Miami Pro- Am # 4 November 17-18 , 2007
Team North dominated the Miami Pro-Am windsurfing regatta last w-end taking the podium- with Miami lightweight local Fernando Martinez- ARG 3 taking the top spot.
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Up next was San Francisco sailors Steve Sylvester, SS in 2nd and Steve Bodner,USA 4 in 3rd- all on North sails. North sails R&D guru Jimmi Diaz was present to test the new line up of 2008 Formula sails and 2008 F2 Formula board. Over 40 competitors in the Formula and kona classes battled 2 days light wind on the Biscane Bay for 6 races .
Ron Kern of Fort Lauderdale, Florida was also awarded a new 2008 F2 Formula board for winning the 2007 F2 Southeast Formula Series presented by Next Sport, of
Miami.
Despite the challenging conditions, sailors were treated to great social events at the regatta site at US Sailing Center.
The event was organized by and run by Alex Moralas- US WIndsurfing 2007 Windsurfing of the Year and his girlfriend Simona Madam.
On Friday ,Saturday and Sunday- sailors were treated to bottles of San Fernando Chile wine- of of the main sponsors of the event .
Josh Sampiero from windsurfing magaizine and Federico engelgelharat acted as PRO- calling the shots from the RC boat
More info about the Pro Am regatta @ http://www.miamiwindsurfing.com/proam.html
Additional regatta report @ http://stevebodner.blogspot.com
Photo credit: Sue Kern
www.stevebodner.com
No Pain, no gain........... By Rick Randall US-089
Well the second day of the event was a bit painful for some on the water. The wind was down from the day before, and never lived up to the forecast. The race committee did shorten the length of the course which was welcomed by all. The first race was two laps and was pretty grueling. The lightweights made their way around the course planning most of the time, but not always. Those of us who enjoy our beer drinking, had a bit tougher time however! The second race was even tougher for most, but the top guys made it look easy as they pumped themselves onto a plane with each puff of wind that they could find. The third race saw the end of the event as it was deemed too cruel to subject the racers to any more torture!
Back on land all the pain was soon forgotten as Simona spread out the lunches, and the San Fernando began to flow. Smiles were seen in increasing numbers as the day wore on, because we were all there for the fun of it anyway. Josh Sampiero (thanks for the great job) of Windsurf Magazine calculated the results and the awards ceremony was held. ( results below ) The Kona fleet saw some serious competition between veteran Bruce Matlack, and first time Kona racer John , who only finished 1 point behind the winner! Jim De Silva accumulated over 1000 points for his refusal to follow the rules by pumping his way into the lead! Jim likes to be in front, what can you say!
After that we heard the final results for the Florida Formula Series as well, the winner of a new F2 Formula board: Ron Kern of Ft Lauderdale!
Thanks to everyone who came from near or far to support the event. It was all we could have hoped for in terms of bring sailors together. We had some great competition from some young guns, as well as the more seasoned ( sounds better than old farts) sailors, who proved to be really tough! Special thanks (Pat) to the US Sailing Center Miami for letting us enjoy Their incredible facility for the weekend, what an awesome spot! Thanks also to San Fernando Chile wine, one of our oldest and possibly most favorite sponsors! As always we want thank Eduardo Owen of Next Sport for his generosity, Jesus , for his help, and the race organizers Alex Morales, Simona Madan, and Rick Randall for their hard work. See you at the next one
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Day 2 Miami Pro-Am By Steve Bodner USA 4
Another day of light breeze but stiff competition.
Sunday's forecast looked dim as sailors shlogged out the the starting line from the US Sailing Center on Biscane Bay in Mami Florida. Again the RC started the day off with the postponement flag as the breeze teetered to 10knots. Finally at 12pm there was enough breeze to race. The right side looked favorable with better breeze so I started on port tack with Jimmi, Fernando and Ron- all of us able to cross the fleet who sat on the line. Jimmi and I made it out to the right side first but quickly ran out of wind while the left side of the course filled in and the fleet got a port lift to the mark. I sat on the outside corner watching my lead disappear. Sylvester rounded in front by a good minute or 2 while the rest of the fleet struggled to get planning and around the top mark. In the cheap seats- Fernando and I waited to get a puff to get going again and rounded deep . Slowly we were able to claw back the next 3 legs and finish 7th and 8th while Sylvester got the bullet.
The next race started similarly with most of the fleet not planing off the line. Fernando was the furthest to leeward and had room to foot off and pump to a plane. I was next behind Peter and got off to the left side and some breeze. Fernando was quick to gain in the light stuff- being the master of light air racing and rounded the top mark in 1st. Jimmi and Steve snuck in there to round just in front of me and continued down on starboard. I had no choice but to gybe and find another path to the leeward mark. It worked out well enough that I found a puff just near the finish and finished in front of Jimmy for 4th.
