Worthington High Wind Alert !!!

[Craig Bergh]

Hello Fellow WIndsurfers,

The high winds have finally returned to Worthington Minnesota. The Weather Forecasts for Friday, Saturday, Sunday (and Monday too) are fantastic. The base winds will be 25 mph, with gusts over 30 mph each day.

These are excellent speed sailing conditions.

We have (2) new Carbon Art Boards here for your demo use. The SP 53 is an 83 liter board built for Pure Speed! The SL 75 is a 117 liter Slalom Board designed by New Zealand Slalom Champion James Dinnis. This board is designed for top speed while navigating the extreme choppy conditions of Lake Okabena. Thank you Carbon Art for your support!

We have KA Sails here for you, courtesy Windsurf Deal, the North American Distributor of KA Sails. These sails are tested to over 50 knots! Thank Juerg and the team at Windsurfdeal.

We have demo gear and prizes to be given away courtesy DAKINE. Thank you!

We have Gath Safety Helmets available to all racers, courtesy Murray's Watersports. These are the best helmet your can put on your head. There will be a drawing for Gath Helmet this weekend!

As always, all speeds shall be measured using the LOCOSYS GT31 GPS. This is the most precise hand held GPS available. With over $3000 in prize money on the line, our races demand this level of accuracy.

Vector Fins Maui has delivered a quiver of Canefire and Rockit fins courtesy Vector Fins, Maui. These high performance fins are used by top racers around the world!

There will be a drawing for a copy of the new Windsurfing Movie II, courtesy Jace Panebianco and the team at Poor Boyz Productions.

The Buffalo Billfold Company of Worthington has provided a number of custom designed T shirts to visiting racers. Bill Keitel and the crew also offer the finest handmade Buffalo Leather goods available anywhere. Thank you Bill and Lauri!

All races will receive a $5 coupon good toward a great meal at La Azteca Mexican Restaurant of Worthington. They have the best food and the coldest Margaritas anywhere!

Wind speed shall be measured using the Windtronic 2 Wind Meter, courtesy Gusts.us. Thank you Tom and Olga!

We have free copies of WINDSPORT MAGAZINE, courtesy Peter Dekay and the team at SBC Media.

As always, we offer free on-site Pet Care, Child Care, and Spousal Care (care of the Windsurfing Widow). Please let us know if we can be of assistance!

The team at Deb's Healing Massage and Day Spa have provided free 1 hour massages to our racers or their spouses. This is the finest Massage Therapy Center in Worthington. Thank you Deb!

So far, David Knight of Fridley Minnesota is in First Place with a Best Ten Second Run of 32.8 knots, with Ed Melechson of Papillion Nebraska in second at 30.8 knots.  The top speed by October 15th will win $1000 CASH!!!

Ed is also leading the new Alpha 500 Racing event for 2010, with a speed of 20.65 knots. In this event, we measure average speed through a jibe over a total of 50 meters. This concept is new in the USA, but is popular in many countries around the world. Alpha Racing rewards those racers with superior jibing ability, and is a good measure of skills on the Slalom Race Course. The top Alpha speed racer for 2010 will win $500 CASH!

We will be having a number of drawings for many of the items listed above during this entire weekend. All racers who record a personal best speed will be eligible. It does not matter if your best is 5 knots, or 32 knots. Everyone will be included!.

The Midwest Speed Quest is an event which is based on participation. We are looking for all speed sailors of all levels from ages 6 to 86. This is a great opportunity for newer racers to learn from our top racers!

And of course, everything is always FREE!!!

This event is possible thank to the support of our many Sponsors. See out Sponsors Link Page to see who makes this event happen. Thank you!

Please let us know if you are planning on attending this weekend!

The Midwest Speed Quest Team
133 Lake Avenue
Worthington, MInnesota 56187

Web: http://www.midwestspeedquest.com

Email: cbergh@iw.net

Cell Phone: 1-507-360-4801

GPS Coordinates:
Lat 43.62208
Long -95.61218

[Pete]

See you Friday.

[ardenalan]

The Anderson clan will be there too! Andrew is flying in from CA as we speak, and the rest of us are on our way there Friday/Sat morning.

It would be great to see some kites giving this a try. In case you didn't know, there are some cool prizes on the line for kiters too (excerpt from http://midwestspeedquest.com/page53/pag ... ge118.html):

New for 2010, we are willing to recognize GPS Speed Kite Boarders. The First Kite Boarder with a Best Ten Second Run of 30 Knots or faster is eligible for either a GT31 GPS, a Windtronic 2 Wind Meter, or a Gath Water Sports Helmet.

If there is sufficient interest from the Kite Board Community, up to $1000 CASH will be awarded to Top Riders in 2010.

- Arden, EL-11

[Bryce]

I don't have much for a fast kiteboard. But it would be fun to give it a try. I can't this weekend, but I'll try for another one!

[smallcar-windsurfer]

Ruth and I had a lot of fun when we were down there over the 4th of July weekend with our son who did great. We were very greatful for the help with him when there. My board nose was damaged while getting a little too much air and a 'opps landing', but it has since been fixed and working great again. T

Although we won't be down in Worthington - that sounds like fun. We are headed off to Mill-lacs this weekend - never been there during a windy weekend before.

[DavidKnight]

Uggh... I can't make it down there this weekend due to family commitments. Hope you guys get some good wind- it's been a while.

[ardenalan]

It was a great three days of sailing in Worthington. Wind showed up and records fell. Andrew Anderson set the bar high, REALLY high. He went a stupid fast 35.4 knots (40.7mph) for 10-seconds, peaking at 37.6 knots (43.3 mph)! He did this on 75-cm wide, 120L Carbon Art slalom board with a 7.8 Pryde race sail. Wow! Need to rig big to get big speeds. Skinny isn't in for real world speed sailing. "Gotta pack much back" credit Sir Mix-a-Lot

David, we missed you out there this weekend. I ended up just missing your pace, so you made it through the weekend only losing one spot. Although Adam is still sailing with Andrew on Monday...

It has been good fun seeing everyone push each other to get better. We'll see how things shake down through mid-October.

More of a writeup is available at: http://www.mowind.org/wp/?p=1017

Arden Anderson EL-11