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.
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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: Prodigy 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.
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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.
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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: Prodigy 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.
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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.
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Topics: Prodigy Racing | No Comments »
Log Jam
By Scott | August 27, 2009
August is a time for those late summer blooming flowers on the north coast to come to life. My front walk looks decorative and there is a sweet flowery scent along it.
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Straight-Jacket download hose darn ash borer beetles blew out more than a couple dozen ash trees on my lot. To guard against a tree falling on the Amoka loft and smashing my windsurfers to smithereens I’ve called in the big boys. Amber Tree service has a 100 foot crane that can lift them around and control where they fall at. If you look close you’ll see a worker dangling from the crane end.
Having a wood burner I wanted the wood so now it’s time to fire up the chain saw and get busy. I’m now shopping for a wood splitter. In the past I just split logs up with a sledge axe but I’m not getting any younger so it’s time for hydralic power. Below you can see the on the right the small mountain of logs awaiting me. On the left the workers stacked all the small branches and trimmings which will be an equal challenging task to cut up. If I don’t answer the phone this fall .. well you know where I’m at.
Topics: Other Interests | 1 Comment »
Wash and Wax
By Scott | August 16, 2009
I‘ve used my Prodigy 8.5 Comp sail a bunch this season and it was time for a wash and wax job. You might be saying what the heck is he talking about. Well for a long time I have used the Zip Wax Car Wash by Turtle Wax on my windsurf sails. The process is quick and it leaves a little shine on the monofilm. The trick in doing it easily and quickly lies in the tools and having a nice tree limb in the back yard. I use a extra heavy dose of wax liquid in the mixing pail.
The secret tool is the painters extension rod with a soft car washing brush on it. I can dip the brush in my pail and easily reach the top of the sail. I have the sail hanging from a limb and then another line staked out to steady it on the bottom. That let’s me put a nice bit of pressure with the brush against the sail for a bit of scrubbing action.
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nce the first layer of dirt is off then I scrub on the soapy wax and let that soak a few minutes.
A little rinse with the hose and she is looking good. With a bit of protective wax on the monofilm it will stay cleaner after a dip in muddy Maumee Bay. I’ve no idea if Zip Wax helps with UV protection but it can’t hurt.
A great product to use once your sail is clean is 303 AeroSpace Protectant. It can do wonders for old looking monofilm and it’s UV protection can extend your sail’s life by years. 303 is not inexpensive, the 32oz bottle will cost you around $19. However a 32oz bottle will do my 8.5 sail 4 times. 
How I like to apply 303 protectant is to lay the sail on a tarp, spray half a panel, then using a small soft cloth I’ll rub it in a bit with a circular motion, then with an old T-shirt I wipe it clean. I’ll have a couple other old shirts standing by to put the knees on. Given the cost of new sails these days I believe it’s well worth the effort to protect monofilm any way you can.
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Summer Time is Good
By Scott | June 28, 2009
For Sunday June 28 the weather forecast was for some brisk winds west late afternoon but it was already white capping hard when I pulled into the Maumee Bay State Park beach parking lot around 1:00pm. I could see there were lulls so I rigged up my 6.5 to go play. About 45 minutes later a huge long gust hit me that probably a 4.5 would have been good for so I went in and rigged down to my 5.5 which was the smallest I had brought with me. After about 45 minutes of sailing I quit as I wasn’t having much fun sailing sheeted out all the time and I only had my large 160 liter board with me. Man it was blowing and the wind lovers were out. About a dozen windsurfers, a handful of kiteboarders, some jet skiers and swimmers all were contending for a spot in the waves on what was a beautiful Ohio 88 degree day with low humidity. Click on the picture below for a larger size view.
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GPWC Regatta – Downhauled to the Max
By Scott | June 24, 2009
The June 21 Grosse Pointe Windsurfing Club regatta was a grueling one day event. There were ten Prodigies which was an excellent turn out and no one was a novice competitor. Usually the winds in late June are more often calm then strong on Lake St. Clair but not this day. It was hot and sunny and oh so gusty. When I got out on the water I knew the racing wasn’t going to be fun and I downhauled and outhauled about half way to maximum. Still I was battling not getting back winded about 25 percent of the time during the first three morning races. I was getting wore out arm wise and was concentrating more on just keeping upright than sailing the course. After the start of the third race a super long gust hit that leveled me about 4 times and everyone else also. Finally before the last race of the morning I went all the way on downhaul then some getting the top of the Comp 8.5 one design sail more floppy than I think I ever seen it. Likewise I had a firm outhaul setting but with that amount of downhaul the sail is already flat. I was using the Prodigy Comp One Design 510 mast. That floppy top made a big difference and I wish I had went to that setting before the first race then backed off if need be. I actually sailed the course nicely that last morning race but my arms were so burnt out I couldn’t really hang in there on the up wind legs.
