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  #1  
Old 03-03-2010, 08:07 AM
kent kent is offline
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Default Course Racing World Cup in Puerta Vallarta

Well the first day is thankfully over. After a nice day and a half of good training with the top riders in the world, we put up 11 meter kites for the first 3 races of the series.

There are less than 20 riders competing for 20K in prize money so the it's pretty fierce on the water. The day could have been better for the Florida crew, but today is a new day.

Race 1: Pin end of the line is favored. most of the top riders opt to port tack start with only 1/4 of the fleet on starboard. I lined up the farthest back with about 6 port tack blockers in front of me including Damo, Farley, Wasson, etc. About 20 seconds to the start you could see that the port tackers would have to duck the first starboard tacker that wanted to win the pin. Damo was smartly the first to duck away and made it free of the starboard guys. Too bad for me, Farley and Steph Bridge bumped (both on port), and forced the starboard guy to slow and go lower. I had a French rider back loop his kite causing me to fall and raise my kite. This impeded the starboard rider and 3 of us were protested in the first race. I have been using the go pro and in looking at the footage, actually i may have won my protest due to be being "capsized", but i instead opted to take the 20% penalty as did Farley and Bridge.

Damo took an easy victory in race 1 followed by Koch. it was pretty mixed behind them, but Bruno, Heiniken, and Gebi were in there somwhere. I think I ended 8-9 before taking my 20%.

Race#2: Suffice it to say that there weren't too many port take starters in this one. I nailed my start about mid way down the line. My angle was very good and I quickly out pointed Bruno, the other French rider, Wasson, and others. Damo was to windward of me and riding with good angle and fast. I'm finding that my boat speed and angle is great, but my upwind board handling is killing me. At any rate, I round in5-6 place and probably lost another on the down wind. This was to be a very long course with a 3 roundings around the weather mark and a down wind finish. I was running in around 7-8 with Damo fighting for first with Koch. I was counting windward mark roundings and thought that I had one more lap to go... big mistake. I ended up with an extra leeward rounding and ended 11. Damo and Koch did the same thing which resulted in 9's and 10's for them as well.

So... after 2 races i should pretty much be packing up to head home! Well, I decided to stay and after a quick beach break we were off to race #3.

Race #3. Just before the start, a few riders, including Bruno tried to get back to the beach for 13's. Most of us stayed near the course thinking that there was not enough time. At any rate, the guy goes off and it's a clean start. Damo, Farley, and I are pretty high up the line on starboard and the rest of the fleet was footing ahead and to leeward. Damo and Farley were ahead of me and to windward and tacked. I saw that they were likely just over the lay line so i quickly tacked and was in a perfect position. The rest of the fleet had grossly overstood. Damo and Farly 1 and 2 around the mark with me in a good 3rd (finaly). Down wind was pretty fast, but Heiniken made good ground on me and managed a pass by the bottom. Just behind were Gebi, Bruno, Wasson. Up wind I held my own. As the wind got lighter, i managed to do even better upwind. round the top again in 4th and was fighting Gebi down wind. we were pretty even down wind. I was going lower and slower, he was higher and faster. he has had problems with board handling down wind and stumbled putting his kite in the water. Over for him. I round the last leeward mark behind Heinkien, but the wind now took huge swings and held large holes. At the finish it was Koch (got pretty lucky with a 25 degree windshift that hurt Damo and Farley on the left side of the course bad), then it was either Heiniken or me as our finish was very close. As there was a mess up with numbered shirts, the race boat missed my finish putting me in 10, but I'll sort it out this morning.

We are expecting to run 4 races today, a long distance Thurs., and 2 races each Friday and Sunday. They are really looking for 12 races to get 2 through out's so we may do 3 on one of the last 2 days.

I'm really happy with our speed and angle, it's pretty clear that upwind, Damo and i have a bit more. Damo is running perfect, while i need to get more consistent on the tacks. Gebi is currently in 5th and super consistent. After the fix if the scoring the positions will be as follows. remember that things will change after 7 races due to the through out.

