Fleet 8 is proud to announce that we will be hosting the 2012 Kona North American Championships on Lake Waconia, August 24-26. In our 35th year, we have come full circle. In 1978, we hosted the District 5 Championships for the original Windsurfer One-design on Lake Waconia. Since then, we have been fortunate to play a major role in propelling our local race scene to being the most active in the western hemisphere, with the Tonka Crossing drawing over 200 participants for several years and the Mille Lacs Crossing enduring 28 years as the most popular and longest-running event in the history of our sport. Of course, we did shift off course a bit with the first International snowkite competition, the Kite Freeze and the only kiting event to surpass 100 registrants, the Kite Crossing, now in its eighth year. But now Kona brings us back to our roots.

Kona One-design was developed by enthusiasts of the original Windsurfer competition and has become the strongest one-design program since the 80’s. As one World Class sailor stated this last year, I believe the Kona One is the fairest sailing class today, including all dinghy classes. Last season, Fleet 8 and Kona Midwest helped introduce one-design racing back into the Midwest racing scene with great success. This coming season, we are preparing to offer programs for Midwest sailors to redevelop their sailing skills on the Kona, in preparation for the North Americans. We hope to see our local, as well as Midwest sailors make a statement competing against some of the best International competition. More info to follow as we release the Notice of Race and open on-line registration.