Kasail North American GPS challenge results 2008

The sandbar at Klickitat is back.  When I first started windsurfing in the late 80s I went to the Gorge and witnessed the Ken Winner timed speed events at this very sandbar in Lyle, Washington state. It was then I fell in love with the sport. In the early 90s the bar was covered by the river and closed for speed business.  More recently, the bar was again uncovered, and Gorge sailors used it to their advantage to dominate the 2008 KAsail GPS speed challenge.  The top 5 results were obtained in the lee of this sandbar during July and August of this year.

In first place, winning the Kontest for the 3rd year running is Kean Rogers, AKA “Roo” with an average over 5, 10 second runs at 40.199 knots. Roo’s tracks for that day layed over a Google map of the area is shown here.
 
     

The relevant colour coded tracks are: Dark Blue 25 to 35 knots, Red 36 to 40 knots, Yellow 41 to 44 knots. 4 of the top 5 tracks were made on the same day, August 30 in about 30 knots of westerly wind.

 In second place, for the second year running, is Derek Nielsen, with a 5 run average of 39.24 knots. In third place, after a review and slight adjustment of his result by the NA timekeeper, Craig Bergh, is Bruce Peterson with a 5 run average of 38.852.  The top 5 tracks were analysed by Doppler methods.  Bruce has been one of the fastest sailors in the Gorge for as long as I can remember, and one can’t help but respect what he does on and off the water to support US windsurfing through his company, Sailworks.

The top 5 sailors also show that experience counts, with Derek Nielsen being the youngest at 37 yrs old, and all the others in the top 5 over 40 years.  Richard Sperling, at age 62, continues to amaze us with speeds that are tough to match for anyone, at any age. Richard got 4th place this year with a blazing 5 run 10 second average of 38.8 kts.

The complete final results are:

By winning again this year, Roo has requested, and will be awarded a 2009 6.6m Koncept.  He says it is for his son.  Good onya, Roo.  Second place winner Derek Nielsen, will get a $150 credit towards KA sail or mast gear, as well as a PhotoGlow backlit frame with an image of his choice inserted.  Bruce Peterson, the third place winner will get a $100 credit towards a KA sail or mast (I am guessing he won’t use it), and a PhotoGlow backlit frame with an image of his choice.

Even though he was the only Junior in the event, and awards were only to be made with 3 competitors, Alex Nielsen will win a KA hat, and rash guard.  I wonder how long before Alex is giving his Dad Derek a run for his money.

The most sessions in the event this year goes to Jon Robbins. Jon logged over 30 sessions to the event!  Jon will win a KA hat and rash guard.  You have to admire that kind of enthusiasm.

Thanks to KAsail Australia’s Andrew McDougall for the KA gear, Juerg Schnorf of KAsail and windsurfdeal for contribution of the 09 Koncept  and credits to the winners, and PhotoGlow.com for contributing the backlit frames.  We would also like to thank the North American timekeeper, Craig Bergh for verifying the top sessions, and of course the staff at GPS speedsurfing.com for hosting the data for the event.

The sponsors of this year’s event have agreed to do it again next year.  To try to spread some of the prizes to locations besides the Gorge, we are going to work on a system that encourages and will award a sail both for high average speeds, but also on levels of participation “enthusiasm”.

Have a great winter, and sand out the nicks in your speed fins in preparation for next year’s event. If you have a minute, check out the 2009 sails at KAsail.com

Ed Sinofsky, event organizer. KAsail Ambassador.