Prodigy Class Association

Report from Jim DeSilva

Competitors ranged from first-time racers to former World Champion.  Photo by Beth Winkler

Part 3 of the Prodigy Florida Trilogy was held in very light winds but with a very interesting format.  Unlike the previous events, which featured lots of complicated courses, this regatta featured simple upwind and downwind courses which proved very challenging, and a division of the fleet, after a few practice races, into Gold and Silver divisions with separate starts.  Competitors seemed to like this format and the racing was quite close.  First day had very light winds, which was favoring lightweights and women.  Chrissy Suites, fresh from trying out for the Olympics and recipient of some podium action over at Calema, came out and won a couple of races, showing that women are capable of dominating in Prodigy racing.  Old Geezer and Original Windsurfer World Champion Bruce Matlack also won a race.  Again, Bruce was calling out Eric Skemp of HiFly, who apparently is scared to race Bruce on the Prodigy, but maybe we will see him one day in the future.  He keeps asking for a free board but sorry, Eric, you are going to have to buy one like everybody else.  Now that Matlack has figured out how to pump, he will be tougher than ever in the future.  But the winner of this event was (Newman) Darby Marriott, who showed unusual consistency, didn’t crash into anyone (a Darby specialty) and actually figured out what the course was.  Sunday was all Darby, with the occasional challenge from Bruce and Sean Hawes, who came in 3rd.  But let me note the emergence of a possible new star on the Prodigy circuit by the name of Sean Sullivan.  Sean, weighing in at a whopping 125 lbs, that’s right, 125, will be the new light-wind force of the future.  A Banana River local, he has been trained by Beth and showed blinding speed on the very light wind reach of the long distance…..but not as fast as Darby who has something special going on in this condition as he put a whomping on the entire fleet.  Mike Rayl won the Silver Fleet, with Steve Ramsey coming in second and little Sean securing the Bronze.  This event was well organized by Beth and Greg (Beth came out and sailed well in a couple of the races) and it is a beautiful site with accommodations right at the water’s edge.  Other notables included Eddie Patricelli, editor of Windsurfing Magazine, who showed some flashes of speed.  Eddie blamed his lack on victories on his board, which seemed to have some issues—see photo.

Who is the winner of the Series?  Sean Hawes is the Mistral Florida Prodigy Series Champion—Congratulations to Sean!  But the women, who are in a big tie that needs to be decided by tiebreakers, are still under review at this moment.  Stay tuned to the site for this late breaking news.