Very nice write up Arden. You bring the whole vibe of the event back with your words. Good stuff!
----- Original Message -----
From: Arden Anderson <ardenalan@...>
Date: Monday, May 25, 2009 3:22 am
Subject: [mowind] 2009 Dam Jam Regatta Report
To: ymowind <mowind@yahoogroups.com>
> Visit http://www.mowind.org/wp/?p=463 for news on the race last
> weekend in Des Moines. A "plain-text" version of the report is
> included below:
>
> The 2009 Saylorville Dam Jam windsurfing race was held on Lake
> Saylorville outside Des Moines, IA last weekend (May 16-17). It
> was successfully run by an International Race Committee with
> Uffe Jentler arranging much of the event from Sweden and then
> FLYING-IN for the event! What commitment! The following
> paragraphs are from Uffes email as he returned to Sweden:
> Thank you all for taking part of the 3rd annual Saylorville Dam
> Jam, it was again very successful regatta this year thanks
> to everyone for participating. This year we had 40 registered
> people for the event, a new record.
>
> I wanted to take a moment and send a thank you message to
> everyone who participated and who took their time to make time
> to make the event possible.
>
> All the volunteers who helped out, Barry, Laura Tofteland Chad
> and Diana Hutson, Jeff Hegwer, Jason Swanson , Michael Fox,
> Jeremy Meyer.
>
> For Barry and Laura a special thanks for providing boats and jet
> skis to making sure the event went smooth and safe and all their
> hard work that went into it.
>
> To the Flying Silos band for playing and entertaining for us
> Saturday night.
>
> To the Latitude 41 bar and Grille and crew for making our BBQ
> and hot breakfast for us Saturday night and Sunday morning.
>
> To Michael Fox and Jeff Hegwer for bringing regatta buoys and
> gear for the committee boat and helping doing RC so that I could
> participate in some races.
>
> To Arden for helping me rescue the committee pontoon boat at 1am
> Saturday morning and keeping me alive. (that was nuts)
>
> To Chad and Diana Hutson and family for provding the most
> awesome RV as headquarters all three days and making sure we
> did not blow away during Saturdays high winds. (the converted
> bus to RV made for a great wind barrier down at the regatta site.
>
> Also thanks to Chad for making lunch happening so smooth
> Saturday for all competitors. A 40 -50 burger grille that sits
> on a trailer is a nice to have for those kind of numbers.
>
> To Mike Howell for helping to go get stuff and making everything
> flow smoothly.
>
> To Randy Howell and Larry Reed for helping out with camping
> grounds and setting up guest campers for some of our competitors
> and helping pulling boats and Jet skis to and from the lake.
>
> I also wanted to take time to thank our sponsors for this year
> to make the event happen, without you guys it would be very
> difficult to pull something like this off without a huge cost
> for a few indiviuals, we thank you very much and hope you will
> continue to support us in the coming years. The main sponsors
> this year that helped out with prices and raffle stuff were
> WINDSURF DEAL , Northwest Mutual Financial (Jeff Byrn), Willham
> Orthodontics PC, and Latitude 41 Bar and Grille.
>
> Windsurf deal can be found at the following location
> www.windsurfdeal.com your one stop shop for any windsurfing gear
> on line. Quick and easy deals and part of the 3-phase team. They
> now also have taken on the AHD gear which can be found here.
> www.a-h-d.com Windsurf deal has been a 3 year sponsor for the
> Saylorville Dam Jam and provided the raffle sails we drew the
> two lucky winners for Saturday night during the BBQ and live
> muisc at the Latitude 41 bar and grille (Steve Callaway and
> Diana Hutson were the lucky winners this year) . Make sure you
> check out these sites and if you have questions on the KA-Sails
> dont hesitate to contact them since they are experts on it.
> There are also several KA sail riders in our area that can help
> you with gear selection and feedback.
>
> Thanks again Jurg and the team there for supporting us.
>
> Arden and myself will put together a more in detail regatta
> report and update on the www.mowind.org website in the next few
> days. Thanks again for participating this year, feel free to
> forward this to anyone I might have missed.
>
> Uffe - USWE 22
> ujentler@...
>
> Race Report
> First of all, thanks to Uffe and his entire crew for setting up
> a tremendous event. A lot of people put time into making the
> event great, and it showed. Best of all - there was WIND! We
> also had international attendance with Uffe coming from Sweden,
> and Woody and the gang coming down from Canada.
>
> Winds were already over 20-mph on arrival to the site Friday
> evening, and built to quite a bit more as the night progressed.
> Uffe and I had an interesting time making sure the race
> committee boats (pontoon and two jet skis) stayed secure
> overnight, as both the pontoon boat and the jet skis were at
> risk of being washed away by the increasing winds from their
> beached positions. After some on-the-fly adjustments, around
> midnight in 30+ mph winds, we got things secured and were ready
> for race day.
>
> We woke to more 30+ mph winds on Saturday as registration was
> completed and people contemplated what to rig. Plenty of sailors
> had already been out on sails in the 5 - 7 meter range, and I
> decided to rig a 7.8 and put it on a 125L board to see how that
> would handle the figure-8 slalom course that was being set. My
> first runs across the lake (also my first runs of the year) were
> wild but I decided that I could handle it and wanted to make
> sure I was powered up for the races, especially since it was a
> bit light on the inside (still 15-20 though).
>
> One twist to the figure-8 course was that it would be a beach
> start rather than a flying start. So, we needed to start in
> waist deep water (inside mark-A) and launch ourselves as the
> start horn went off. We had to complete three laps out to mark-B
> before finishing between the onshore flag and mark-A. It was
> about a half mile beteen the buoys, so we needed to cover about
> 3-miles each race. NOTE: Mark-C wasnt used until the afternoon
> session.My gamble to go with a big sail paid off immediately as
> many people struggled to get away from shore as the first start
> coincided with one of the biggest lulls we had seen that
> morning. I managed to lead the race start to finish with Steve
> Johnson and Robin Shaw battling for 2nd and 3rd position. Adam
> Anderson and Peter Hartwitch (on an IMCO!) rounded out the top 5.
>
> Figure-8 Race Course
>
>
> Race 2 again had some holes on the inside and I was able to keep
> up a full plane throughout the race, finishing in about 10
> minutes. Although some of the gusts were quite high (Adam broke
> his booms hankering down in one of them), most of the fleet
> struggled to stay planing in the lulls. So, my advice to racers
> out there is that Races are won in the lulls, not in the
> gusts, so you should rig accordingly. After another finish with
> Steve Johnson in 2nd and Robin Shaw in 3rd, Robin decided to
> heed that adage and went up a sail size for Race 3.
>
> Guess what? In Race 3 Robin ended up battling me all the way
> around the course with the extra power he got from the bigger
> rig, and took win. I finished in 2nd place as we blazed across
> the line within a few feet of each other. Steve Johnson finished
> 3rd, with Don Altmyer in 4th and Peter sailing consistently to
> another 5th. We headed in for a quick break and lunch provided
> at the race site by the great oganizers.
> Meanwhile, the Sport Fleet also had a battle going on between
> Morgot Woodworth with a first and two seconds and Gregg Anhaus
> with two firsts and one DNF.
>
> After lunch the wind seemed to have backed off a little bit and
> most people took out slightly larger gear. Also, afternoon races
> were going to be with flying starts utilizing Mark-C and the
> same onshore flag. I stuck with my same combination from the
> morning and found that I still was able to plane sooner than
> most of the fleet and took another first place. Robin, Steve,
> Don, and Adam rounded out the top five. In sport fleet, Steves
> wife, Kelly, got herself rigged and ready to go by taking first
> place in front of Gregg and Margot.
>
> Race 5 probably had some of the biggest lulls and strongest
> puffs of the day. I got away quickly from the start line and did
> well for a couple of laps until Robin caught fire and reeled me
> in during a large puff. For the next three reaches we sailed
> close to each other as he would pull ahead in the gusts while I
> prayed for the wind to die down some so that I could take
> advantage. On the final leg I got the lull I was hoping for and
> passed Robin in the last 100-200 feet to get another bullet.
> Steve, Adam, and Peter rounded out the top five. In the Sport
> Fleet, Kelly won again followed by Gregg and Margot.
>
> Race 6 had some fluky wind at the start and I seemed to be the
> only person to get off the line and rode a puff all the way to
> the outside as the rest of the fleet sat in a wind swirl. I met
> most of the sailors about 1/2 back and thought I had the race in
> the bag. Well, another lap later, young Josh Woodworth was in
> fast pursuit and I was glad I had such a buffer from early in
> the race. He reeled me in quickly on the final leg, but I had
> enough lead built up that I managed to limp home barely on plane
> for another first, with Josh finishing in a close second. Robin,
> Ulf (after getting back on the water from his RC duties), and
> Steve made up the rest of the top five. Kelly won the Sport
> Fleet again with Gregg in second and Igor Tereshchenko (our
> great photographer from the Walleye Wagatta) made a good effort
> for third place.
>
> After Race 6, we packed up our gear, licked our wounds, and
> headed to Latitude 41 for some good eats and entertainment.
> Several prizes were auctioned off and a lot of good times were
> going on both at Lat-41 and at the camp site.
>
> Its a good thing we got in so much racing on Saturday, because
> Sunday came with glassy water and overcast skies. Fortunately by
> 10:30 or 11:00 we started to see some promise in the wind so we
> quickly rigged and set to sailing a triangle course in 3-8 mph winds.
> Peter sailed a great upwind leg to lead the race early, followed
> around the top mark by me Robin, Don, and Adam. I took advantage
> of my larger 10.0 m^2 sail and DivII board to get past Peter on
> his IMCO on the reaching legs and held onto the lead for a first
> place finish. Peter jockeyed Robin, Don, and Adam around the
> rest of the course and even lost some position to Robin before
> pumping his way back into 2nd place within feet of the finish
> line. That left Robin (also sailing a 7.5 sail) in third with
> Adam and Don rounding out the top 5. Low Boom Larry Reed made
> his first racing appearance of the weekend and sailed into first
> place in the Sport Fleet, followed by Igor and Margot. Niels
> Zaunmueller finished first in the Sport Junior Fleet.
>
> Triangle course for Sunday
>
>
> Another sequence was started, but there was a general recall
> from so many people pushing the line at the startit was good to
> see everyone jockeying for position on the line. After the
> restart, a handful of people made it around the top mark as the
> winds died, and the race was abandoned. This ended up being
> fortunate as the wind faded down to nothing and rain started as
> we were de-rigging.
>
> We ended the weekend with seven solid races, six of which were
> in outstanding conditions. The final A-Fleet Results had me in
> 1st, Robin Shaw 2nd, Steve Johnson 3rd, Peter Hartwitch 4th, and
> Don Altmyer 5th. Robin Shaw made his impressive finish on
> limited-division equipment, and 2nd place in limited went to
> Josh Woodworth, with 3rd place in limited division going to
> another young gun, Magnus Zaunmueller.
>
> In the Sport Fleet, Margot Woodworth won with her consistent
> finishes, followed by Gregg Anhaus in 2nd, and Kelly Johnson in
> 3rd. Niels Zaunmueller won the Sport Junior Division.
>
> The next two races in the MOWIND Race Series are both part of
> the US Windsurfing National Race Tour. The Toledo Championships
> are May 30-31, and the Worthington Windsurfing Fesitval is June
> 12-14.
>
> - Arden Anderson reporting
>
>
>
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Entry fee includes Saturday evening dinner for you and your family.
