Xing

[steveb]

Well..how was the crossing?.

[Jeff A]

Wind for a crossing is always nice. It wasn't there Saturday but we got some today (Sunday). After an hour or so delay, do to boat problems, the crossing was a go... Malmo to Garrison. The wind was up at the start and diminished slighty as we went across. Ist time winner was Arden Anderson from Fond du Lac, WI with a winning time of around 41 min followed by yours truely about a min and a half later, then Jeff Hotvet, Steve Cool, Steve Johnson, Randy Johnson, etc. Official results will be posted later.

I sailid my F2 formula (split nose) with a 8.3 sail and stayed on a plane the whole way.

Hats off to Fleet-8 and staff, and the sponsers.

Jeff A (USA 23)

[Coach]

Wish I could have been there! A warm and windy Crossing is always awesome. Congrats to the racers.

I'm sure thanks are due to Mike Fox for putting on yet another Crossing.


-Coach

[Randy]

Having done years of events myself, I've got just a little 'feel' for what Mike and Team Fleet 8 go through to put this event on. For 24 years, in the face of some remarkable odds, this event has gone on thanks to Mike's 'resolve' and the energy carried from his volunteers. No doubt, things seldom work out as we had expected. Just when we thought we had a perfect sunny Saturday crossing, with 10-20MPH winds, it goes light and variable. Just when we thought we'd start the Sunday race at noon, we're hit with some technical issues that push the start back to 2pm, and on and on it goes...this thing called SURPRISE. And then we meet at the end of the event and just wonder how so much could go so right for another event's conclusion. It truly is a one of a kind event that pulls the oddest assortment of characters together, each for a different reason, to step on a board and cross this elusive lake.
For me, the conditions on Sunday were pure heaven, the new people I got to meet were a tremendous gift, and the fall colors were over the top.
I know Tighe had a posse cross to Garrison on kites and it would seem there must be some way to incorporate the kiting into this event.
Anyway, mucho thanks to Mike and Pat and all the tremendous love felt from the vounteers who made this possible.

[JimW]

We were very fortunate this year to have both wind and warm temperatures. It was still a tough one to call, with the wind varying from 10 to 20 mph within an hour of the start. As always the crossing staff did a wonderful job of putting it all together. It takes huge amounts of coordination to pull it off - sailors on the water, support on shore, support out on the water, tossed in with always changing winds. Get your calendar free for next year's crossing - it will be the 25th annual and will be certainly memorable! Thanks Mike! Thanks Pat!

[Woody]

What a wonderful weekend spent with friends!
The Crossing is a time for brotherhood, laughs, and great times on the water.
A very special moment for me was watching my wife 'Woodette' cross the finish line after enduring some pretty knarly conditions that day. Thank-you to Fleet 8 for making that moment happen!!
'Just being it' was the theme for my wife and I this year....thanks Randy for your inspiration...

Already looking forward to the 25th!!

Woody and Woodette

[Uffe]

Thanks for a great event everyone, thanks to Fleet 8 for its amazing work of pulling it off once again, against all odds. Like Woody said, The Mille Lac Crossing is about brotherhood and friendship, laughs and having fun. If we get to cross the lake like we did this year that is a bonus, and what a bonus it was this year.
I like how the race starts several hours before the start horn goes off, the guessing game on what gear to use could not have been any tougher than this year’s event. I think I saw every type of gear rigged and tried out before the start, long-boards, short-boards, wide-boards, Formula-boards, everything from 250L and big 11m sails down to 110L boards and 5.5m sails, what a tricky day to choose gear! This was my 3rd time doing the crossing, and I had never had so much fun as this year. I was a little scared about not having the right gear, and I had gotten burned twice in a row the last two years getting stuck halfway slogging on a wide board. This year it was my turn to pick the right combination of board and sail and do well, Formula board and 8.7m sail was the right combo for me, breaking my personal best for the crossing by more than 1hr and 30 min was cool I finished in 58min something, what a blast. Can't wait to do it again next year, hopefully in parallel with a bunch of Kites. There has to be a way we can figure out how to do it together, how cool would that be?

Thanks again for a wonderful event, and a super weekend on Mille Lac, if anyone has any photos of the event, please post them, I don't have any.
- Uffe
USWE 22

[Eric P]

It would be great to figure out a way for the kites and the sailers to do this thing togethter. It kind of depends on the conditions and the direction. Sunday was absolutely perfect and a few of us (Tighe, Denis and myself) went from Reddy Beach to Garison kind of as a trial run - fun run. It was a total blast, and would have been even more fun if we could have raced the sailers at the same time. We had the same problem figuring out what gear to take, but in the end I think we made the right choice to go with the smaller kites. Our time was about 45 min. on a course that was about three or four miles shorter than the sailers. I'd say kiters could really compete with those conditions.

If the wind was more on - off, or if the course pinched up wind too much the kiters would definately be at a disadvantage, but if it was slightly downwind, and a consistant speed, we would have a great time. The thing to do is just to tell the kiters to go down wind of the sailers. The kiters should also start after the sailers. Just my two cents. Even if the sailers and the kiters can't do this together, I think the kiters should have a crossing of there own. I guess we could say that we've had the first annual summer kite crossing with many more to come. It sounds like the fleet 8 crew did another spectacular job with this years crossing. Great job guys and keep up the great work for this sport. Thanks