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'The Crossing' on Lake Mille Lacs
Our big blue surfmobile "The Blue Moose". Always a fun ride!
Starting on port (GER 17) with 2nd place 'Professor' Rob Evans
Full-throttle windsurfing with the kiters
Pooped after racing
Strat and I chatting after the race
The "Tonka Boys" checkin' out the Woody Screamer
Well, another year, another Crossing and another $5000 in gas for The Blue Moose!
Seven of us from Dryden made the annual trek to Garrison, Minnesota for the end-of-season windsurfing race simply known as 'The Crossing'. 45 registered windsurfer's along with 23 kiters were on hand for this awesome event. The 18-25 knots of wind moving the white-cap-filled water, created some nasty chop and big waves for windsurfer's and kiters alike. Now this race is one in which you rig to win, or, rig to finish. I chose the 'rig-to-win' formula, but was humbly put in my place with a few major crashes because of being fully powered all-the-time. Before the race started, I took my formula board (70cm fin) along with my 9.2m Neil Pryde RS Slalom race sail and found out REAL quick that I would be doomed with that combo. I sailed out of the water and pointed upwind like a rocket ship, so trying to stay on a reach for 16 miles would have been impossible! 25 knots on lake Mille Lacs is way different than 25 knots back home on Wabigoon Lake. So, with Woodette coming back to shore after she decided her JP160 X-Cite was too much for her, I decided to grab her board, put on a good 54cm fin and a Neil Pryde 7.5m V8 then hit the water. I sailed out a mile or so and was totally lit. I cruised through the water with total confidence. Perfect for this long race. With most of the fleet starting on port (typical MIchael Fox-RC start) and with one tack around the short windward mark we were off for the 4 mile leg with blinding speed. Only two saiors were in front of me for the first few miles until I completely exploded off a big wave and trashed myself into the water at 40+ km/hr...that hurt! As I hopped back on my gear I was passed by eventual winner Jeff Hotvet from Minnetonka. ('The Tonka Boys' were 1st and 2nd at the end of the day). So as I watched Jeff rip past me with a 9.0 RS6 on his formula board (yeah, pretty much the same combo I had before the race!!!) my hopes in finishing at the top were fading. I kept sailig then was pleasantly suprised, and passed by Strat just before the jibe mark! He was on a 6.2m sail with the ol' Bic Astro Rock just cruising through the chop. I was banged up a bit still from my crash so I just sailed 'sheeted out' for the most part. I finished the race just behind my buddy Strat, so that was cool! And what made the race really special was when I was heading back out for another run I caught a glimpse of Woodette hooked in and ripping along in those big conditions mixin' it up with the boys! She was the only woman to finish this years Crossing, so a big congrats go out to her!!
We all had alot of fun driving in The Blue Moose, lots of laughs dancing at The Blue Goose, lots of food, lots of beer, lots of smiles, lots of laughs in the big warm hot tub at The Garrison Inn Suites, and more memories to fullfill our lives. I'm beat up a bit, sore aching muscles, but smiling still from the thrill of it all!
You can check out some more pics HERE at Lakawa Photos.
Have Fun In LIfe...
Posted by Brad at October 1, 2007 7:19 PM
Comments
Nice post bro. The conditions looked a tad Xtreme. 
Posted by: Big Al at October 1, 2007 10:03 PM
Nice recap!!
Lots of fun, friends and beer! : )
Posted by: Shan/Surfy at October 1, 2007 10:22 PM
Big thanks to Brad, who always gets everybody motivated to race and give it your best shot. You should have gotten an award for bringing the most people to the regatta. Andree, Josh, and the rest of Team Iowa, don't miss this most unique event of the year next year. The kiters added so much more energy to an already very extreme race. STOKE!!
Woodette
Posted by: Margot at October 2, 2007 7:44 AM
Great trip with a great crew! Hope I can find that darn start line quicker next year - sheesh, yah figure after six years... ;-) Nice to have the memories of my 1 lap cruise to keep me going through my OctoNovember blahs. Thanks Woodys fora Moosin' good time!
Posted by: Pavel at October 2, 2007 11:12 AM
No blahblahs yet Pauli! Today was a gorgeous day on the water. Woody had me all rigged on his formula and 8.5 m sail. The beer(s)in the hot tub taste just as great as after the Crossing. Need to adjust to the real life slowly.... 
Posted by: Margot at October 2, 2007 2:42 PM
No blahs yet - just have to keep fueling the happy
chemicals. Got out kiting today on my 13 and actually had a couple nice runs until I ran out of lake. Can't stay upwind yet though - have to work on that in the keys.
Posted by: Pavel at October 2, 2007 3:01 PM
Great to see all the stoke at "The Crossing" sounds like it was a blast as always, wish I could have been there. Off to Hatteras with Kevin, Don and Mike soon, going to be a blast.
Will I see you guys at the Winter crossing next? Paul, I need some kites, what you got for me to buy? I will make sure I post some nice posts from Hatteras next week./
- Uffe
Posted by: Uffe at October 2, 2007 3:24 PM
Woody! Why didn't you use your new Woody for the race?? I bet it would have cleaned. Looked like alot of fun. Hopefully next year we'll get there but I'm worried we Toronto people may scare the wind away. We seem to do that!
Posted by: Andree at October 2, 2007 6:57 PM
Wow, I LOVE the photo of the windsurfers & kiters together. That's awesome! That's us next summer. 
Posted by: Guinevere at October 2, 2007 7:24 PM