The top 10

1 Adam Koch USA
2 Damien LeRoy USA
3 Johnny Heineken USA
4 Bruno Sroka FRA
5 Michael Gebhart USA
6 Julien Kerneur FRA
7 Sean Farley Gomez MEX
8 Kent Marinkovic USA
9 Chip Wasson USA
10 Cameron Biehl USA


I'm posting video and images of the event on the ASM facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/adventuresportsmiami?ref=ts
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  #2  
Old 03-03-2010, 09:30 AM
Josh Josh is offline
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Thanks for the update Kent. 3 Florida guys in the top 10 of possibly the most competitive course racing event ever? I'd say we're representing pretty strong. Keep charging it guys!
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  #3  
Old 03-03-2010, 07:53 PM
kent kent is offline
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Wow! Another tough day. We got 3 races in a variety of conditions. There clearly seems to be two schools during the race. We have the pointers and the footers. Damo, Adam, an myself are clearly going very high upwind, while Farley, Bruno, and Gebi are going lower but fast. It seems as though the best boards upwind, are a bit slower off the wind. We will learn more over the next few days.

Day 2.

Race #1. Conditions were a bit light as the thermal wind increase. riders really have to take care to insure that they don't go too big in the early race as we run 2 races back to back and getting back to the beach and out to the course can be a challenge.

The Cabrinha guys pretty much opted for 13's on the first race. It was full power on these kites as the breeze built during the race. Course A was run which is a windward, leeward, windward, with a leeward finish. The racing was very tight at the top of the fleet. Damo rounded top 3 along with Adam, Farley, and Bruno. In the end, Adam, Bruno, and Farley took the top 3 spots followed closely by Damo. I got an 8th which was better than my outing yesterday when i had to take a penalty.

Race#2: As the breeze picked up, most racers headed to the beach to grab smaller kites. For the Cab guys this meant 11's. Bruno went long lines on the 11, while Damo and myself took near production setups.

Farley ran away with this one as he footed into a large header off the beach on the second upwind. He seemed to have found some speed today. Adam held strong in second, while Bruno edged Damo out on the line. Gebi had a good one with a 5th, and I ended 8th again.

After the second race we hit the beach for some food and water during a short 25 minute break.

Minutes before the 15 minute warning, I was thinking 9 meter but thankfully I opted for the 11 at the last minute. Bruno took the same kite as me while Adam and Damo downsized a bit with Damo taking a 9.

The building clouds led me to believe that the thermal would die soon, and i was clearly right on this. Riding to the start line I was happy for my choice as the wind came down a few notches.

I got a great start and held my lane, while clearly Damo was struggling on his smaller kite. Farley rounded 1st followed by a bunch of us in a row including Julian, Bruno, Adam, Heiniken, Gebi and myself. There was a bit of a tussle at the top mark with Julian tacked to a starboard tack lay line and Heiniken short tacked him but failed to make it. Heiniken and Gebi floundered at the top while Farley, Julien, Bruno, Adam, and myself blasted down wind. With the lighter winds, managed to reel in Adam and make up good ground on Bruno. Around the bottom was Farley, Julien, Bruno, and myself. Upwind was close for 2-4, but Farley stretched this one out taking an easy first followed by Julien, Bruno, and myself.

In the end, Heiniken teamed up with Gebi to toss out the Frenchy, Julien. Julien was forced to take a penalty that was pretty suspect. Had he spoken more fluent English, I'm sure that he would have brought this one to the protest room, but that's racing. Know the rules and use them. His 2nd quickly turned into a 4th

After today the results are as follows for the top 12. Things will change quick after race 7 whereby we get our first through out.

