Four days of epic racing on the Columbia River Gorge was enough for local Bruce ‘I own this river’ Peterson to claim both the course and slalom disciplines for the 2009 US Windsurfing National Championship in Hood River, Oregon.(Hood River, Oregon: windy enough to blow the dogs off the chains).
With 83 competitors registered, it was an event to be remembered as the Gorge delivered nuclear winds on the first day of slalom racing to 10-12k on the final day to test competitors ability in all conditions.
In what seemed like a huge junior contingent from around the country, the 22 strong junior fleet held a two day clinic before the event, tuning in the racing skills with the help of local Sailworks guru Bruce Peterson. The juniors were sailing the Bic Techno 293 board (with some of the older fleet already on the formula boards) which provided an excellent platform for racing. Im sure in a few years, we’ll see their results of hard training and will be nipping on the heals of the formula fleet.
Equally impressive, was the huge turn out from the San Francisco fleet with almost 20 sailors making the trip up …Â Details
Ewan Donnachie from Sydney’s Northern Beaches has won the 2009 Nomad Shark Island Challenge in clean 1 – 1.5m conditions to claim first prize of $10,000 over an accumulated two round points system.
Since the completion of Round 1 back on the 12th of July, riders and officials have been on stand-by waiting in anticipation for the second round to commence. The weeks that followed saw small to flat condition as Sydney basked in a stable weather pattern. Towards the end of the 21 day waiting period riders voted unanimously to extend the period to accommodate a strong fetch of ground swell that was predicted to reel up the N.S.W coastal – and it’s paid off… Details