Cabrinha Race Series Sponsored by Kite Windsurf

[OliverG]

CABRINHA ANNOUNCES
THE CABRINHA RACE SERIES

Cabrinha Kitesurfing is pleased to announce it has joined forces with the St. Francis Yacht Club of San Francisco, and Kite Wind Surf of Alameda, Calif. (sponsor), to present the Cabrinha Race Series.

The St. Francis Yacht Club is one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the World, Kite Wind Surf is one of the premier kite shops in the USA, and Cabrinha Kites is the worldís kitesurfing market leader. ìThis partnership is a natural,î says Kent Marinkovic, VP of Marketing for ASI, the North and South American distributor for Cabrinha. Todd GrÈaux, Brand Manager for Cabrinha at ASI, agrees and says, ìCourse racing is an entirely new discipline in kitesurfing. What better partners could a brand have than the St. Francis Yacht Club and Kite Wind Surf. With the coupled racing expertise of SFYC and the kitesurfing market knowledge of Kite Wind Surf, this partnership was too strong to pass up.î

Jeff Rouss, managing partner of Kite Wind Surf and race participant expects the Cabrinha Race Series to become the competition model that other yacht clubs around the world will adopt. ìThe SFYC, Kite Wind Surf, and Cabrinha are offering a competitive discipline of kitesurfing thatís an alternative to freestyle ñ I think itís great, and it's a model program that others will certainly follow.î

The Cabrinha Race Series will be held on the San Francisco Bay with the start and finish in front of the St. Francis Yacht Club next to the Golden Gate Bridge. It will be a series of 11 evenings of course races with the first to be held Thursday, April 26th, 2005 and participation is expected to average 30 or more racers. According to John Craig, Race Director for the St. Francis, ìThe series which started last year as an experiment has quickly developed into an amazing spectacle of speed and colors placed against a backdrop second to none.î ìRace nightsî are scheduled every other Thursday evening, May through September. Craig continued, ìThe racing itself usually consists of 4-5 races per evening and is very competitive with riders finishing overlapped all within seconds of each other. From shore you can easily see how powered up the kites get and the skills needed to control them is amazing to watch.î

At the conclusion of the race series, Cabrinha and Kite Wind Surf will host the Cabrinha Race Series Social and Awards Ceremony at the St. Francis Yacht Club.

So, what is it about kiteboard course racing that piqued Cabrinhaís and Kite Wind Surfís interest? Marinkovic, a former member of the US Sailing Team and Olympic hopeful, may have summed it up the best: ìRacing has always been the most objective form of competition for any wind sport. It makes sense that kitesurfing would eventually explore this discipline of competition. I saw the opportunity to help promote the sport and extend current forms of kite racing into the yachting community and I jumped at it! I first saw the racing at the St. Francis last summer and I was blown away at the level of competitiveness and fun; additionally, the willingness of the local community and the SFYC to push this amazing disciplineÖit will be great for the sport.î John Craig agrees, saying, ìLong term, the partnership between industry leaders, Cabrinha, Kite Wind Surf, and the club will only increase the profile and legitimacy of kiteboarding course racing nationally and internationally. At its continued rate of growth it would not surprise me at all to see a World Kiteboarding Course Racing Championship in the near future.î

About the sponsors:

St. Francis Yacht Club
Founded in 1927, the St. Francis Yacht club is steeped in over 75 years of yachting and racing traditions. The annual racing schedule at the St Francis is one of the most aggressive regatta calendars in the world. Part of the attraction of racing at the St. Francis Yacht Club is the excellent and challenging racing conditions unique to San Francisco Bay. Both physically beautiful and naturally demanding, the Bay provides a racer with the ultimate in wind, current, and weather conditions. It is not just the great sailing that makes the St. Francis a sought after site for important regattas. The St. Francis is an ideal location because of their professional staff. When managing a regatta they provide the best in race management both on and off the water.

Cabrinha Kitesurfing
Cabrinha Kitesurfing is led by legendary waterman Pete Cabrinha. Started in 2000, Cabrinha offers a full line of boards, accessories, waterwear, and kites. As the global market leader, Cabrinha is world reknown for bringing innovations that matter to the market, including, but not limited to: the first production 5-line kite, RECON relaunch and security system, and the first successful Bow kites. Recently, the Cabrinha Crossbow was nominated for Volvoís Sports Design Award for outstanding and innovative product and design development.

Adventure Sports Inc. (ASI) is the watersports division of the Pryde Group North America (Pryde Group) and the distributor of Cabrinha Kitesurfing. ASI also distributes NeilPryde Waterwear, NeilPryde Windsurfing, and JP-Australia Windsurfing to most of North and South America. The Pryde Group handles the administration of Flow Snowboarding International as well as the distribution of Flow throughout the Americas.

