1st ANNUAL-RUNNING OF THE CARP- RESULTS: CRAZY FUN!!!

[RickHeninger]

FIRST OFF, Thanks Craig, for keeping an eye on the weather specifically for this over the last month... Thanks Sarah, for warning me a month ago that you'd be out of town for memorial day and being on call all the other days for food! Murphy's law came into effect here!

Well, we were running out of good norths to do the downwinder... And after doing this again, I am reminded that it really is more of a downwinder than you think... However, 20 sailors and 8 kiters were present whom I don't want to start naming for fear of missing a bunch... But the wind was a little bit of a question mark, so I don't blame anybody for not going for it... A few just didn't have time to go the distance! Next time!!!

There was actually quite a crew of people out... It really was reminiscent of the Gorge Blowout... The angst and excitement of what to rig and/or whether to go!!!

For what I wanted out of it, this couldn't have gone better... The safety nets all held... The rescue boat worked great... The company at the starting line was great... I wish everybody could've enjoyed the company at the finish line!

We had good wind... But a cloud toned the wind down a bit on the east side... The kiters, four warriors, Jake, Salvador, Jason, and Mark fired of the beginning and seemed to be over to Provo Boat Harbor within about a half hour... Three did end up in a hole for a little bit about a quarter mile from Provo Boat Harbor... Jake made it into Provo Boat Harbor no sweat... Way to go Jake!

After a bit of a diedown, maybe a half hour, the wind picked up like a banshee picking me up off my slight downwind schlogg and with in 20 minutes 3 of we windsurfers were through the jettys at PVU... Mostly on 6.7's to 7.5's and 115 Liters or more... Ralph!, Rick H, Josh S, and Bob! Dimitri would've made it no prob, but half way acrossed he decided he was too tired from sailing yesterday and simply sailed back! You're the man Dimitri!

SO, essentially, 8 people made it... 4 kites, 4 windsurfers... The cloud not a factor, 20 could've made it quite easily... I had cancelled the bus halfway acrossed the lake from the cell phone in the boat... On the way back, we had quite possibly the funnest boat ride I've ever had... The boat cut through the 4 foot swell like butter! It made for quite a spectacular ride with we four sailors looking off the back of the boat going 30MPH with spray going 30 feet up and turning smokey from the strong wind... Being that for the way back the wind was blowing 4.5!!! It would've been quite a session later!

We finished the evening off with Hotdogs on the grill at Pelican, Chips, and a few beers/sprites!!! And great company... Snapped a pic of the finishers and rescue boat personel and drove away with big smiles! Thanks Jake for getting my nephews on the trainer kite!

I wish the people who were out of town could've made it, but this was a good learning experience for how to do this the next time... NO CLOUDS FOR SURE!!!

I tell you though, we could've sailed back the way the wind picked up on the way back... It blew 5.0 from 5PM until about 8PM!!! Ryan was getting a great session while we were eating up!

NOTE: If Sarah had been in town she'd have been the rescue boat back up! If Carl C. had more time on the water this year, he'd have been the same on his gear... Actually, there are a lot of people with gear perfect for this kind of race, although, I know, this kind of thing isn't for everybody! That's why we have a few different flavors of events... The Windsurf/Kite freestyle stuff might be good during the Utah Summer games in the future.

OH PSS! I think that Charleston Jim Southwick felt the challenge needed some modifying and he sailed from Charleston to the dam, down the river, to Provo Boat Harbor, did a few laps around the lake, and decided to get home for dinner sailing back up the Provo River, up the chute, and downwind to homebase! But that's just my theory!

Jim, you'd have also done circles around me! I thought you'd have been there.

[jason morton]

Thanks Rick. That was alot of fun. You did a great job organizing and executing the crossing. I'd like to thank your brother and nephews for being our support crew on the water. Thanks to Regan for being our on-land support crew. She made sure we all launched safely, picked our stuff off the beach, and picked us up at PVU. She also played nurse to other unfortunate sailors in need. Thanks to everyone involved. It was cool to see so many people in attendance.

[jason morton]

I've posted the images of the Downwinder event that took place last night May 28,2007 @ Utah Lake. Hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoyed watching and helping out. Thanks for letting me participate!!Looking forward to next years!!! Regan

http://www.slide.com/r/HmbEXsch5T-PovKb ... bedded_url

[Mark Johnson]

Yea Rick Thanks for putting on this event. Was loads of fun. Thanks also to all the support group, we couldn't have done it without them. Next time all the way to lincoln beach.

[mike loeser]

I didn't think the race was going to go off due to the rain clouds, and got sucked into doing other things at home. I'm sorry I missed it, but I still haven't been on the water yet and that adds to my hesitation of going out for something like this.
I am curious as to what size kites you guys ended up riding. The Provo mesowest was showing winds from 9 mph to 24 mph if I remember right. Also how did you do the launch? I read the part about the net, was that for the kites? I wouldn't mind riding there, because of the closeness to home and looking at Dave's pictures of Lincoln yesterday where there were a few too many people out. Its hard to keep things safe with kites everywhere, not to mention doing airs.
I'll be there next year for the second annual running of the carp, looks like it was good fun.
Mike