U.S. Championship Rewind · Techno 293 Worlds · PWA Live · Jaws

Steve Sylvester

Rewind · Berkeley Yacht Club hosted the 2011 U.S. Windsurfing National Championship. Waterhound reported: "The winds here in Berkeley apparently work on a schedule and 2:30 pm is the go time. True to local lore, at exactly 2:30, the fleet was sent off the beach ready for some Formula Course racing action. Most of the sailors were on 9.5's or 10.0's with a smattering of 10.7's/11's as they headed out to greet race committee lead, Darren Rogers. Rogers had set a flawless windward leeward race course against the dramatic backdrop of the San Francisco skyline featuring two laps for the adults while the juniors course had a shortened weather mark." Bodner added: "Day 1...with 39 competitors from the US, Australia, Brazil, England, Finland, Latvia and New Zealand, 4 course races were run in winds from 12-28k with the foreign sailors taking the top 3 spots. Paulo Des Reis, BRA-3333 walked away from his competition by taking the 1st four bullets of the regatta with Wilhelm Schurman, BRA-999 holding on for 2nd in all the races. Xavier Ferlet, GBR-451 holds onto to 3rd place with myself in 4th as the top American. Waterhound Day 1 | Bodner Day 1 | Waterhound Photos Day 1 

Paulo Dos Reis

Day 2 ..."picked up where day one left off with solid winds and a full racing agenda...A solid sea breeze kicked in a bit earlier than usual allowing for the race committee to set up the two for one special: the Formula and Slalom windsurfing double bill...As the Formula racing kicked in to gear the winds once again blew in the 15-22mph range with some lulls and gusts on each side of the range. The infamous San Francisco Fog bank once again performed the in and out dance with the Golden Gate Bridge just off in the distance." Reported Waterhound.

Phil McGain

With 2 formula races done, they moved to slalom. Again, Waterhound: "Race one of the slalom saw Phil McGain burst out to an early lead with Wilhelm Schurmann and Tyson Poor in hot pursuit. McGain however simply had the better board speed and looked to have the win wrapped up. The key word here is 'looked'. Unfortunately McGain headed down to the wrong mark taking himself completely out of the picture while nearly simultaneously Schurmann stumbled during a jibe allowing Tyson Poor to capitalize. Poor cruised on to victory..."  Waterhound Day 2 | Bodner Day 2 | Waterhound Photos Day 2

Wilhelm Schurmann

Day 3  "...of the US National Champs saw the Brazillians dominate both the formula and slalom courses in classic SF Bay conditions. 3 formula races were run in 18-24k followed by 3 rounds of slalom in 20-25k. Paulo Dos Reis collected another string of bullets as he's on par to sail a perfect regatta, something that I'm not sure has ever been done at the US Windsurfing National Championship. Not to be outdone, Wilhelm Schurmann collected 3 bullets on the slalom course followed by a string of 2nds on the formula course." Reported Bodner.

Bodner continued: "After 3 races we switched to slalom but at that point I was glad to listen to my body after having been in race mode for the past 16/17 days. I gladly made my slalom gear available to Paulo as he currently wasn't entered in the slalom competition and showed he's pretty solid around any race course. I'm not sure I've ever seen my gear go that fast! He gave Wilhelm and Phil a run in the 2/4 races but called it quits to save strength for tomorrow and Saturday's long distance and course racing. 3 races were run in 20-25k with the San Francisco city front and Golden Gate Bridge in the background - an amazing backdrop for slalom racing. Schurmann clearly dominated with better gybes around the course..."

Tyson Poor

 Freestyle · Pete Dekay reported: "I joined Wyatt Miller and Kevin Kan in judging the freestyle in which you couldn't ask for a better day to have these sailors throwing down their biggest tricks.The double elimination winners final came down to an epic battle between Tyson Poor and Jordan Reid...Poor isn't guaranteed victory despite landing a Double Spock in the choppy conditions as Reid sailed the heat of his life. The fight for bronze came down to Sophien Sehiri and Chris "Muzza" Murray (from the UK) and saw these guys exchanging huge forwards, Flakas and Spocks in the building swell." Bodner Day 3 | Shawn Davis Photos | Windsport Day 3 | Tim Martin Freestyle Photos | Tyson Poor Report

