The first event of the American Windsurfing Tour took place over the past several days at Waddell Creek on the California Coast and 70+ competitors were in attendance. While the first day had light winds the next two days delivered. Check out some of the action from Saturday.
World Champion Kevin Pritchard
Maui junior superstar Bernd Roediger
After reviewing the thousands of photos I shot over all five days of the event, I’ve selected more than 500 images worthy of posting to the US Windsurfing Nationals photo gallery. It takes more time in front of the computer that it originally did to shoot all the photos. The photos are all categorized by sailors’ names, sail numbers, sail manufacturer, day, event type (formula, slalom, long distance, freestyle, juniors). Look under the photos for the list of keywords. Clicking on any of the keywords will filter the images that are displayed.
I have tons more photos so if you don’t see what you are looking for, please email me and I will go back and look through my archive.
UPDATE: the nationals are complete and I’ve amassed thousands of photos. Some of them have been loaded to the gallery, with more to come. Stay tuned for the final set. If you provide me with your email address I can notify you when the gallery is complete. Thanks for all the great racing action!
Long distance and slalom racing were the order of the day today. I hiked up to the Golden Gate Bridge to get an overhead view of the race. Phil McGain (KA7) was fastest on the trip down to Treasure Island and back and finished in first place.
The second day of racing brought more foggy weather, but wind enough to get in three races.
After a full day on the water and 4 races, I’ve racked up a lot of photos. The upload process has started so check out the windsurfing photos posted so far. Here are a couple to entice you…
See you on the water tomorrow!
On the water shooting windsurfing nationals regatta photos. Upload coming later today…
More than 150 boats joined in this year’s Sperry Topsider NOOD regatta in San Francisco this past weekend including my favorites, the F18 catamarans. With 20 entrants, the 18 foot catamarans were one of the largest classes in attendance. Click on any of the pictures below to see more regatta photos.
This was one action-packed windsurfing weekend. It started on Friday night with a formula race at St. Francis Yacht club and a Windsurfing magazine helicopter photo shoot. Here are Steve Bodner and Seth Besse heading back to the beach after the racing.
Then on Saturday the San Francisco Boardsailing Association and Windsurfing Magazine had organized a whole day of activities: swap meet, safety demos, Coast Guard motor lifeboat and helicopter demo, the Ronstan Bay Challenge distance windsurfing and kitesurfing race, and another helicopter photo shoot. Due to the seasonably warm weather, it took a while for the wind to assume its normal direction and velocity.
Here’s junior sailor Marion Lepert as she cranks back upwind from Treasure Island.
And here’s John Gomes in the kitesurfing division.
The captain of the 28 ft. rigid inflatable boat I was riding on had departed from San Francisco at 6am to deliver the boat to Half Moon Bay. He headed under the Golden Gate Bridge and prepared to make the left turn and the run south down the coast. Through the fog he could still make out the giant waves that were breaking and preventing his turn. He proceeded farther offshore hoping to find the point where the breaking waves turned to rolling ocean swell. Mile after mile the waves were still breaking. After traveling 15 miles straight west, he saw his first opening and made the turn south.
Then getting in to the Half Moon Bay harbor was another feat. He had to wait for the right wave and then power down it just like the surfers, trying to out run it before it started breaking.
He survived the trip and we were able to get back out and watch some awesome surf. Some of the sets were absolutely monstrous. Click on the photo below to see the full gallery of pictures of the 2010 Mavericks surfing contest. Enjoy the photos!
