The Kona Midwinters
North American Championship
 After
an almost 6 hour journey I arrived at the Bellville Motel
and apartments, $75 and they upgraded me to an apartment with
a full kitchen!
From the Belleville its about a very pleasant drive to the
Clearwater Sailing center. The gulf side of Clearwater beach
is populated with mansions and ever increasing high rise condominiums.
The clearwater sailing club consists of a very nice clubhouse
with a wide variety of equipment that can be rented or used
when one wants. Steve and Marty Gottlieb were there with Kona
one design boards for charter; registration was fast and easy.
 Day
One Friday,
The races started around 11:00am and three races with a double
upwind leg were held in winds from 15 to over 20 and gusty.
It was all I could do to hold on to the 7.8 bin the downwind
legs.
After three races we came in and had a delicious lunch.
The afternoon races started at around 2:00pm, and the winds
had dropped significantly, but you could still hook in. We
got in two more races and headed back for a wonderful dinner
and and a keg of beer.
Day Two:
The races started around 10:30am and we got two races in
before lunch. The first wind had light air but after complaints
that we were not at the wind minimum for KONA we waited a
bit for the second race, fortunately the winds blew the rest
of the day from 5 to 15 and gusty.
After lunch we got two more races in with the second ending
inshore, thank you!
A keg of beer was provided and dinner was at 5:30pm with
a salad, chicken and pasta primavera.
Day Three:
Three races were scheduled but only two were held Sunday
morning as the wind was very strong and the entire fleet was
getting worn out. We were on the water by noon. Lunch was
served but I left about two to head home so I missed out on
the awards ceremony.
Please note that the of the top12 finishers, 5 were women
with first place won by a woman. Your commodore came in 11th
place and completed every race.
Chris Grave
2016 SPSC Commodore
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Didn’t
realize how the successful coup to unseat me would feel at the first
meeting. It was so strange that I responded to a question not even
asked, and everyone just slowly turned and looked at me, thankful
that I was no longer Commodore. The new Commodore, Chris, was definitely
in charge. Tried to drown my sorrows, but after my second beer and
seventh trip to the bathroom, I knew that wasn’t the answer.
However, it was great to see the number of people who came to the
first meeting of the year in support of the new regime.
would
be closing the park and shutting all electricity off at 10am the next
day. Perry found another park only 10 miles away that was high and
drier where we spent Thursday night. It was a nice park, but sadly,
and Trump would agree with me on this, filled with furriners from
Quebec, Canada, who only spoke French and played a game called Petanque.
After
competing in the hardest regatta I have ever attended I realize
the key to competing is not only getting on the water as often
as possible but to also do regular strength training and stretching.
While attending the Kona Championships I brought my yoga pad
and did stretching in the evening, if not for that and an
aspirin I would not have made it.
I
picked up a youtube channel “scooby1961” which
is this old dudes fitness channel. The one exercise that I
feel all windsurfers would benefit from is the 40 chin-ups
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You break the 40 into 5 sets
of 8. If you are not able to start or complete a chin up stand
a a bench hold the bar and lower your weight until you complete
the set. Stretch for a few minutes between sets and do it
again. When you first start you will feel like you have been
beaten but after a couple of weeks you get in the groove.
I am still not able to do all 40.