A while ago I posted about Olympic sailing and the controversy about what types of boats, windsurfers, kiteboards, etc. should be Olympic classes. This week there was an Olympic Class Regatta in Miami for all the types that will be competing in 2012. The videos from that do a good job of showing what the competition is like for the different kinds of boats. (Day 2 video below.)
It was a good regatta for the American contenders in the RS:X Windsurfing class, led by Robert Willis for the men and Farrah Hall for the women, who were 15th of 31 and 12th of 30 international competitors, respectively. That's pretty amazing, considering that for the last several years the Americans, generally underfunded and lacking national support compared to the windsurfing athletes from other countries, had struggled to break into to the top international level of competition. Their big improvement this year shows that the American athletes, coaches, and various support people are starting to really get it together. Go USA!
PS- There are more pictures of the windsurfing part of the competition on Alex Morales' Miami windsurfing website: windsurfingtour.com.
PPS- There are even more pictures, videos, and lots of detailed reports and analyses at waterhound.com.
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