Hot Air and More

It won't be long now and Wednesday afternoon and evening windsurfing will be back!  

The Alum Creek regatta keeps on going with a good crowd of 17 entries.  It rained, got too windy and then Sunday just enough wind for a pump fest but we all had a good time and it was great to be out on the water again in Ohio.  The Saturday evening party was held at the Roadhouse Grill just a couple miles from the park and with 99 cent draft beer all night it got pretty loud at our tables.

The TABA Race Committee is hard at work and has met several times to get things organized for our May 31 - June 1st regatta.  If you are not racing and have some time .. even half a day ..  show up and help out please.  Extra hands for setting things up early Saturday morning are always needed as well as food preparers for lunches around 1:00 in the afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday.     

Sat June 7  is the Perrysburg boat club regatta http://www.perrysburgboatclub.org/        if I don't have any lessons scheduled,  I hope to go.  

June 10-15  is the US Windsurfing Nationals in Worthington Minnesota on Lake Okabena "the windiest lake in the mid-west".    This is a long event with registration Mon and Tue and racing Wed - Sunday.  Its a 750 mile drive from Toledo one way, shorter then going to Hatteras.  Lake Okabena is also the home of the MidWest SpeedQuest which runs all season long.  You put on a GPS and see how fast you can go. The winner last year took home $1000.    Everyone is hoping for a great mid-west turnout which will help the Nationals rotate back to the midwest more often.   The only previous Nationals close by I remember were the 94 Nats in Lorain and 2003 in Worthington.   It would be nice if the Nats could rotate back like every 3 or 4 years.

Saturday June 21 is the  Grosse Point Windsurfing Club Regatta up in Detroit.   

Scott

  

Attention Windsurfers

The 2008 19th Annual Toledo Windsurfing regatta is  May 31/Saturday - June 1/Sunday.

Download the NOR below for complete details.     Save by sending in an advanced registration.

2008 Toledo Notice of Race  .doc  file.


Hope to see you there early Saturday morning May 31st!

Part of the TABA group is down in Hatteras the week of the April 20th!   Hope they are having fun.

The next regatta planning meeting to firm issues up is set for April 29th Tuesday 6:00ish at Original Packos.

In attendance at previous meeting were: Denny B., Rod C., Dick N., Scott H. and Jeff B.. 
We need to fill a few spots, help with registration Sat morning,  crews on mark setting / safety boats. 
Barb H. is doing lunches but always can use extra hands.

Please email Denny  ASAP  if you can help out .. 

Thanks much,
Scott

For TABA club members and friends there is an regatta organizational meeting Tuesday April 15th at the original Packo's starting at 6ish.    TABA will pick up costs of munchies and refreshments.

The regatta is May 31 - June 1 this year,  the first weekend as always after Memorial Day which falls on May 26th this year.   Being it's near a week earlier then some years there is a bit less time to get everything set up. 

Please if you can help out either of the days send an email Denny to note you'll be there. 


Also the Alum Creek Regatta in Columbus is coming up on May 3rd and 4th.   This regatta needs support from Ohio windsurfers so give yourself a treat and get out of town for a night.   The waters down there are a bit warmer then Lake Erie that time of year.    The fishing reports are already noting that on April 13 the water is 53 degrees!
  

A party of 14 attended the 2008 season kickoff dinner at Sebastinos on Heatherdowns.  Great Italian food with a large selection of wines made for a fun evening.  Members caught up on news and made plans.  Barb hopes to bring "The Coach" and guard boards overnight Saturday at the spring regatta.   Several are heading to Florida for the Spring races next week.  The non-club sponsored Hatteras trip is scheduled in April.   Sherry reports she is not only a soccer mom but a coach now also.

TABA (Toledo Area Boardsailing Association) is a loose knit group of Toledo area windsurfers.  We meet a few times a season to organize our Spring regatta(June 1, May 31 in 2008) and usually have a small party in Feb to get the season started again.   Late Wednesday afternoons throughout the summer season members meet up at Maumee Bay State Park for fun sailing.   

