Hatteras Report

Sorry about the long gap between posts - it's been way too windy the last two weeks. We spent that time in Hatteras, and it was windy every single day. Both Nina and I had to take a day off in the middle because we were to exhausted. But we also wanted to be (somewhat) fit for OBX Wind week, where we both participated in the long distance race. Nina also did the freestyle clinic with Phil Soltysiak; I was signed up for the slalom races, which turned out to be very interesting.. more about that later.

Seeing more than 200 windsurfers compete in the long distance race was amazing - check the picture below:

OBX Wind long distance race. Photo by Donald Ferguson

We did a total of three long distance races, one on Wednesday in wind around 15-20 mph, and two on Thursday in 25-35 mph wind. Each race was out to the reef and back twice, which was about 13 km (8 miles). Even though the wind dropped during or right before two of the races, leaving many competitors slogging, there were lots of happy faces and high-fives after the races. Almost everyone played nicely, but a few racers regarded their placing in the race as much more important than adhering to basic safety or right-of-way rules. Both women in our house who competed had incidents where a racer either forced them to get of the board to avoid a crash, or passed dangerously close (in the middle of the course, with plenty of space to spread out). It is quite unlikely that they will compete in future OBX Wind long distance races. 

Nina did quite well in the long distance race, placing second in the Women's Open division (which had 8 women competing), and leaving all 18 women in the freeride division, as well as more than 100 male windsurfers, behind. I accomplished my goal of finishing all races without breaking anything. On day two, that required switching to freeride gear (Tabou 3S 96 and North Ice 4.7), since there was no way I would have made it through the course with any semblance of control on a race sail and/or slalom board. Since I can actually go faster on this gear than I would have been on slalom gear in the conditions, I managed to squeeze into the top-25 overall, which I am quite happy with.

The slalom racing was quite interesting. From the very first day on, I had realized that the "chop" at the Corpus Christi and SPI spots had seriously spoiled me. The chop in Avon in 20 mph wind (according to the highest nearby wind meters) was much higher and more chaotic than the chop at Grassy Point in 30 mph wind. I (re-)discovered that I really don't like to sail slalom gear in these conditions. After a week of trying and adjusting things, I got somewhat more comfortable, managed to keep most of my jibes dry, and even plane through one occasionally ... but then, the slalom races started. In the second race, I managed to come in in the top third of the ~20 racers, but it quickly went downhill from there. With all the chop around the marks and the distractions from other sailors, I blew most of my jibes. Since I did not wand to be run over (and since my starts sucked, anyway), I decided to let most of the field go ahead before getting to speed. That turned out to not be a smart decision - I had the pleasure of sailing through everyones chop, and then had to avoid all the others who had fallen in their jibes. More dropped jibes, even less confidence ... not a good feedback loop! The final straw was the guy who absolutely had to improve his rank from third-last to second-last by first passing me upwind, with about a foot distance between our boards, and then again passed me fully planing about 2 inches from my head when I was down at the mark. Really? You're at the tail end of the field, but you're such a great sailor that passing someone this closely is safe? So that you can come in 13th instead of 14th? At that point, I decided that slalom racing was definitely not for me, and went in. I could have come to that conclusion earlier, considering that I usually sail way upwind, downwind, outside, or otherwise away from the crowds; but I had previously participated in one slalom series (and several longboard races) where the testosterone-level seemed a lot lower, and everyone sailed more considerate. It just gave me the wrong idea that that's typical.

Nina's choice of doing the freestyle camp was a much smarter one. She learned a lot, and made progress on several moves she worked on. Compared to many racers who displayed the attitude "get out of my way or else", the freestylers were a much friendlier crowd - several high-level freestylers stopped by and gave her tips when they saw the moves she was working on, or demonstrated the moves for her. The freestyle competition was also absolutely awesome, with great moves by top PWA pros Youp Smit and Phil Soltysiak, East Coast freestylers like Mike Burns, Chachi, Max Robinson, and others.

Youp Smit freestyling

We left Hatteras to go to Seaford, VA, where the US Nationals will take place in a few days. I'll be in the Kona category, where I have sailed in before and loved it. We got lucky and scored a really nice AirBnB close to the event - here's a picture from today's sunrise, taken from our apartment: