The Island Style Classic Sarasota race had around seven Prodigy
racing. There were a couple other Prodigy owners there that raced
longboard instead as they flew down and were using borrowed
equipment. I raced well and managed 2nd, the top finishers were Nat
Sidall, Scott Haas and Rod Clevenger.

Nat had a house emergency and couldn't make it to the MidWinters,
Rod's sail gave out and the other guys returned home leaving me as
the only A Fleet Prodigy entry at the Calema Midwinters and with just
one other Hybrid Richard White on a RS-X the Hybrid division was down
to just two. There was one other Prodigy there, but was sailing in
Sport Fleet. With only 7 longboards the Longboard/Hybrid start was
very small compared to 2007. Last year besides several OH/MI Prodigy
racers several Olympic teams were there with near 21 RS-X's in the
Hybrid division. In 2008 the Kona A fleet start grew and had around
20 and Formula A 52 entries. Junior, Sport and Sport Formula added
another 20 or so and thus there was around 100 entries total. Of
note is that of the 20 in Kona A fleet at least 12 of them were
chartered if not more.

The winds were not blowing enough for Formula until late afternoon
and thus the Longboard/Hybrid fleets got 11 races in over the three
days. So I really had some good practice and was able to size up
myself on the Prodigy to the RS-X(on it's 9.5 sail) and several
Equipe longboards using sails from 7.5 up to 10.8 in size. In
really low winds, non-planning conditions for a longboard, the
Prodigy with the 8.5 Comp sail kept up and bettered the RS-X with
it's 9.5 and Equipes with a 9.5. But when the wind picked up a
bit .. at 190 lbs I could not plane up quick enough to keep up with
RS-X or Equipes with bigger sails. I did manage one race to better
Pat Nugent who was on his Equipe and 7.5. Since I wasn't racing
Prodigy One Design I really would have liked to have tried a bigger
fin and a 9.5 sail. I think I could give the RS-X a run for it's
money then in any conditions. Unfortunately we never ran any race in
consistent planing winds, so I didn't get to compare how I could do
against them in what I'd call heavy air conditions.

On Sunday afternoon with the tide out and wind from the NE the water
got real low and the Formula guys were crashing their big 70cm fins
into sand bars. The RS-X crashed hard after the last race and he got
his ankle crushed a bit between the mast and the board. He was
putting weight on it later at the awards which was a good sign.
Anyway those big fins and shallow waters are very dangerous and I
can't help to think that there likely are more injuries now with more
guys on Formula equipment.

Last to report is something fun. I got some Prodigy One Design T-
Shirts made up. Of course they have my Web URL on the front. I've
uploaded a photo of the shirt to the forum photo section here. I
have a few extra and they can be ordered via my online catalog at
www.amoka.com. I'm hoping when I got it on it will be a
conversation starter this summer. With luck maybe the shirt will
help me persuade a couple new people to come over to Prodigy.