Day 4 · Waterhound reported: "The fog bank that has been powering the wind all week long was a bit more persistent than in previous days causing wind speeds to soften a bit in to the 18-22mph range. The wind however was near ideal for Formula racing and with that, the race committee ordered up a heaping serving of long distance racing...To equalize a bit of local knowledge the ever innovative race committee lead, Darren Rogers, and his crew set up a course never seen before on these waters. To mix things up even further Rogers threw a rabbit start at the fleet – something not used here in a decade or more...For many of the racers it was the first ever rabbit start – and it showed. The race committee executed the prerace plan to the letter that started with a dropping of the AP flag some 35 minutes earlier. As the boat powered up the line signaling the start, many racers just looked like deer in the headlights, including yours truly who was hanging out with Paulo Dos Reis as the boat went flying by us both. Are we starting?...McGain however was in the back of the pack of good starters but used his superior speed to overtake Sylvester and Schurmann and claim the bullet. Schurmann took a comfortable second."

Chris Muzza Murray

Jordan Reid

Waterhound continued: "With not enough wind for slalom the action moved on to freestyle. The freestylers however were also struggling a bit in the low winds. Low being a now gusty and shifty 12-20mph breeze . Tyson Poor made the best of it capitalizing on his wins the day prior. Jordan Reid also sailed well but the lower wind made it tough to gain any ground on the solid performance of Poor." Waterhound Day 4 | Bodner Day 4 | Shawn Davis Photos | Tyson Poor Report

McGain - Shurmann - Ferlet

 Day 5 · Racing got off to a late start on the last day and Steve Bodner needed to make up just a few positions to finish as the best Formula from the U.S. He reported: "It wouldn't be easy as the clock was ticking down to the last possible start by 4 pm and the possibility of only 2 races. The setup couldn't be more ideal- a chance to race in light wind after having raced in mostly powered up conditionals all week. At 2:45 we hit the water. I was ready- armed with my best light-medium air set up..." It was drama for the eventual overall 5th place finisher, Bodner, and Sylvester who ended up 6th by a 1/2 point after 2 tough races, a protest hearing and a tie breaker rule. Read : Bodner Day 5 | Waterhound Results Report | Awards Photos

Waterhound's  2011 US Windsurfing National Championships Final Report

Thank You  David Wells of Waterhound, Steve Bodner, Shawn Davis and Pete DeKay of Windsport for all the reporting  Results

San Francisco ·  The Bic Techno 293 World Championships begins this Tuesday, July 19 - 24, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club. 200+ competitors from over 30 countries, representing 5 continents will participate. Almost all have signed up for charter equipment provided by Bic Sport; 150 complete kits are coming from France. Actual racing will be at Crissy Fields, beginning at 10:00 a.m. everyday, Wednesday through Saturday.

The event features divisions segregated by age with the biggest fleet comprised of the Under  17 (U17) age division. Sailing right alongside U17 fleet will be the Under 15 (U15) division and the increasingly popular Open Age division that allows for competitors 17 years old and older to still get in on the racing. All the competitors, in both Girls and Boys fleets, will be riding the Bic Techno 293 One Design Windsurfing race board.

You will find more information, news and the all important results at the official event website. The Exploratorium Roofcam will allow you a chance to see some of the racing live.

Farrah Hall, U.S. Sailing's Olympic Team Member for the RS:X Class, recently held a clinic for the junior racers of Team USA in San Francisco. From her blog: "Under the leadership of youth coach, Britt Viehman, I assisted in coaching a Bic Techno clinic last week for American kids competing at the Worlds. Nine kids showed up, from both San Francisco and Florida...Sailors from Florida were wide-eyed after the first day of training in San Francisco. For many of them, it was the coldest and windiest conditions they had ever experienced...All the kids tuned up their equipment in the breeze, and learned more about San Francisco's famous currents - how to start in big current, and which side of the course would be favored by observing the action of the current in various stages of ebb and flood tides." A video from the clinic:

Tenerife

PWA Livecast · Tenerife is scheduled to end on Wednesday, July 20. Koster and Daida Moreno won the wave competition. On Sunday the live broadcast was a Super Session. What they will do with the remaining 3 days in Tenerife is to be determined but when they do finish it's going to be a mad dash for the PWA tour crew to the next event. There will be Freestyle for men & women and Slalom for men in Fuerteventura, set to begin on Friday, July 22 - Aug 1. This too will be another first time for live webcasting from the PWA at Sotaventa, Fuerteventura. (Video Player has been removed)

Kevin Pritchard, of Maui Nerds Production, put a lot of time into this Jaws video of Jason Polakow and is glad it's finally online.