During lunch I rigged up my Sailworks Retro 6.5 which is a no cam sail. It’s not very competitive but there was no way my arms could battle those gusts with the 8.5 again. As Murphy would predict the winds dropped off after lunch and I was underpowered for the first two races after lunch. Still I was finishing ahead of a couple others that were battling what I’d call medium sized gusts with their 8.5’s.
During the third race the winds came up big time again. I was almost at the finish line when I notice 9 and JDX were swimming after their boards way out past the leeward mark C. I yelled at the committee boat to go get them which they did which canceled that race. Without a rider the Prodigy with it’s high deck is more proned to drifting away in strong winds than longboards are. If you didn’t get that simply said, ”The Prodigy can drift faster than you can swim even without a life vest on”. In high winds you really need to be cautious and not fall off backwards and boost the board away with your feet as you fall. If you do fall … don’t hesitate getting back to the board … swim fast and hard before the board gets turned downwind and picks up any drifting speed. If you come across a boardless Prodigy rider in the water usually it’s best to go to their board and drop your sail. Setting there you’ll cut the speed of the drifting Prodigy in half. Now if the rider has been swimming a bit and has no life vest you should go to the rider and try to get them to hang on using one hand on each back strap and then sail to their board. If you can’t get to the board then start waving your arms in an X motion to signal another person you need help. If your that third person go stop that runaway board! If you have a tow rope you might even be able to pull that runaway Prodigy upwind or at least stop the downwind drifting.
The last race of the afternoon got started about 3:15 and it was blowing hard and handling the 6.5 was work but fun. I finished 3rd overall in the fleet and bested all the other Prodigy guys who struggled with their 8.5’s in the heavy winds. For scoring purposes they divided the Prodigy group into light and heavy weight divisions and I ended up getting a trophy for 3rd in the heavy division. It was one of the nicer trophies with engraving I’ve seen in a while.
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Board Caddy Contest
By Scott | June 4, 2009
Wide style boards like the Prodigy are not so easy to carry and I have a good 75 yard walk from the parking lot to the water at my favorite spot. After a long afternoon of windsurfing with wet straps and some head winds that Prodigy is a real beast to carry across a hot sandy beach. The last couple seasons there has been a contest between us local Prodigy windsurfers in Toledo to build the best Prodigy board caddy. Beach chairs, golf caddy carts, baby buggies and only God knows what else has been transformed into a windsurfer cart. From what I have observed most of the creations have serious design problems. I myself have made three different carts which all failed when tested in real world conditions. A board caddy cart needs to have several qualities.
- Not require a machine shop to build.
- Be constructed of off the shelf inexpensive parts.
- Be lightweight to carry and small so it takes minimal space up in the car.
- Have enough wheel volume so wheels can roll in loose sand.
- Be quick to mount and unmount on the board.
- Not damage the board by leaving marks or dents.
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There are probably more board cart qualities I could list like a matching paint job but I think you get the picture. The good news is I’ve finally come up with a design that covers I think all the bases. After several uses I’ll know it if works everywhere all the time but so far so good. It’s simply a 2×4, with 1/2 thin wall conduit, a 3/8″ axle and plastic wheels from the Tyco toy company you can get online. Also there are retaining clip washers that keep the axle from sliding out of the conduit. A quick release pin on the axle end let’s me take the wheels on and off on one side. Then you just slide the 2×4 through the straps. Yes I know what you are thinking, yes I had to let the straps out a bit but version two will solve that by cutting the wood down a 1/2 inch .. er maybe 3/4 .. or I could just get bigger booties.
U The Hottie & the Nottie release pdate 06/21/2009: after using it a several times I found it’s working great and I didn’t need to leave the straps out on my own Prodigy. I had originally tried it on one of my lesson boards which I don’t use myself. I wear Tega water shoes that are well padded in front and thus I have the straps openings set real big. I found the 2×4 wood slides through just fine on my setup and with the snug fit it stays in place. Obviously if you have straps set small you could trim the 2×4 wood to fit. The only issue I didn’t think of was for pre 2006 Prodigies that have no EVA deck foam this setup won’t work unless some padding is added. I haven’t tried the caddy on an older Prodigy but likely it could scratch or possibly dent an unpadded deck.
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Toledo Prodigy racing !!
By Scott | June 2, 2009
We had 14 Prodigies registered but one no show and one I don’t know what happenned too that finished with all DNS. Anyway a group of 12 makes for a nice race and a good showing in general for one design racing. I ended up 5th overall. For trophy purpose we were able to break into two age groups < 55 and 55+. There were five races in big gusting winds on Saturday with 3 races before lunch and 2 late afternoon. I was really spent after the 4th race Saturday and should have taken out my 7.5 Sailworks Retro which was on the beach ready to go. I couldn’t decide if there were more lulls then gusts to deal with so I went with the 8.5 Prodigy Comp sail as did everyone else. We surely all were worn out at the end of the day. On Sunday it didn’t blow much at all and we only did one race in very light conditions but I did well in that one which boosted my point total. Below you can see me (# H in the middle) in Sunday’s light air race going to the mark as others get headed bad.
