New Jersey Windsurfing &
Watersports Association
NJWWA Fun Day at Lakes Bay
Atlantic City, NJ - The NJWWA continues to fulfill its mission of serving the New Jersey watersports community, and hosted the first “Fun Day at Lakes Bay" on August 7th.
The event was co-hosted by NJWWA sponsor, Extreme Windsurfing, which runs the only on-the-water windsurf shop in New Jersey, located behind the Comfort Inn in West Atlantic City. Members and prospects and friends came from all over the Garden State to join windsurfing, kayaking and SUPing enthusiasts, as well as the Lakes Bay regulars, for an eclectic mix of instruction and competition.
The day began with “Learn to Windsurf” sessions headed by Event Chairman Brian Rauch, with on-water assistance by NJWWA Board members Steve, Paul and Bill, along with the consummate volunteer, Eileen Pfaffman. Petra Kanz, Assistant Manager of Extreme Windsurfing, renowned instructor, and all around local legend, provided intermediate to advanced instruction in a Q&A session that covered all facets of windsurfing.
After an old fashioned beach barbecue lunch of grilled burgers and hot dogs, race coordinators Brian and Paul laid out a course for the first fun race. The course, which required navigating around three marks, with a check-in at the starting line between each leg, tested up-wind sailing and tacking abilities as much as flat-out speed. While competitors were given the option of windsurfing, kayaking or SUP’ing, all but one chose to windsurf. The winners, in men’ s and women’s categories are as follows:
Men:
1. Peter Jacobson
2. Matt Heberlig
3. Tom Whittemore
Women:
4. Petra Kanz
5. Dorothy Chau (via kayak)
In a new twist to the fun race format, Brian and Paul laid out a side-on course requiring racers to make two laps around a single mark, and attempt at least one free-style maneuver during each lap. Attempted (and usually executed) tricks included duck gybes, heli-tacks, sail 360s, and backwind sailing into a clew-first escape. Petra and Tom Whittmore dazzled the judges by respectively sailing the last 30ft of the final lap fin first and with a full body drag. The observant will detect a pattern in the following men’ s and women’s finishers:
Men:
1. Peter Jacobson
2. Matt Heberlig
3. Tom Whittemore
Women:
1. Petra Kanz (2nd overall)
The day ended with an awards ceremony and raffle of windsurf accessories donated by Extreme Windsurfing.
The NJWWA would like to thank all of those who came out and made this a fun and successful event. We would especially like to thank Petra Kanz and Jim Karabasz, of Extreme Windsurfing, for their support, guidance and generosity, in terms of time and resources. Finally, we would like to thank the owners of the Comfort Inn for continuing to support the New Jersey windsurfing community by providing continued access to one of the finest sailing venues in the state.
Please stay tuned for more details for our next event, planned for Sandy Hook on September 25th.
