Course Racing

[Sam]

Hey so I was planning on running an informal course racing series, very informal but for those of you who dont know course racing has been big in san fransisco and there are some other areas around the country so why not bring some of it to tampa. looking to just take a quick poll to see whos intrested. just planning to do 3 or 4 races about 15 min per race or less. long enough to be intresting but not to take up the whole day. I would keep all of the scores and tally up the overall results. mabye 3 different dates and try to give a few days notice. scoring format would be similar to sailing's low point scoring system (first is one point, second is two points...and add all of your total daily scores together and the winner has the least amount of points.) planning on having a start sequence on the water and courseswould be trapezoids or triangles. if theres decent wind this week I would be willing to put together a trial run later this weekto get the kinks worked. I would perfer to hold it on a flatwater spot like skyway but have acess to a boat so once everything is running smooth could hold one or two in the gulf to mix things up a bit. if theres enough intrest, I will organize the rest and put something together. let me know what you all think and post suggestions or any other comments. this would be free or if intrested bring a 6 pack and the top 3 from the day can divide it up accordingly.

[BigR]

Cool, let us know when.

[Sam]

definatly. going to try to hold the first one on a weekend but we will see what the wind brings. will keep you all posted.

[BigR]

A big advantage in course racing is if you can use a good directional board, it gives you more upwind / downwind angles as well as low end

[Skyway Scott]

I loved that first one Sam. I am more than interested.

[Steve-O]

Count me in. I would love to learn more about course racing.

[Skyway Scott]

Anyone reading that might not think it's fun. Just give it one try.
It was ten times more fun than I ever would have imagined, and I came in last!! :)

[toby wilson]

I don't know, I'd just make you all look bad and I really don't want to feel responsible for that... ;)

[TritonKiteboarding]

quad fin directionals dominated in san fran this summer, upwindability is hands down what wins the race.

[BigR]

I've got two quad fin directionals; a 5'5" and a 5'9".
the 5'5" is faster with little rocker but the 5'9" is better at upwind

Time to lay down your wagers, a six of negra modelo is mine

[CrazyJay]

I'll put my homemade "Woody" against anything out there.
Now if I can only figure out how to go downwind on it!

[kite-4-life]

Racing is half skill and half smack talking(WWF style), and all fun, so bring those woodies and directionals my way. I will "Glide" right past ya, beeotchezzz.(Can we race in 10 knots?)
(At least I can place first in the smack talk portion of the race) Now I just have to learn how this kitethingamajigger works....:confused:

[kent]

This is great. I’d like to see some course racing taking off here. We started the Cabrinha kite race series in SF Bay 3 years ago and it is very successful now. The nice thing is also the fact that you can race in winds as light as 10 mph as long as it is gusting to 12-13. I personally would suggest windward leeward races of 2 laps with a down wind finish. You can count on Garry, Todd, Josh, and me coming over from Adventure Sports to support your races.

Jay, I don't know what a woody is, but if it's not a directional, I'll take your challenge!!! Before the races start, I strongly implore those of you that don't have quads or at least flat tri fins with very little toe-in to get one ASAP. Course racing is totally fun, but not if you don't have the right stuff to race on. We have been working on course boards for one and a half years and have gotten pretty far. 3-4 of us in Miami race on the weekends, and can't wait to check our stuff against some others. Let us know when it's on and we will be there.

Kent

[BigR]

AWESOME!!!

That will set up The "Battle of the Bays", Biscayne Bay vs. Tampa Bay

[kent]

Big R, that's a killer idea. i'd be happy to run an event down here and we could run it as a East Coast vs. West Coast (of Florida) points series.


we count the top 3 men, 3 masters (35+), 2 women, and 1 jr. I have a forumla for participation points that I can publish if we have interest. let me know. thx.


Kent

[Sam]

Sweet well it looks like theres definatly some intrest. Im going to pick up some inflatible bouys and we'll have something going. Love the idea of an east vs west series. Looks like good wind tomorrow and ill probibly be at east beach so if anyone has any other ideas just find me down there. I have lime green SB3s. and while everyones throwing their board suggestions out there I like the placebo surfskates. bows are better than C's but the board is the biggest performance factor in my opinion. rode a underground 152 and a 12 meter C last year and couldnt keep up upwind. Ill post and try to get a few days notice before the first one goes off so you know to start working on the "sick" day but ill try to get it on a weekend so theres a better turnout. looking foreward to this and hope its a good turnout. also im going to pick up some cheap white tshirts from walmart and number them so we can have some kind of rider number or something to easily identify riders.

[Sam]

kent and if you wouldnt mind publishing that formula for participation points or send it to me it would be good to keep the points and scoring consistant between the east and west. also if theres a champs or something we could at least be on the same page for scoring.

[Skyway Scott]

What's it supposed to blow? 15 or more?
I would like to try it out.

[Sam]

Might not have markers by tomorrow but it might be fun if anyone out there tomorrow wanted to simply practice going upwind against other kiters or do some simple practices just to get warmed up, test some gear for upwind performance would be fun and if I can get my hands on some markers at west marine in the morning than that could be a bit more fun. If anyone has any orange juice containers or laundry detergent bottles to fill with sand and use as an anchor that would be appreciated. No promises on the marks though. as Kent said course racing can bring fun to those days where you can only ride upwind in about 12ish so. Will make an announcement for the first official race. now that theres intrest ive got the markers and everything all set. tomorrow looks like a SSE to SSW east beach day so lets keep our fingers crossed and mabye we can get some informal practice races going or at the very least a few upwind speed tests.