Racing on the San Francisco city front course can bring plenty of surprises.
There’s the 40k+ gusts that hit you like a slap in the face!
There’s the 4′ voodoo chop that can stop a keelboat in its tracks!
There’s the 5k ebb that that makes calling any layline nearly impossible!
There’s the ferries, commercial fishing boats and freighters who go right through your course!
I wont even begin to mention the 40 degree foggy & cold summers…
But this past weekend- we had none of that.
For the first time in ages, we had a pretty civil conditions racing on the city front course with a flat flood tide, sunshine & a manageable 14-22k of breeze every day.
The Formula windsurfers and kite boarding fleet had 3 days of spectacular racing from the St. Francis Yacht Club.
Racers were treated to a combined Friday night series with the kites joining the windsurfers for 4 course races on the outside course; a combined long distance race to Berkeley and back on Saturday afternoon and 5 more course races on Sunday afternoon.
The kites dominated the long distance race with Johnny Heineken taking line honors in 1 hour and 13 min on the 24 mile course and Xavier Feret taking the top board spot almost 13 minutes behind him.
Overall- I was pretty stoked with podium finishes all 3 days!
I introduced a new sail (err..Technora fiber loadpath membrane) into my program the last 2 weeks and finally got a chance to race with it for 2 out of the 3 days
The Avanti 10.0 performed really well right from the start. Despite being built as a light wind slalom sail- it’s got great stability and control in the puffs and great range as a formula rig. The biggest difference from my other formula sails is the weight- almost 1/3 lighter!
Oh yea- its pretty dam sexy too- in a twisted carbon, laminate polymer kind of way…
Steve Bodner
USA-4
Full regatta report at www.stevebodner.com
Photos by Chris Ray www.crayivp.com
Results: St.FYC website
