Prodigy Sailor

Prodigy Class Association

US WINDSURFING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2004

Once again the Prodigy Class has been joined by an Olympic-level sailor.  Peter Bonello came out to compete in his first Prodigy event at the USW Nationals, July 12-17.  He is a Southern California, not Northern California native, but he managed to adapt to the notorious Crissy Field conditions.  Granted, when the wind picked up, local ace Chip Wassen was able to give him a strong challenge.

There's not yet a Prodigy fleet on San Francisco Bay.  Since it's almost always windy, the locals mostly compete in Formula Class, and that was the big fleet for this Nationals.  But Mistral made charter boards available, and several visitors and a few locals elected to give them a try.  Chip, and Bill Martinson, proved that you can blast a Prodigy through the gnarly chop, and hold down the 8.5 into the high 20 mph range.  Those of us who are used to lighter wind venues were humbled.  But there were moments, such as during the last race Saturday morning, when strategic use of the centerboard paid off.  As is usually the case with one-design racing, there were some great battles and some close finishes.

For complete results click here   For more event coverage, visit the US Windsurfing webpage at www.uswindsurfing.org.

Peter Bonello
Peter Bonello--9th place in the 1984 Olympics, 1st in Prodigy Class 2004 US Windsurfing National Championship
(Photo by Nat Siddall)

Container ship
Peter's form looks good on the way out--but wait 'til he hits that wake  (Photo by Nat Siddall)