Now is a good time to join TABA and get involved.  As I mentioned we only have one event a year (our Spring regatta the first weekend after Memorial Weekend) where we need volunteers.    You can find a membership form under the Join TABA category in this blog.  

Join us for dinner at Sebastiano's, 4448 Heatherdowns Blvd, across from the Masonic Auditorium(Stranahan).

It is hard to believe that the Spring racing season is just a few weeks aways!  Well that is for those of you that are going to Florida for some windsurfing, sun and 80 degree temps in late February.

Information and registration (with pay on arrival option) for the Sarasota Race be can  found at http://www.mswindsurfing.com/     The date is Feb 23-24, with registration and rigging day on Friday.   This has been an growing event attracting 37 entries last year.  The event is held at Ken Thompson park with sailing in the protected inter coastal bay.   Last year the longboard fleet race area was located mostly in chest deep waters just a few hundred yards from shore while the Formula course was separate and set a mile to the north out in the middle of the Sarasota bay.  This event is hosted by Sarasota Sailing Squadron which is right next door to Ken Thompson park.

Information on the Calema Mid-Winters can be found at  http://www.calema.com/   The date is Feb 28 - Mar 2.   Last year the attendance I'm guessing was around 100,  down some but that was good making it less crowded on shore.   A fleet races Friday, Sat and Sunday with a must do registration and skippers meeting Thursday.   Sport fleet races Sat and Sunday.    The location is Kelly Park on Merrit Island (Port Canaveral/Cocoa Beach) which from Sarasota is near a straight shot across the state on US 4.   Calema Windsurfing is located in Kelly Park.  The sailing is on the inter coastal Banana River in what I'd call protected conditions so no waves and just a few shallow spots to watch for.   Last year I tent camped at Jetty Park barely a ten minute drive from the event site.  Jetty Park is right on the ocean so plenty of beach walking can be done from there.

In 2007 several of the MI/OH Prodigy team made it down for the races.  Tinho says on the event Web page they will have a separate Prodigy awards division if enough show up.   I'm hoping a few of the Houston TX Prodigy sailors will make it this year also. 

Scott - #H

 



 

Watch this category for posts and information on the upcoming 2008 windsurf regatta.  Because Memorial day lands a week early this year the regatta is May 31st (Saturday) and June 1st (Sunday). 

As always TABA needs help putting on this event.  So think about it now and reserve that weekend to race or volunteer to help out.  There is always much beach support needed for: putting the canopies up, registration, lunches, scoring, putting canopies down, cleanup and night guard duty. 

Also new this year is a MOWIND.org Web site that will be helping out to advertise events in the Midwest.   The MOWIND Raffle is back so don't forget to buy a couple tickets to help MOWIND out.   Also there is a news section  on the MOWIND site to report news.   So if you are good at shooting and editing video we could use someone to make about a five minute long regatta report video for this blog as well as for MOWIND News.     

Denny, Dick, DJ and Scott attended TABA meeting on Dec 11th.  

Here is a quick rundown of discussions.

Denny and DJ looking at possible places for a January TABA dinner.

Denny says the (non-club sponsored)  Hatteras trip is on for April 19-26 this year. 

Scott brought up a couple new issues and ideas. 

   1.   Have the park hold a few camp spots in one area for the Spring regatta participants.  The local kite club does this and it works out well.  One person gets a big campfire going and everyone parties around that at night.   Several people RV it the whole week during the kite fest.

   2.   Do we want to try to organize a club race series in 2008 and if so do we need to contact Mowind for race insurance for it? 

   3.   For our Toledo regatta could we try this year a special "Commuter Registration Fee"?  This would be a no shirt, raffle, lunches or dinner registration though one can buy dinner tickets separately.   This would be for local Toledo area windsurfers only.    For a host of reasons we have alot of locals that could come out and compete but just don't do it.    We need to hear comments from people that normally don't make it to the regatta as to if like a half price registration fee will bring them out or not?