Kite Wind Surf
Kite Wind Surf (KWS) is a full-service kiteboarding and windsurfing store located directly across from Alamedaís Crown Memorial Beach. Incorporated in 2001, they have quickly established themselves as one of the largest and most repected shops in Calif. KWS provides exceptional value to the windsport community through service, knowledge, and a full calendar of kiteboarding and windsurfing events in the Bay Area. Kite Wind Surf stocks the best available equipment and offers outstanding lessons by highly qualified instructors. They have established a great reputation for teaching safe and fun kiteboarding lessons in the heart of the San Francisco Bay. Their jetski-supported lesson plan allows them teach in unobstructed areas and in clean wind which are otherwise inaccessible; Kite Wind Surf has taught more successful kiteboarding lessons than any other school in California.

[Blackbird]

What gives? No time information? No details about what is going on? How are people supposed to find out about this series? I was planning on attending, but I have no desire to stand around the SFYC for an unknown period of time just waiting to compete with 30 other riders. Who has info? As far as I have found, nobody. Come on!

[~emily.]

Hey guys!

Registration is still open; Go to the Race Office at the St. Francis around 4:00 (or earlier). I think that they limit registration to about 30 racers, first to the kiters signed up for the whole series, then first come first served, i believe.

Skippers meeting is at Crissy Field at 5:00. You'll find out details about tonight's race there.

Have fun!! Good luck to all the racers!
cheers.
~e.

[charlie]

can you guys post the resluts..?
i know you have alot to do...but end of days race resluts would be nice...?
oh and can you post rider,
kite,
board,
and time....?
thanks

[~emily.]

Hey Charlie, I have a copy of the race results in the shop that you can come take a look at if you're still curious.
cheers!
~e.

[charlie]

ya thanks .
thats good info to know...
whos who and whats what.

[steve]

The race summary from May 25th will come up a bit short due to a personal
equipment failure.

It looked as if a few racers decided to abstain from the heavier winds. The
winds were gusting over 30 mph and from a more southerly direction causing
the winds to be a bit more shifty and gusty. The skippers meeting was held
with only a few racers attending at 5 p.m. The race course was to be raced
similar to the first race of the season. This put the racers closer to the
yacht club for the start. Being closer to the yacht club makes dealing with
the current more challenging for the racers.

Most were out racing on 12's with a handful of sailors on 10's. The start
of the first race went off clean with the majority of the fleet at full
speed. I decided to race towards the middle of the bay to a more favorable
current. This decision put me first around the windward mark and easily
clearing the small offset mark that we need to honor as well. My downwind
run was hectic as I am still trying to figure out how to ride a board with
no rocker down wind. For now, I keep my speed down, lower then I normally
would and try not to fall. Another white water rounding and out to the
middle again to head for the finish.

I finished first and got to watch Anthony Chavez and Andy Holmes racing to
the finish. At the approach to the finish, Anthony tacked back over to port
and shot over the finish line just ahead of Andy who finished on starboard,
closer to the yacht club about 10 seconds behind Anthony.

Shortly after the start of the second race I broke my starboard front line.
A quick self rescue and on the race committee boat, so my race evening was over.

The wind got lighter by the third race making it quite a bit more difficult
for anyone on 10's, but obviously not affecting the current champion and series leader...Anthony Chavez,
as he finished first in the next two race and 1st overall for the evening. Andy Holmes was 2nd, and Frank Wittke,
in his first race night of the series was 3rd . For more details on
the race results go to www.stfyc.com and click on regatta info, and then the Cabrinha Race Series "button."

Stay tuned, next race on June 8th.

Jeff Ruoss - Red Cabrinha Crossbow - Blue #9
Managing Partner, Kite Wind Surf LLC

[~emily.]

Tonight is Race 5 of the TNKR series.

According to the charts max current is at 3:00 at 1.9 knots and should be slack by first gun. Wind forcast looks good for this evening. Should be interesting racing indeed!

Go to the St. Francis Yacht Club after 3pm to register. Skipper's mtg at the beach.

cheers! & Good Racing!!
~e.

[steve]

Cabrinha Race Series
Summary from June 8th

The wind decided it wanted to come more from the south on this clear Thursday night. This makes it very difficult to get off the beach, however, the wind was very steady out in the middle. As I was rigging, I took notice that it was already flooding at Anita Rock. Due to the flood, the race committee decided to move the course out towards the middle where the current was more favorable and the wind as well. Tonight we had a guest appearance from Sean Farley who rides for Team North and is the past Mexican Freestyle Champion.
Race #1 was postponed for about 10 minutes when a problem arose on one of the race committee boats. This caused a bit of confusion as many of the racers have never seen a postponement flag, as described below.

