an equilvalent Mistral product in 2010!
My own thoughts on a new Mistral Hybrid is that it needs to be very like the current Prodigy. My reasoning is why mess with perfection? My main concerns are on the marketing side. A few good pages on the Mistral web site that really cover the board in detail, it’s one design competition rig, along with one design racing in general would help greatly to spread the word about Hybrid racing.
Topics: Hybrid Racing | 3 Comments »
Maumee Bay’s Sand Bar
By Scott | October 26, 2009
Last summer while taking a bit of a long distance cruise on the Mistral Prodigy I managed to run aground in the middle of Lake Erie. I knew the bar was there but it lurks so far offshore it’s always hard to know just where it’s at. Also the muddy waters in the bay can make spotting it impossible before it’s too late. The sound a fin makes when it is grinding a layer of epoxy off is not a pleasant one. The bar is big and it lurks a good distance off the tip of little Cedar Point. That means trouble for the careless boater or sailor who doesn’t study depth charts. In August 2009 I found the bar lurked underwater at a depth of about 15 inches on a light onshore wind day. However the water depth easily varies in the bay by a foot to three feet depending on wind strength and direction. On strong offshore wind days one can see the sand bar from the park beach. For those of you not all that familiar with the bar in the bay here is an aerial view.
The water depth on the east end of the Lake Erie varies a couple feet throughout the year. In the Spring months it’s high then gradually recedes over the summer and fall months. During the winter months you can easily see the bar with binoculars from shore. Often there is a flock of birds on it or an ice jam. With east winds you’ll see the white color of waves breaking over it.
Topics: BAF | No Comments »
3 Lost Days
By Scott | October 3, 2009
Somehow I’ve been lucky to not have been selected in the past for jury duty. The first couple of summons I did get I got excused because I had already had airline tickets for a vacation. However this last time I had no choice but to show up at 8:15am on a Monday morning for jury duty. By 10:30am I was selected to serve on a jury and the trial started like 15 minutes later. After hearing the opening remarks of the prosecutor it seemed to me this would be an open and shut case. Boy was I wrong and by the end of day two several witnesses had testified and the jury had heard at least three different versions of the incident.
Something I did learn was that if you get involved in a bar ruckus and get hurt you best call the police right away at the scene. Also you better hope you get a good detective that takes lots of notes and photographs. In this case the victim didn’t contact the police till later and the detective only did a couple short phone interviews. There was just one small evidence photo of the injury taken days later just after the surgery. In his opening remarks the prosecutor noted the victim had several drinks in the hours beforehand. However during his testimony the victim claimed he was fine at the time and was far from being lit up. Hmmm … that’s interesting because much of the prosecutors case was hinged around the theme that the amount of force used was excessive given the victim’s helpless condition. In the end the jury found the defendant not guilty because they believed he was going to the defense of another.
Topics: BAF | No Comments »
3rd Place and Prodigy Future Fuzzy
By Scott | September 25, 2009
Congradulations to myself #H on getting third place in the Hybrid class of the 2009 MOWIND point series of races. The award I heard is a nice MOWIND fleece top. See the complete MOWIND series results list on the Mowind.org site.
If you haven’t heard by now the new licensee of Mistral windsurfing boards is Anders Bringdal. For 2010 everything is new and reportedly the boards will be produced in a factory in Vietnam that has PVC sandwich technology. That means the 2010 Mistral boards will be stronger and lighter than most other brands. Currently the new Mistral team has their hands full launching a new company. Anders formerly headed his own AB+ brand of boards and reportedly will be dropping that venture. You can find information about the new Mistral at http://windsurfing.mistral.com/ . Also here is a very nice interview with Anders about his new endeavor.
In the picture above Prodigies litter the beachfront at the 2009 September Higgins Lake regatta. In mid-August soon after the new 2010 Mistral Web site got put up I received a few emails from people wondering what the future of the Prodigy was. Neither the Prodigy, Equipe, new Ventura or IMCO were mentioned on the site. The Equipe name I’ve heard was sold to Fanatic though I don’t know that’s a fact. The future of our beloved Mistral Prodigy model is still up in the air it seems. We can only hope that a new improved version is in the works. I haven’t heard there won’t be a new 2010 or 2011 Prodigy and I haven’t heard there will be one either. Anders mentioned in his BoardSeeker magazine interview they would be looking at the longboard and hybrid situation after Christmas. I hope to get an email address for Anders, us Prodigy owners need to put our votes in for keeping the Prodigy alive. I still have new a couple new Prodigy in stock so don’t be concerned you can’t still get one! If you have been thinking about getting one .. act fast .. they could be hard to come by in the near future.
Topics: Hybrid Racing | 1 Comment »
$100,000 water front lot
By Scott | September 14, 2009
It is likely that I will never afford to own waterfront property. That’s why it’s nice that the Michigan DNR lets me rent some at Higgins Lake. The South Higgins Lake State Campground by Roscommon Michigan is the location for what is usually the last windsurf regatta of the season for me. Every year that I go back it seams I add an extra day to the trip. This time around I left on Wed morning around 9:30, stopped about two hours at the Soaring Indian Casino in Mt. Pleasant and arrived at the campground finally around 4:30 in the afternoon. That gave me two full days before the racing started on Saturday to get tuned up.
To drive to Higgins Lake from the Toledo area I start by heading west down the Turnpike I-80 to the Route 66 exit and then north to Fayette. That’s where I jump on US-127 which goes all the way up to Higgins Lake. It’s a long but pleasant country drive on 127 for the most part. Below you can see my $100K lot with Lucky Dog (my Serro Scotty trailer) on it.
T
he regatta provided me with some great competition as usual with around ten Prodigy boards there to race against. We ran 8 races and my best finish was a 2nd but most of the time it looked like there were at least 4 or 5 guys finishing ahead of me. Hopefully I’ll get a copy of the official scores sometime. I just know I didn’t get a trophy. I did win a pair of cheap water shoes in the raffle. Given all the races were ran in light winds I improved a lot on my pumping techniques however I still can’t pump like Chris B. (OH10) does. Chris can pump off the start line better than anyone and manages to get to clean air every race. Some good news was I sold the demo Prodigy I brought with me to Tim H. who has been coming up there for a few years also. He had an Equipe XR which I bought as a trade in. Tim was very happy to be sailing the stable Prodigy and won the Novice class his first time sailing it.
Right across the road from Higgins South State Park campground is Marl Lake. It has a nice hiking trail along side it I did one morning. Marl Lake would be a super place to do a bit of SUP, canoe or kayaking. The hiking trail starts out easy enough but by mile two the tree roots are really thick. I was tired afterwards because those roots require a lot of high stepping. The second half of the trail back to the parking area is wider with few roots. You make good time on the last half but you got to watch you keep turning right at any forks. The trail combines in spots with some local ATV trails so it’s possible to take a wrong turn. It’s best to pick up a map at the camp office before you hike the Marl Lake trail.
The Girl in the Park Big Nothing dvd
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