Name Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
1 Sean Farley MEX 9 3 3 3 1 1 15
2 Adam Koch USA 2 7 1 1 2 8 21
3 Bruno Sroka FRA 5 1 9 2 3 3 23
4 Damien LeRoy USA 1 10 2 4 4 9 30
5 John Heineken USA 7 2 4 7 6 5 31
6 Julien Kerneur FRA 4 5 6 5 7 4 31
7 Michael Gebhart USA 3 4 8 6 5 7 33
8 Kent Marinkovic USA 11 11 5 8 8 4 47
9 Cameron Biehl USA 10 8 11 10 9 DNF 65
10 Chip Wasson USA 9 6 DNF 9 DNF 10 68
11 Andrew Koch USA 15 12 7 DNF 15 DNF 83
12 Donald Parker USA 14 15 DNF DNF 12 DNF 92


Thursday will play host to a long distance race that will not count for the overall world cup points. There will however be big prize money up for grabs. I'm sure that a few of the top guys will not participate as they want to save their legs for the main event. I'll keep you posted.
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  #4  
Old 03-04-2010, 12:32 AM
patrickrynne patrickrynne is offline
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Default keep it up

keep rockin' guys. Absorb as much as you can from other races since the real gem is the worlds. Sounds like there are pretty strong differences in VMG that need to be thought out. Interesting...


stoked that your out there doing battle. We're back at base training, excited to learn what you've learned.

~patrick
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  #5  
Old 03-04-2010, 07:19 AM
kent kent is offline
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Yep, VMG seems necessary. Our stuff is really better set up for the moderate conditions on 13's or 11's with long lines. Near the end of the day, the wind persistently shifts to the left and then dies very quickly. Farley foots very fast into this shift to gain massive leverage. He is making the most of his equipment although I don't think it is the tops.

Damo has two near fatal errors in the series so far. Sailing the wrong course on day 1 was a biggie, but yesterday he took a small board, small fins, and down sized to a 9 all at the same time. It was the 3rd race of the day, about the time the wind dies. I was going to go for the 9, but I saw the cloud bank rolling in and stuck with the 11. Good choice as the wind fell fast and I had my best race, but damo ended with a bad one.

It seems as though when damo makes a bad call, Adam does too. Remember that Adam sailed the wrong course with damo and then yesterday Adam also went down the the 9 at the wrong time leaving him with a finish position just ahead of damo but well back in the pack.

So instead of a 1-2-1 the first day and a 4-4-(1... not sure if he could have one the last race yesterday, but this was his stuff), he instead ate a lot of points based on poor decisions. His ankles are hurting pretty bad and are no doubt affecting his racing, but he's ready to do battle today. No win comes easy! The winner of this event will pretty much have won the most competitive course racing event in the world to date.

For me, my hopes of a top 5 finish for the series are probably over so I'm really focusing one race at a time. I'd like to get 1 or 2 in the top 3 and try to avoid the 8's. I need to get more confidence on the tacks as I'm being far to conservative when cost me a few points per race. My body is holding up well, but I'm worn out. I will need to focus on cardo when I return as my breathing is pretty heavy on the windward legs. I'm not changing anything as I think my stuff is the best, it seems to be me than needs changing. On a positive note, I did try the new tack a few times yesterday (Bruno and Farley style with no line twist) and I'll be changing to this when I return home.

I've been trying to upload vids from the Go Pro, but it seems like it takes too long on youtube and facebook... suggestions?
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  #6  
Old 03-04-2010, 11:14 AM
experienced1 experienced1 is offline
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Total scores thru 6 races don't look right...looks like Farley should have 20 not 15. So if you assume that the top racers will do better in the 7th race than their current worst score, going into race 7, the scores will look like (one throwout):

Farley 11
Adam 13
Bruno 12
Damien 20
Heineken 24
Julien 24
Gebhardt 25

steve
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  #7  
Old 03-04-2010, 06:45 PM
kent kent is offline
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It was a good day today for team Cabrinha! Damo took bullets in all three races while Bruno got a 2-2-3. I actually did pretty well too, taking a 4-5-7. I even got Farley in two races!

We started the day on 13's with the first race getting pretty breezy in the end. I actually ended up in the water on the first race due to a protest situation. I tacked off quickly and rounded in the top 4. I blasted pretty fast down wind and had a great race.

The next two races we were on 11's. The wind was hammering off the wind and we saw a few spills. Damo hung on for a big win in these conditions. Gebi and I had a pretty close race that saw some explosions off the wind. I made up two positions on the last beat to the finish, taking out Gebi and Chip Wasson.