That was enough to keep 3rd overall as Sylvester snuck into 2nd with 2 solid races under his belt today. IN the end it was Fernando on the podium in first,Syvester in 2nd and myself in 3rd. I did get a chance to race the new 08 11.9 warp. It had a real good low end- especially with the adjustable downhaul setting that allows you to take up or let out a 1cm adjustment on the water. Time will tell if its durable enough to trust but my first impression was excellent. Overall a good warm up for next weeks world championshipsin Brazil. Im off traveling for the ne day to Fortalezza where I'll race the Brazillian open and the worlds next week. Look for more reports then. Untill then check out http://www.miamiwindsurfing.com/ for videos, photos and reports.
Special thanks to next sports as well the Movie-star and Simona for their help here for more
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Pro Am Lives Up to It's Name:
The fourth Miami Pro Am regatta went off today with top name amateurs from around the state, and accross the country showing up to compete along with this years big name: Jimmy Diaz of North/F2.
The wind forecast looked pretty good though the water was glassy when we arrived at the US Sailing Center Miami. After a while though, the palm trees began to wave and hopes were raised. Josh Sampiero of Windsurf Magazine was the volunteered race director of the event, and set the course about 10:30. The skippers meeting was held and the on water wind was reported at about 12 knots. We all finished rigging, and made it out on the water for a 1 pm start. The first race was held in light but pretty steady winds, with most sailors in the Formula fleet choosing 11.9 North Sails or 12 meter Maui Sails or the like. The top names as expected were local hot shot Fernando Martinez, Steve Bodner, Steve Sylvester, and Jimmy Diaz. The second through fourth races saw the wind get quite puffy and much lighter. Even the top names had a hard time planning the entire time. A couple of exceptions were Britt Veheman, Peter Ifju and Ron Kern, all noted for their skills in the light stuff.
After the racing, we all enjoyed the famous Miami hospitality of Simona and Alex who kept the crowds plesed with the flowing San Fernando wine, and plenty of food which was wedlcomed by all who endured the day.
Some highlights so far were: Jimmy Diaz(interview comming soon) regarding the PWA and his views on Formula sailing, the enthusiasm of the Kona fleet on the water and off, and a sneak preview of the 2008 F2 Formula . Stay tune for more
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Steve Bodner- USA 4 reporting from Miami Pro Am event,
Despite the season almost ending and most sailors packing their gear away for the winter, Team Miami kept the spirit alive with the Pro- Am event starting Saturday.
Several sailors showed up today to test the new gear in preparation for the Formula Worlds in Brazil next week. Team North was in full vengeance today testing the new 2008 formula sails. R&D guru Jimmi Diaz showed up with a full quiver of 08 sails for Team Miami to test. On the water it was evident all the r&d of the pwa slalom season paid off as the new sails were wicked fast.
Team Miami's new partner, the US Sailing Center - Miami will be in charge of running this event! All course racing will take place on Biscayne Bay and launching will be from the fantastic site at USSC Miami . All races will be officiated by the experts from US Sailing.
All rules for each class will be in effect, and courses will be appropriate for the conditions. Race HQ will be US Sailing Center Miami, and will be the primary location for the event. More details will follow as the event gets closer.
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Windsurfing Class:
- Formula
- Hibrids/Longboards
- Kids/Sport fleet/juniors
Pre-Entry List : - Jimmy Diaz ISV -11 Formula men
- Rafael Sanchez US -121 Formula men
- Ron Kern K Formula men
- Steve Sylvester S3 Formula men
- Eduardo Owen US 01 Formula men
- Fernando Martinez 42 Formula men
- Alex Morales US-188 Formula men
- Sergio Cremisini US-7777 Formula/sport junior
- Michael Rayl M-11 Hybrid/long board men
- Borash Miles Formula men
- Bob Willies USA-78 Formula men
- Jorge “ peludo” Cal ARG - 5 Formula men
- Rick Randall US-089 Formula men
- Raul Elosegui US-18 Formula men
- Sergio Kapul X Formula men
- Martin Abete ARG-317 Formula men
- Tinho Donelas USPS Formula men
- Monica Arche ESP-211 Formula women
- Alex Stankie US-203 Formula junior
- Carlos Reyes US-193 Formula men
- Angel Domenesh Formula men
- Brian Barr U Formula men
- Peter Botha US-60 Formula men
- Steve Bodner USA 4 Formula men
- Pablito Guzman Dom-111 Formula men
- Peter Ifju IF1 Formula men
- Don Warner D Formula men
- Steve Gottlieb 4151 Hybrid/long board men
- Bobby Nabor Hybrid/long board men
- Jim Desilva Hybrid/long board men
- Marius Tudor US-197 Formula men
- Britt Viehman FL 4 Formula men
- Vincent Barre FRA5495 Formula men
- pete Gibbons US MC1 Formula men
- Daniel Aeberli SUI-96 Formula men
- cullen ahearn Hybrid/longboard junior
- Seth Bessen USA 64 Formula men
- Richard White 309 Hybrid/longboard men
- Daniel Rusk Formula /junior
- Bruce Matlack 733 Hybrid/longboard men
Kona charters will be available for Miami Pro Am. Bring your harness and race! Contact mrayl11@yahoo.com or Sandy Point to reserve.