Toledo 2009 Prodigy overall results pdf
In general I sailed well and only had one minor bump with US64 that got me wet. I tried to pass too close and a big gust came and my sail could not sheet out as it was pinned against Rod and I end up being catapulted over the front. Chalk that up as another lesson learned. My downwind sailing was better as I was leaving the track forward and I only dropped the sail twice on the down wind legs. Still those two drops hurt a bit. Some good news was my carpal tunnel release surgery on the right hand back in Novermber appears to have worked. I felt no numbness and this race really was an arm stretcher.
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sold my 1992 Equipe Carbon XR longboard a couple years ago but now I own another longboard. I bought a used 1995ish Equipe XR that is in very nice shape at the regatta. With my old 1985 Superlight and the Equipe XR I plan to enter in A Fleet 8.5 using my Prodigy sail at the Grosse Point Windsurfing Regatta coming up in two weeks. I’m not abandoning Prodigy class just switching one time to see how I still stack up against those longboards. Also if it’s light air I want to see how good or bad the old Superlight is. Should be fun using a board from 1985!
Topics: Prodigy Racing | No Comments »
NCSKG – 2009
By Scott | May 20, 2009
The North Coast Stunt Kite Games were hosted by the Black Swamp Air Force kite club at Maumee Bay State Park July 17-19, 2009. I believe this was the 27th year. The games are a nice diversion for me from windsurfing though I was working. I set up a small canopy and sell a few kites. I also find time to fly a few kites along with demo flying power kites and the kite buggy. As you can see below next to me is a very professional traveling kite trailer store. It’s hard for me to sell much as that trailer seems to just suck people into it.
The games attract a large crowd of around 100 kite flyers and a big public crowd of spectators. Friday is fly a big kite day and Saturday is a jungle of kites in the air day. Sunday is more public flying with most of the crews packing up and heading out by noonish. We could use a field twice the size but somehow people manage to share the air. Most everyone sets up a sun shade canopy at the edge of the flying area as it’s usually hot here in Ohio mid-July. This year a pleasant cool front blew in some nice temperatures all weekend long.
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Alum Creek Regatta 2009
By Scott | May 9, 2009
I managed 2nd place in A-Fleet as the Mistral Prodigy is pretty much king in light air conditions. Unfortunately several or more people that might have been there had been on Hatteras trips the previous week before. That means Alum Creek would have been their third weekend in a row windsurfing so I don’t blame them for not showing. What changed is the Ohio and Michigan clans are doing the same Hatteras week now a bit later. Next year the Alum event will definitely need to be moved back to the weekend before Memorial Day. That will give people a couple week break or more after Hatteras week. Anyway, I had much fun at Alum Creek and it was good to see some racing friends after a long winter.
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Topics: Prodigy Racing | No Comments »
Back in the saddle
By Scott | April 26, 2009
Two That-A-Boys to Mother Nature giving us two 85 degree weekend days and yet another warm day coming on Monday. That’s like unheard of in Ohio for April but I’m glad for it as that really gives the waters a kick start to warming up. I made it out both Saturday and Sunday and boy was I ever rusty. I’ve been down with a cold for two weeks and still have a bit of a cough. My energy level was way off but I still got some good back in the strap runs in on Sunday April 26. Coming up next weekend is the first race of the season at Alum Creek. I got to do several good home workouts this week and get stretched out.
I had spent a couple hours checking the 1977 Serro Scotty early this week and took her to the lake on Saturday. I like to give everything a good towing checkout locally before doing a road trip. Hopefully she will make it through another summer season.
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Sunday I started getting my new demo Prodigy checked out on the water. Man that gasket is stiff. So stiff that the smaller standard centerboard won’t go down without a helper stick pushing it from above. Yes I use silicone spray. I tried using the centerboard like a saw moving it through the gasket maybe 10 minutes to break the gasket in and that seems to have helped a bit. I plan to give that gasket a good 30 minute sawing this week to see if that helps the situation. Also this was the first time I used the newer thermometer track for an extended amount of time. So far I like how the track car can travel fast and free. Last season I started leaving the track forward near all the time when racing. When going down wind if I could see there was a really long puff of wind coming that I could plane in then I would move it back just before the puff got to me. Otherwise I leave the track car forward in the upwind position and simply step back a bit further when going downwind. I just feel myself that I have better control with the mast forward and I’m much less prone to stepping back and sinking the tail which is like putting the brakes on.
B Frankenstein rip elow my 2006 Prodigy is all set to get wet for the first time in 2009. It’s still in like new shape and I’ll be racing it this season again. That’s pretty amazing for a board that’s got a ton of use the last two years. The Prodigy is one tough board.
Topics: Prodigy Racing | 1 Comment »
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