The last race of the day, was a no look back for Damo. Raced strong and finished fast in a dieing wind. I was looking pretty good, but had to double tack the weather mark causing me to loose places.

In all, i've done better every and am pretty stoked on my recent performance. Damo put himself back in the race and is only 2 points behind Adam and Bruno who are tied for first. We will see what tomorrow brings.
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Old 03-05-2010, 09:18 AM
Josh Josh is offline
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Congrats Damo!! Triple bullets!

Keep us posted Kent. Looking forward to you guys tearing it up today.
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Old 03-05-2010, 11:03 AM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Great job guys, keep kicking butt out there Damo. Nice reporting and riding too Kent. Have fun down there, keep it coming.
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Old 03-05-2010, 05:28 PM
kent kent is offline
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When we awoke, the weather looked different with haze and low cloud cover. This place only works when the desert to the East gets hot. When the clouds reach the land, it keeps the wind machine from working.

Last night, the call was made to postpone the first possible start until 1. Generally the wind starts to fill around noon, but it's been a bit late recently. The wind filled and the AP flag was dropped, 15 minutes to the first start. The winds were light so this would be a great day for the Cabrinha team and one that would likely leave the others begging for better big kites.

Every day it 's been a gamble of sorts trying to determine whether or not to take the big kite in the A.M. before the thermal winds kick in. Bruno grabbed his 16 with long lines while Damo took the 13. I finally decided to use the 16 for the first time, but was worried about getting blown out if the breeze filled. The Ozone guys took 17's, but new they would have problems in the light wind. On a power spectrum, the Cabrinha Crossbow 13 has a bit more power than the Ozone 17, but also seems to handle the wind a bit better if it comes up. Today, when the Cab guys grabbed 16's, this left the Ozone guys out a bit.

The stage was set. Adam and Bruno were tied for 1st, but Adam has one more first, thus owning the tie breaker. After Damo's stellar day the day before with all firsts, he was only 2 points behind the leaders. Due to the fact that we get our second throw out after 10 races, this benefits Damo big time. If we do one more race and even if Bruno wins and Damo takes top 3, Damo would move to first. Damo will toss a 9, Bruno a 5, and Adam a 7. Therefore, Damo makes points on the throw out alone so he is really hoping to complete a race.

We get a start off for a course D which is a windward, leeward, windward, leeward, windward finish. I was pretty lite on the 16 as was Damo on the 13. We got off a clean start and it was clear to see that the Cabs would pull to the front. Around the top it was Damo, Bruno, Koch, and Farley, followed by myself and Julien. On the down wind leg, Damo was way underpowered and was struggling to hold off Bruno, while Koch fell back a bit. Farley was still in the mix. Damo made a tactical error and jibed off, not staying between his competitors and the mark and lost 2 -3 spots by the bottom. I rounded the leeward mark in a close 5th behind Farley.

It got very tricky going up wind. Damo was running 3rd, but the wind was shifting by 20 degrees back and forth. Bruno rounded the top mark with a commanding lead, but Damo had made back ground over the Ozone and North riders. Down wind, Bruno rocked, but Damo held his own. Around the bottom Bruno found a serious lull in the wind and dropped his kite leaving Damo open for the win. By this point, it was Damo 1st, Bruno in the water 2nd, Farley 3rd, Julien 4th, and I had finally overtaken Koch up wind and was running down wind in 5th. Damo had all the stars lining up, but the wind gods frowned and he it a hole causing his kite to hit the water along with Bruno. Next to swim was Farley. Adam and myself made it back to the beach with our hair dry, but the race was abandon.

Team Cabrinha needs another race tomorrow to take the top spot or two. Pretty much it's a winner-take-all for the racing tomorrow. If Damo wins, he'll take first. If Adam wins, it's his. Although Bruno is currently tied for first, he actually needs two races to take the top spot due to Damo's throw out. Farley would be a stretch to win unless we could get in 3 races whereby he takes bullets.

More tomorrow!

Last edited by kent; 03-06-2010 at 08:06 AM.
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