Kona Worlds Miami

[Pavel]

Still thinking about the fun we had at this event. 85 sailors, 11 countries on the same board.
Good representation from Mowind even though our results sucked. The Altantic is killer for a flatwater sailor like myself.
Check out the videos at http://www.kona-windsurfing.com to get a sense of it. Next year in Denmark, then Canada?

[Woody]

The Kona Worlds event was really alot of fun at different levels. To start, South beach Miami is a no brainer good time by itself, but the whole Kona concept is what really grabbed my attention. The Kona One class is about everyone being equal on the water. Different weight classes for different sail sizes keeps it fair for the most part in planing conditions. The light air still provides the lighter sailors a slight advantage, but the big difference is when you get back to shore, nobody is talking about equipment, everyone talks about the race, and the strategies used during the race. I liked that alot. It's not the best gear wins, it's alot about your strategy. The next very appealing thing about the class is whole families are racing together on the same board! Very cool to see a family of four head out on the water with the same board, but different sail sizes according to their weight. And one more thing that is nice to see from the class is that it gets back to the core of windsurfing. No pumping allowed in this one design racing, so it allows us "older" guys (like my daughter calls me!) to be competitive with young guns in the late teens/early twenties that could easily pump their way around the course if they wanted to. Remember trying to catch Vojta at any of the Crossings of past? Jeez, that guy could pump his way across the darn lake if he wanted!! So the 'no pumping' part of the class brings a good vibe to any race right off the bat.

Our windsurfing club has had a few Kona boards for a couple of years now and almost every student that comes out wants to get on the board. We will be getting more boards in the future and will actively promote the class, and it's rules of racing going forward. I feel the Kona One Class has a bright future in the windsurfing community!

Kona Worlds are in Denmark 2011, Australia 2012, and CANADA 2013!!

Good winds,

Woody

[SteveJ]

Sounds like a great time and the videos made me wish we all could have been there with you guys. I hope this doesn't mean I have to buy a fleet of Kona boards now.

Steve

[Pavel]

Hey Steve - Ulf wants us to come over next year to Sweden and to a "raid" - archepelago hopping. Must be a viking thang. Then we'd head down to Denmark for the 2011 worlds.
Just start saving your euros for Denmark. They'll have charter boards again I'm sure.
I think Australia would be the one to really save for in 2012.
If you want a great deal on konas give me an email I can hook you up.

Travelling somewhere with just one bag and inexpensively chartering gear is sooo sweet!

[SteveJ]

The charter deal sounds really great but do you need to practice on that board or is it no big deal just to show up at a race and jump on without much time on the Kona equipment? If you get MOWIND AND FLEET 8 set up with a big charter fleet maybe I will not need to haul my trailer to events and more people will be able to participate that don't have racing gear. I'll work on saving for 2011 or 2012.

Steve

[Pavel]

Practice????? WFT - so that was my problem! I guess kiting and drinking beer all summer does not count.

Dominique from Quebec had not been on the board before but she finished 3rd over all. How she could hang on and be competative in 25-28knots with a 7.4 at 100lbs is beyond me. Truly amazing!