Prodigy Class Association
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New Fin Mistral has unexpectedly started supplying a new type of fin with the second generation Prodigy boards. For the time being both the new and old fin will be class legal, but we will attempt to coordinate event by event, to get competitors on the same fins. North Sports will assist by supplying loaner fins at key events. They are also offering a special wholesale price of $59.00 for current Prodigy owners and class members who wish to retrofit with the new fin. Contact Nick Abbot at nicka@northsports.com for info. The new fin is on the left. Either fin will fit both the first and second generation Prodigy board, but the fin screws are not interchangeable. |
2005 US Windsurfing Association Nationals Report
Bryan McDonald at the US Windsurfing National Championships, in Hood River, Oregon. He is in third place, as of July 29, with two more days of racing to go. You can see results at the event website www.vmgevents.com and you can view and order pictures of the event at http://homepage.mac.com/catalini/PROFOTO (Photo courtesy of Cathy Giacomini Photography.)
UPDATE The Championships finished up with a day of perfect racing on Saturday, July 30. Earlier in the week we had a couple of glassy days, too light even for Prodigys. (Well, maybe we could have sailed, but the wind direction switched from West to East every time someone slammed a door in Hood River, so it was beyond the capacity of the race committee to set a course.) Kayaking and rafting trips, and waterfall hikes were the alternate activities. Then we had real Gorge wind, and the committee postponed the course racing in favor of slalom. A proposal was mooted to enter Prodigys in the slalom competition but none of us felt quite up to it. We did a few course races in the upper end of the wind range, before and after the slalom heats--some of us with the 8.5s downhauled to the max, and some rigged down. Prodigys and Formula sailors both got quite a workout, and came in breathlessly talking about gusts over 30 mph. It's hard to verify such claims, as the Gorge gusts are so quick and localized that they may not show up in an official wind measurement. It was really, really windy, anyway. But we finished up with some great 12-16 conditions, in which we mostly sailed Formula style, but occasionally made use of the centerboards on the beats. At the end of the series, Michael Heidenreich was 1st, Bryan McDonald 2nd and Bruce Matlack 3rd. All the results and more pictures are available at the links above.
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The New Prodigy Mistral is updating the Prodigy. The hull shape is the same, and the new models will be class legal for competition against the originals. New features include:
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The New Olympic Class
The windsurfing class for the 2008 Olympics has been selected. It is a hybrid type board called the RS:X, created by Neil Pryde. Like the Prodigy, it is an all-purpose board, designed with a centerboard for light wind sailing, and an early planing hull shape. It is not yet in production and has not yet been raced, other than in the evaluation trials. Early reports suggest it will be a more technical board, a little less forgiving and a little faster than the Prodigy in high wind conditions, and a little less capable in light wind. It will probably cost around $4,000 for a hull and rig package.
We expect that Prodigy racing will probably be very compatible with competition in the new class. Prodigy will continue to be the only accessible one-design class for recreational racing in the US, for some time to come, and will continue to introduce people to racing. Prodigy racers who become interested in Olympic competition may eventually want to switch over to the RS:X for Olympic trials a couple of years from now. We may eventually see both Prodigys and RS:Xs competing together in a Hybrid class.
The Prodigy World Speed Record?
Glen Gardner at Maumee Bay State Park, in Ohio, with a Sailworks XT2 6.0, in 30 mph wind. Unfortunately, we don't have a record of his speed. If you have a good speed to report, send it in and we'll post it here. (Photo by Steve Ramsey)