Miami Pro-Am # 2 october 6-7 , 2006 Sponsored by San Fernando's Chile Wine, Waterplay Miami and Fanatic/F2, world's best sailboards, Sailboards Miami and AC studios.
Miami Pro Am--Writeup by Jim DeSilva, Race Director, pictures by Angelo Cordero
Once again, the Miami Pro Am Kicks Ass! There were a lot of shocks and surprises at this years event and a lot of pre-race boasting led to nothing. The only boast made beforehand was by yours truly, saying we would get at least ten races in, and we did, because I am the man. But enough of that, let's get to the good stuff, and there is a lot of it.
"I will kick Ron Kern's ass, you watch, I will do it". This was the claim made by none other than the top team rider in America, Alex Morales, aka The Movie Star. Well, the Canadian National Champion came down from Ft. LodiDodi and, yes, I will have to double check, but I think he whupped the Movie Star EVERY RACE.
This Movie Star was humbled in the great mans' presence and retired from the last race, a Movie Star first. But to the Movie Stars credit, he did organize the whole regatta, brings all the fun to the beach, and that takes a lot of effort, so we can forgive him if he wussed out the last race. 
But Movie Star has to go back to the drawing board....where was the Lechner, Movie Star?? Where was the Hybrid? You said there was going to be no mercy and all I saw was a bunch of non-planing on a really nice F2 Formula board?? What is up with that??? After a sound beating on Saturday, the Movie Star was lobbying for a downwind slalom, in 5 knots of wind, to help minimize Ron's clear advantage upwind in the schlogging conditions. So, the RC threw in a couple of reaches to accomodate this most awesome of team riders, but it did nothing for his results. We will come back to more Movie Star Hijinx' in a minute.
He too took a beating at the hands of the Ronster on day 1, which was surprising since Fernando is light, has top gear and knows how to use it. But he exploited the new course on Sunday,
pumping all the way down the reaches and passing the Ronster on multiple occasions to win 4 out of 5. Unfortunately, it was not enough to overcome Saturday, but the final results were pretty close. The new F2 proved superior on marginal wind reaches and showed a lot of power. But, Fernando had his mom and his new girlfriend at the beach on Saturday and all I know is if I had that combo at the beach all at the same time when I was trying to sail, that would be just too many hebitas, so we can cut him some slack for this. But Fernando sailed well and at least held up his end of the Miami Team bargain.
Also holding up her end of the Miami Team Bargain was Chica Campeon Del Mundo Monica, who sailed very good, particularly when she decided to get a halfway decent start.
Monica is setting the pace for all windsurfing chicas locally: Sailing hard, sailing often and not spanking around on the beach but getting out there and DOING IT. Congrats to Monica.
Then we come to the main story of this regatta, how a guy who has been sailing for 5 months came here and came in third place overall, beating people who have sailed for twenty years, including The Movie Star. His name is Rafael Sanchez, and yes, he shops at Waterplay, and yes, Jim does give him the best gear that money can buy, but he whupped all your asses and he just started sailing!!!!
You people who he beat have no excuses, that was a straight up smackfest and all of you tapped out. Plus, the guy cooks for everyone all the time, gives people his parking spot, and gives the Movie Star a ton of s#@! , so how can you not like a champion like this? And he is getting his kids into windsurfing. Since I am a agent for all windsurfing superstars, I have cut back my time representing the Movie Star, and am spending more time with this most marketable champion who is on the rise, Rafael Sanchez. Congrats on a fine performance.
