USWA Nationals - Day 1

Today saw the windiest slalom racing anyone here in the Gorge can remember in a very long time. I had a real struggle getting my big (and only) 71cm wide slalom board to stay on the water, despite running a 6.2 and a 34cm fin. Bruce was racing his (probably sub-80 liter) small slalom board and a 5.4 - and was LIT. We were racing in age groups, so he ran in the Grand Masters, and I ran in the Men/Masters fleet, with the juniors and women getting their own start (the Techno 293 fleet wisely sat this one out...).

In the Grand Masters, Bruce dominated the fleet, and in the Men/Masters, James Dinnis (of Carbon Art fame) did the honors. If we get a chance to have a final rounds to determine an overall slalom winner, it will be a treat to see those two battle it out. I'll probably get a chance to watch that, too; after three heats of pretty deep finishes (5, 14, 6), struggling with the ballistic conditions on my big board, I finally got a good start with James and Chris Prior in the 4th heat. I nailed my first three jibes, and while James was out of reach, Chris seemed within striking distance as I locked in for the reach to the offset mark and the subsequent tight reach to the start pin to go into the second round.

I'm not quite sure what happened next- I only know that I went over the handlebars in what people on shore called a pretty spectacular wipeout and somehow came down with my left foot coming down hard on the sail (and, probably, beneath it the board). It felt like having twisted my ankle, and in the water, it was pretty clear that something was wrong as I couldn't even kick to swim into waterstart position, much less tolerate the pain of getting that foot up on the deck of the board to get going. Instead, I body dragged to the beach, a bunch of helpful folks got my gear and helped me out of the water, and when 30 minutes of icing failed to numb the pain at all or keep the swelling at bay, it was clear that I should get this looked at. Now it's splinted, with two fractures in the fibular - so I'll be off my left foot for at least a few weeks.

Racing continues tomorrow - since I can't do much else right now, I'll be on shore watching. Pretty bummed at this point, but then again, it's a clean bone injury that required no setting or surgery, and there doesn't seem to be serious damage to the ligaments beyond a mild sprain. And if I had to get hurt windsurfing, it couldn't have happened in a more supportive environment; not only did folks take care of all the logistics for me (thanks, Shelley, Michel, MacRae, Amy), but within five minutes of the injury I was being taken care of by an RN, a PT, and a podiatrist (thanks, Amy, Jay, and John), and then given rides to and from the ER (thanks, Ellen).

The slideshow below shows a bit of action from the 4th heat, as well as the result of me not having much else to do other than take pictures of my bum ankle afterwards... Not sure if the pictures do the conditions justice - it was furry out there. Darren told me later that gusts at the boat reached to 40; apparently, for the last heat, it picked up even more.

Battle at sea...

The St. Francis Yacht Club and the hardy racers of the Bay Area fleet never cancel racing. It just doesn't happen. At the 07 Nationals, we raced the final two heats in conditions that caused the race director to issue stern warnings to people, as well as send competitors in against their will when they were floundering at the start line. But they don't cancel racing.

Make that they very rarely cancel racing. Last night's Friday night race didn't happen. It was blowing somewhere around 30, with a vicious ebb throwing up some pretty big voodoo chop, and when John Craig (said race director) asked the assembled (and fully rigged) crowed of racers whether they wanted to race in this, only one hand (Jean's) went half-way up.

Instead, I got to test just what the upper limit of my Exo 71 is. The board did remarkably well in overpowered 6.0 with a  34 (a 36 would have made for better jibes - that is a pretty wide tail on that board, after all). With that much range, Exocet isn't doing itself any favors - people just won't be going out and buying multiple boards if each of them has that much range. Good for the consumer, I guess (and so, in the long run, good for Exocet). Lots of fun was had as most of the guys took out their slalom or freeride stuff. Much tailwalking and hilarity ensued, along with white-knuckle maching reaches through the troughs (usually ended by some stray piece of chope throwing up a ramp where there hadn't been one a second before - gotta love Crissy on an ebb...)

The pictures don't do the day justice, as it was pretty tame on the inside 200 yards or so, which pretty much exhausts the effective range of my little camera.  For a reality check - David Wells (blue Aerotech) was on a 5.7 and an 84l freeride board; Jean (red Aerotech) was on a 5.0 and a 78l wave board. It was windy...

Today's CalCup will be in Berkely - lots of wind expected for that. After that, it's time to drive home.