Noth Americans

Kiteboard and Formula windsurf North Americans Championship
http://www.stfyc.com/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=358162&ssid=266030&vnf=1

Day 1 -  The first day went well.

In the first race the wind dropped a bit light for San Francisco. I was under powered on the 9.0 but managed to squeeze in 3rd place. 2nd race was not so good. I made quite a few mistakes. I changed down again to the 9.0 for the third race. The wind picked up and the water got pretty rough with tide against wind. Just the conditions that San Francisco is famous for! Wilhelm Schurmann was overpowered on 10.7. So was Jesper Vesterstrom on 11.0. I passed the last downwind gate in first place ahead of Jesper but he got me on the last upwind to the finish. Jesper's results are weighed down by a kit issue in the second race with no discards after 3 races on day 1. Nevertheless I was sitting in second place at the end of the second day.
Let's see how the rest of the regatta pans out.
It's nice to mix it up with the good guys on my birthday!

Day 2- I had high expectations on day two after coming second on the last race on day 1. Unfortunately day two did not start so well. I was a bit too eager on the start line. I ran out of space at the pin end before the gun went. The strong flood current made it difficult to cross the  line and I caught my fin on the rope of  the pin end boat. That was the end of the race really. the second race went better. I was getting slightly over powered on 10.0 so I finished 4th behind Al Mirel. The last race of the day I finished 9th. I was struggling to control the board in strong winds. The board had a tendency to take off on port as we were hitting the chop head on.
Day 3 - The day started windy as we waited for the kite surfers to complete 2 races. The wind had a tendency to build during the day on day 3 and 4. However I managed to keep it tidy for the first race of the day finishing 3rd behind Wilhelm Schurmann and Jesper Vesterstroem. The second race of the day started well as I rounded the top mark with Jesper. However I had to fiddle with my chicken strap as it was folded. Just as I managed to engage my foot finally I hit a piece of chop and I got catapulted. That was the end of the race for me as the whole fleet sailed by. I finished 8th. Race 3 was no better as I got stuck behind a tourist ferry after a good start, finishing 7th. I finished day three in 5th position, behind Wilhelm, Jesper, Al and Eric.

  

Day 4 - The pressure was on for the last day of the competition to improve from 5th position.  The first race was really good. I was mixing it up with Wilhelm and Jesper. The wind was fairly light for San Francisco "around 13 knots" as we started earlier on that day at 1pm. I was in first place going towards the finish line and Jesper overtook me just before the line. However I managed to stay ahead of Schurmann! Race two went well again. I was following Wilhelm and Jesper. I managed to stay close to them up until the finish line. Race three started well too. I rounded the top mark with Al Mirel close behind Wilhelm. Jesper had a hard time with his mast as it broke just after the start. The downwind leg was exciting as Al Mirel and I were racing for 2nd place. However my tactics were not so good at the bottom of the downwind leg and some racers caught up with me. The last upwind leg didn't go well either. I went to the shore close to the gate. It was really light there so I decided to head out to the middle of the course. Soheil was brave enough to go to the wall for the second time and he made a massive gain. Overall I closed the gap to Al Mirel on the last day and overtook Eric Christianson. This regatta was really exciting and expectator friendly. Several friends from San Diego came to the regatta. Lasse Uronen "FIN196" had a good result with 12th place. Despite a collision with the chain of the committee boat. Nina Walker came to support the "San Diego racers". Most important was my lovely wife who did a superb job of keeping my kit in tip top condition. She was following every race from the beach and sharing the ups and downs of a good regatta. Many thanks to St. Francis Yacht Club for hosting such a superb event and to all the volunteers that made the event possible. I hope the StFYC win their bid to host the worlds next year as the venue is truly outstanding.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/W4fcm1xO--g?list=UUajm8HfhrK3JAJMMyErYLGQ&hl=en_US