Other notables included Sergio in his pink shirt (serge, did you wear that shirt two days in a row? You wear that shirt more than I wear my Lost boardshorts),
Juanny Albeau who put the Movie Star in his place a few times but did not have the stamina to go on day 2, Carlos Garcia who was AFRAID to race, Marvin who came out and dealt on the F2 Lightning, Eduardo who gave us his boat, his time, his gear and his support, Little Sean Sullivan, who also kicked ass on the Lightning (Hint to Angel...maybe you should buy one of these), all of Eduardo's cute lady friends (see pictures) who came down to sail. Ricky R. came down from Jupiter, where he is Shaq's new neighbor, and battled the schlogging conditions.
If Rick ever gets some wind, WATCH OUT because this guy is going to beat you bad in arm wrestling and holding up a big sail. Plus, he has the hook up at West Marine, so keep that in mind for your boating needs. Also, my RC assistant, the New Big Mommysota, was too drunk and hungover to show up, so he gets NO MERCY when he shows up on Bayshore Dr. for the soccer game. Movie Star, come down and I will show you what NO MERCY really looks like when this Mommysota is playing against me! Although our beginner team did not materialize, Meredith was in training on the other end of the bay. I believe that if I had put her on the right gear, she could have taken Rafael out, but this will have to be decided on another Sunday. Now that the Pats have shown all of Florida how weak the Dolphins really are, the true test in the future will come at SAL on Sunday afternoons, where New Champions will be made....2:30 to 5, starting next week.
Oh, don't forget, but Windsurfing Magazine was there in the form of Road Warrior Josh Sampiero, who graced our event with his powerful presence. Look in future issues for many pictures from this event and of course at this website for more and more pictures coming online all the time. And yes, I was the one who organized the pictures of all the bikini girls, so all of you have me to thank for that. But The Movie Star and Simona are the ones who make this all happen, so let's give them a big round of applause for another successful Miami Pro Am, and thanks to Eduardo for his boat and boards, and Shake A Leg Miami for the use of their boat as well. And quit teaching your friends yourself, send them to Ovidio at Sailboards Miami where they can get quality instruction the first time--thanks to Ovidio for providing the site for us to sail on.
Oh, one more thing, mark dragging. Monica, 4 times, Movie Star at least 3, Rafael, at least a couple but he is a rookie, after all, Ron, at least once, but Marvin won the award with a 50 yard mark drag. In fact, he did not even know he was dragging it until Ron kept yelling at him. To his credit, he did go back and put it about where it was originally, which was really quite chivalrous of him. Those fins are long guys, watch out for the anchor lines!!
See all of you on Sundays and remember, Miami is where windsurfing is happening!
Miami Pro-Am #1 February 2006
Is it windy in Miami? Of course it is—it’s time for the Miami Pro Am! Saturday morning we were blessed with 15-22 from the SE on the Ricky Causeway. And when it is cross-on, its time for slalom. The beauty of slalom is anybody can compete, whether it be race board, slalom board, wave board, hybrid board or long board and in fact we had all categories represented at various times during the event. With a 6-leg downwind slalom set up, Carlos Garcia showed who the man is as he dominated the first 4 heats with a big 9.0. Carlos has sailed with
Dunky and Bringdal before, so his experience in this discipline was obvious. Movie Star and race organizer Alex Morales sailed his F2 Window slalom board (with tape over the windows, like half the high rises in Miami) into second place and Mr. Consistent himself, Eduardo Ownen, was riding his Fanatic Slalom 91 into third place. So you had about 130 liters, 103 liters and 91 liters all in the top 3…good stuff. After a lunch break, sailors were back out at it. Carlos won a few more, then took a nap on the beach and let Alex ride his gear, and Alex then dominated a few heats. Eduardo won one, Fernando Martinez won one when the wind let up on his full Formula set up. Who won the day? Well, the scoring was a little in doubt because A) nobody had sail numbers except for 2 guys and B)the committee boat was aground off the course during most of the heats. So by Gentlemens’ agreement, the results were concluded and nobody argued about it.
And now it was time for the party! Sponsored by San Fernando Chile Wine (!), needless to say it was a good event. Everyone got to take a good look at themselves on video as the racing for the day was filmed by another of our sponsors, Havana Productions, and although we saw a little too much of the Movie Star, it was some great action and excellent quality. Then, it was time for ….Live Queen at Wembley Stadium, circa 1986. Who knew everyone was a Queen fan at the regatta? But, yes, they were and when guys were in the back with lighters and hands in the air, I have to admit I flashed back to my glory days when I was the lead guitar player for Queen…it was a great lifestyle for a while, but now that I run Waterplay, I have found my true calling and the meaning of life all at the same time. Anyway, the bass line for Another One Bites the Dust came on, and things got out of hand….but unlike all these other regattas, we got hot chicks here (it’s Miami) and that makes for more entertaining parties, so you should show up next time, loser. Hey, even Eric Hoytink showed up and he never shows up to anything.
