Josh rippin’ on the JP/7.5
Paul, Woodette, Josh and I made the fun trip to see our friends and compete at The Dam Jam! It started with packing the trailer full of windsurf gear (lots of gear!), then making the 12hr drive to Des Moines, Iowa down Interstate 35. When we left Dryden, there was no green in the trees or grass hardly at all. But as the hours passed by driving south, we felt the air warm, and could see the earth come alive with the rich colours of spring. What a treat for the soul after our long winter.
We arrived late Thursday evening and hung around and caught up with friends. Friday we woke to warm sunny skies with wind! We eagerly rigged the gear for our first rides of the season. It was so nice to be on the water again, I could hardly believe it! Windsurfing in 80 degree weather after leaving our still frozen lakes. Friday night we went to this cool pub called Harbour Grill. It’s actually a floating pub that serves food, gas and booze. Lots of boats and people in the marina made for a fun atmosphere. Jeff ‘Eagles’ Adamski sang his fellow windsurfing faternity “Hotel California” and almost brought the house down! Great times!
Saturday we woke to sunny skies again, but zero wind. No problem though as we sat around and socialized with everyone until just around 1pm, when it looked like someone just threw the fan switch on high, and we watched Saylorville Lake go from glass flat to full-on whitecaps in about 2 miutes. The wind just kept buillding as the day went on reaching gusts of 35knots! Crazy stuff! The Race Committee tried to do some course racing, but with the building winds and bigger waves, it was hard to manage race gear in those conditions, so they decided to do figure 8 slalom the rest of the day getting seven races in after day 1. On the second race of the day they had a “dash for cash” race where I got $50 for 3rd place! First time being paid for a regatta. Hmmm, does that make me a pro now? LOL! Oh boy, we were all exhausted from the extreme racing conditions. Saturday night we partied again at the Harbour Grill til around midnight. We presented Kevin, Don,and Ulf with ‘Canadian Survival Belts’ for the efforts with us as guests of theirs over the years. We had so may laughs with the belts!
Sunday saw lighter winds in the 10-20 knot range where we managed to get in 4 course races before 2pm. We packed the trailer back up and went to the awards. I placed 6th overall in the regatta, Margot sailed great to grab third in Sport Fleet, but our son Josh was the ripper of the family on the weekend snagging FIRST in Sport Fleet! We are so proud Josh for his efforts during the regatta. It was very cool to have three Woody’s on the line! Huge thanks go out to Ulf, Larry, Randy and families for helping out putting on a first class regatta, and looking after our sleeping quarters! Very much appreciated!
For lots of pictures of the weekend click here: The Dam Jam
Next up: The US Nationals in Worthington, MN June 11-15
Stay cool…
Rigging for Woodette…even in the winter!
Some of the kiters for a group photo. Look at the shine off my goggles!
Marg and I before the race
The Champ in her playground
Paul coming down after a 20′ jump! haha
Margot and Rob “The Professor” Evans (Men’s ski champion)
We are back from another terrific weekend spent with friends and fellow wind junkies at the 4th Annual Kite Crossing. This years event with over 100 registered kiters made it THE largest snowkiting event in North America! And who else better to represent the woman ski class as Champion? Well, non other than our very own Woodette! Holy cow eh!
The winds were forecasted all day Saturday to be steady in direction and speed, but good ol’ Mother Nature proves us wrong again, by mixin’ it up just a bit with a 40 degree wind shift 5 minutes before the start, failing winds halfway through a 32 mile killer thigh burning course, all the while with sunny blue skies above. Paul and I after crossing each other on a few tacks, to get to what was now, the windward mark (remember the 40 degree wind shift?), decided to stop for a ‘rest’ after the international ‘beer signal’ of a hand raised high in the air tilting back n’ forth was seen. I had packed some emergency beer in my backpack for such an occasion, so stopping made sense to us! We decided when we ran out of beer to just head back to the event site and cruise around with some of the other no-competing kiters. Good choice because later, better than half of the racers decided to either turn around, walk, or get picked up on the lake (remember the failing winds?). I was looking for Woodette on the return trip, but with kiters spread out all over the place and just trying to focus on the terrain in front of you, I must have passed her by.
Time passed by back at the event site by trying new gear manufaturer’s had to demo, kiting, chillin’ and socializing. I took my binoculars out to look for Woodette and spotted her still a few miles out struggling to keep her kite in the air with he lack of wind. I contemplated flagging down a snowmobile to go pick her up, but decided to just let her be… Sometime later the wind started to pick up, kiters were out and about then I grabbed everybody’s attention pointing to the sky and Margot’s kite heading to the finish line saying ” now let that be a lesson to all of us!” 3-1/2 hrs later she was cruisin to the finish that none of us made! Awesome stuff!
In the end, it was Woodette. The only woman to finish the race! Back-to-back Summer & Winter Crossing wins! Wow, that is still so unbelievable! By no means is she the most talented kiter or windsurfer, but determination? Well, her wins prove her will to finish!
Put your hands together for our Super-Champ Margot “Woodette” Woodworth!
Call it the winter blahs I guess, but I sure wish I was windsurfing somewhere right now! Windsurfing would mean we would be on water, NOT ice & snow and the temperature would be a whole lot better than we have around this part of the world right now! It’s been so cold and windy, but only windy it seems when I’m out of town without my kite, or at work unable to kite! So, with my snowkiting sessions being few and far in between this winter, my thoughts turn to ’soft’ water, warm temps, sandy beaches, and on and on.
I wish I was windsurfing….
