Prodigy Sailor

Mistral Prodigy
Class Association

The Mistral Prodigy Class

Prodigy is an all purpose windsurfing race class. The board, manufactured by Mistral, is short, wide, and large. It's an easy board for beginners to learn on. It's also a fun board to race, and it has performance potential for experts.

The Prodigy has a centerboard, which means that in light winds you sail it just like a Sunfish or Laser. We hope to see this become a favorite competition class at small lakes around the country, right alongside all the dinghy classes.

In higher wind, the Prodigy planes up easily, is very fast on reaches, and remains easy to control when over-powered.

Since it was released in 2001, the Prodigy has become the top selling sailboard in the US, but most of these new Prodigy owners have not yet started to race. Come and join us! This is a great class to get started racing in. It’s a very forgiving board, and it’s easy to tack, so you have options even when you start out in the back of the fleet.

Many experienced windsurfers switched into the Prodigy class during the 2002 US Windsurfing National Tour, and the standard of competition has been increasing rapidly. If you are a strong competitor, come out and challenge the 2002 North American Prodigy Class Champion Sean Hawes, or the US Windsurfing 2003 National Champion Susan Simmons. They’ll be revealing a few performance tips here at the website.

There are two variants of Prodigy one-design. The “Comp” class utilizes an 8.5 sail manufactured by North. This is a high-performance rig, with a lot of range. We’ve found that with plenty of downhaul we can handle it in wind speeds into the 30s. But for lightweight racers in extreme conditions, the Class Rules offer an escape clause. In sizes 7.5 or below, you can use any rig—so you don’t have to buy a new rig just for those rare occasions.

Prodigy “Club” class utilizes a 5.5 unbattened sail. This is a great combination for beginners to learn on, and it’s a lot of fun for anyone to race, especially in light wind conditions.  Club Class is a youth windsurfing class at US Sailing Junior Olympic Sailing Festivals.

Have a look around the website! We’ll be adding more material—rigging and sailing tips; class news, etc. If you have questions or suggestions, please drop us a line. While you are here, please join the association. There is no charge, but it will help us to develop the class.

See you on the water soon!