July 16, 2006

Madeline Cancelled!
With great regret, we have been forced to cancel the Madeline Island Encounter. We realize it is very short notice, but the major factors leading up to the decision arose only five days ago. We took the time to contact anyone who had shown interest in the event and they shared in the final decision. There does remain substantial interest from both windsurfers and kiters to keep Madeline as a possibility for next year. If we failed to notice anyone who had planned to attend, please let us know.

Moose Regatta Scores Wind!
We had a great time up in Dryden, Ontario for 4 days. Woody’s family were great hosts and we had turned their wonderful front yard into a windsurfing campground. The “Blue Moose” RV, three pop-up campers and lots of cars were occupying the yard. Woody’s brother had several guys sleeping in his “surf-shack” bar out in his yard right next door. We had 15 people on the start line, 5 in Sport Fleet and 10 in A-fleet, a mix of longboarders Formula and Progidy gear. Winds were good on Saturday and we got 5 great course races in, with a little lighter during the first 3 races before lunch. The long-boards were kicking butt since guys on Formula gear were on and off planing, winds were between 10-15 Mph. In the later afternoon, we did two more course races and since the winds had picked up to 15-25 the Formula guys did better and left the longboards behind. After one day of racing Larry Miller from Minnesota was in first on his equipe and 10.5 NP V8, closely followed by Paul from Canada in second on his equipe and 10.8 Loft O2, and then Woody hanging onto his Mistral Superlight and NP 10.5 V8 and Uffe on his Bic Techno Formula and North R-Type 10.5, tied at third place.

Ulf Jentler showing his dominance on Lake Wabigoon.

Sunday morning the winds had picked up another notch, ranging from 15-25 mph with some races ran in winds higher than that. Again we got 5 great course races in set by Mike Fox from Fleet-8 who did a great job at setting challenging and competitive courses, tweaking them as conditions changed or winds shifted. Sunday the formula racers shined and Larry Reed and myself did very well on our Formula Experience Gear, before lunch we were both overpowered on 10.5m sails and after lunch Larry went down to an 8.5m but was still as quick around the course. Myself I held on to my 10.5 North R-type and was doing very well before lunch and figured “since it’s not broke why fix it” and kept sailing it in the afternoon. Hands were very sore and blistered after.

Thanks to everyone for putting on such a great event, Woody and their family especially for organizing and hosting everyone at your house and front yard with easy lake access 50 yards from our campers. Hope to see everyone real soon again at the next regatta.

– Uffe
USWE 22

Open Class
1st-Brad Woodworth (Dryden)
2nd-Larry Miller (Minnesota)
3rd-Paul Matousek (Sioux Lookout)

Limited Class
1st-Roland Rioux (Winnipeg)
2nd-Ray Muller (Thunder Bay)
3rd-Steve Wells (Dryden)

Formula Class
1st-Ulf Jentler (Iowa)
2nd-Larry Miller (Iowa)

Sport Class
1st-Freidhelm Brinkman (Iowa)
2nd-Margot Woodworth (Dryden)
3rd-Shannon Stratford (Dryden)

A Gathering on Mille Lacs
It all started when some of the kiting community wanted to plan a summer event on Mille Lacs, but didn’t want to go through all the formal structure that had become associated with the winter events. And so with the use of chat forums and e-mails, the word got out and it became known as the ‘gathering’.

Late Saturday afternoon at Malmo.

It really couldn’t have been much better. Malmo Park proved to be the perfect spot to meet with the westerly winds. Pete’s Campground had opened up within a mile of the park and just as close was Carlsona Beach, the gathering spot for the evening meals. Saturday had the only break in the consistent winds, during the middle of the day. Those that weren’t flying training kites or windsurfing, roamed the park sharing in the comradery of the wind community.

The first extreme watersport, 1980-vintage Windsurfer, shares Mille Lacs with the latest extreme watersport, kitesurfing.

The weekend was a total success, much thanks to the rumor that kiters and windsurfers would be meeting at Mille Lacs on July 7th, 8th & 9th. It will be repeated in ’07.

Check Out the Website! Thanks to Woody and his sister Guin, we have a new website at Fleet8.com. It will continue to grow as we tap the archives in preparation for the 25th annual Mille Lacs Crossing and explore the teaming of kiting and windsurfing into a total wind community. Your feedback is welcome.

Membership open to Kiters
Membership in Fleet 8 has now become the easiest means of support you can give to either kiting or windsurfing. The membership fee for 2006 is $20 or $30 for families. Let’s keep our sports going and growing!

Fleet 8 Update: June 25

This is the third electronic Update of 2006.

Vacation Getaways! Summer is here and we’re thinking vacation. With the price of gas, our getaway deserves that special weekend, maybe even extended. Our chosen destinations are Dryden, Ontario and Madeline Island.

The Moose Regatta! Next weekend, we will test Canadian waters. Wabigoon Lake is barely 100 miles north of the border and has helped develop a substantial fleet of local windsurfers. With the rest of Team World headed north, there will be no lack of competitive juices flowing. Dryden will be in true festival form as they prepare for Canada Day, also celebrated on the 4th of July. There is camping and lodging right on the shores of the lake, within 300 yards from the event site. More info and plenty of pictures can be found at www.windsurfwoody.ca/regatta/ .

Dryden Lodging:

Best Western (807)223-3201
Holiday Inn Express (807)223-3000
Pilots Landing (bed & brkfst) (807)223-6928 – (300 yards from event site on the lake!!)

Madeline Island Encounter It starts when you drive on the ferry in Bayfield. The twenty minute cruise fuels the anticipation. You shift clearly from freeway mode to island drift, never seeming to drive over 20 mph and totally content with that. Even your cell phone seems to lie down and take a nap. The island mystique has taken over.

We are going back to the island with a different agenda. This will be a true encounter, an exploration of all that the island has to offer those who like to play in the wind. A few of the kiters discovered Madeline Island recently, and we want to extend this invite to the kiting community. If we have enough of those that do both, we may experience the first Windathalon. The first segment would be kite powered, the second covered on a windsurfer.

Lodging for July 21st and 22nd has nearly booked out. There are currently 3 houses left through the Inn and 1 left at LaPointe Lodgings. Big Bay Campground has most of their sites available. You can explore additional lodging possibilities at www.madelineisland.com/.