A triangular race pennant with three verticle red stripes separated by two verticle white stripes; red,white,red,white,red.(tried to post a pic but failed)


The pin end or the end closest to the Yacht Club was heavily favored. The entire fleet started on port as there way no way to cross the start on starboard. The way the course was set up there was very little tactics required. Sometimes sailors refer to this as a drag race. We all sailed as hard up wind on port as we could, and then tacked over to starboard for a short run around the windward mark. I rounded the windward mark in 3rd place and was shocked to find Geoff Heddington about 60 seconds ahead of me as we were only four minutes into the race. I opted to sail downwind on the yacht club side of the start finish line as the start finish is restricted on the downwind run. This was a longer course to the leeward mark but I was looking for flat water to sail in as the Glide board I use is very difficult to sail down wind. The finish was fairly uneventful with Geoff Heddington finishing in first and Nils Stlozener finishing in 2nd. I held my position in third and then assisted Jeff Kafka in finishing properly upwind through the line. I myself needed to go around the race committee boat once and then finish going upwind through the line.Jeff was making his 1st appearance of the racing season and is now riding for Cabrinha

Race #2 was much closer. The start was identical with many racers were very tight at the windward mark. There were 5 to 6 of us charging into the windward mark with very tight racing and some sailors only 5 feet apart. I hailed for room at the mark so that the windward sailors would not block me from rounding. This is legal inside of two boat lengths or for us kiters 2 line lengths or 50 meters. (my opinion of how a sail boat rule should apply to kites) This time on the downwind run I opted to go to the race committee end of the start/finish line. The chop was much better and I was just trying to catch Geoff Heddington again who rounded the windward mark in first again. It is so challenging to ride the Glide downwind and I am slowly catching Geoff but have a cruising sailboat in my way causing me to jibe in to much chop and fall. I lost about 30 seconds retrieving my board and off to the leeward mark again. My fall allowed Nils to catch up and just pass me. Nils and I were approaching the leeward mark with myself just inside of him and to windward. Nils jibed over to port to round the mark and our kites collided pretty hard. I crash jibed over to port and rounded the mark slowly at a deep run down wind. I also allowed Nils to go ahead and pass in that I would rather try to pass him upwind to the finish then have any more kite collisions. As we approached the finish Geoff got first again and Andy Holmes who sailed very well in this race finished 2nd. I had successfully passed Nils upwind and was trying to finish on port when we had another altercation. Nils was approaching me on starboard thus giving him the right of way. I indicated to him that I was going to duck downwind and he should hold his course. He lowered his kite and came downwind slightly causing me to dump mine in the water and then sailed past me on starboard. I re-launched my kite and still finished just ahead of him in 3rd. In my opinion I was fouled twice in this race. The first time at the leeward mark as when you are jibing you have no right of way. At the finish I should have been allowed to stay clear downwind and the starboard sailor is required to maintain their proper course.

Good close racing. And if you are wondering what happened to Anthony, it was his night for race committee.

Equipment notes. The Glide boards finished in top 4 places tonight albeit Nils made his own.. it is a similar shape. Kafka was 5th on one of his new custom quad Kite/Surf boards. Most racers were on 12's, with bow or bow similar kites dominating.
General comment: I write these summaries from my perspective as a participating racer. My comments about strategy and rules are made only to help/assist others who may not be as familiar.

Jeff
Red Cabrinha CB, Blue #9
Managing Partner Kite Wind Surf

[steve]

It appears that Jeff Ruoss has retired, without notice, from providing the race write upsÖI apologize. So, in the interim (hopefully he will return), I am providing the race result thru July.

The Cabrinha Race Series continued to experience fierce competition and grueling conditions during June and July. Anthony Chavez (Naish), the 2005 overall winner has dominated the series since the first night of racing capturing a first in 5 of the 6 nights heís raced. Nils Stolzlechner (Naish) and Geoff Headington (SS) are in a close battle for 2nd with another group of 4 riders close behind, including Jeff Ruoss (Cabrinha), managing partner of Kite Wind Surf, the sponsor of the race series. Andy Holmes who is an instructor for Jeff at Kite Wind Surf is also in this pack of four. Andy, however, is moving to Washington this week and will be missed for remainder of the seasonÖlucky for the other competitors. Good luck Andy! June and July also saw some ìguest TEAM riderî compete, such as Adam Koch, Sky Solbach, Jaime Herraiz, and Sean Farley. All had respectable showings, but only Adam has been able to topple the local Anthony.
Jeff Kafka (Cabrinha) of Wind Over Water KiteBoarding school also joined in on the competition the last three race night with competitive resultsÖ5th, 6th,and 7th.

June also saw Cabrinha sponsor the kite course racing at King of the Bay with top competitors from the Cabrinha Race Series (St Francis Yacht Club) dominating. Jeff Ruoss (Cabrinha) was 1st, followed by Geoff Headington (SS) and Jeff Kafka (Cabrinha).
And in case you were wondering about Anthony, well, he didnít compete.