Return of the King and the Crowning of New Champs: The East Coast Windsurfing Festival

"You're going to have so much to write about" at least half a dozen people said to me.  And it's true, but between trying to catch my breath, getting my butt kicked, and the fantastic three ring circus that was the third annual ECWF, for now here's just the top line:

-Kurt Veith could not be stopped on the race course, even when competitors tried to sink his board.

-Deniz fended off challenges in both racing and freestyle to be the queen of the Ladies competition.

-Peconic Jeff save the best for last, and blew the doors off of some strong competitors (and me) to win the Men's Amateur Freestyle

-Mike Burns, the first King of the East, pulled out all the stops to regain the throne.  All Hail Mike!

Complete Event Results:

Men's Racing (7.5 limited)

1.  Kurt Veith

2.  George Marr

3.  Pete Roesch

4.  Joe Giordano

5.  Joe Natalie

6.  Alex Hering

7.  Scott Yanuck

8.  Michael Alex

9.  George Pav

10.  Jim Manta

11.  Jake Agoos

12.  Jeff Schultz

13.  Andrew Cebula

14.  Ira Holzman

15.  Rich Simons

16.  Ted Bretter

17.  Ryan Whitehead

18.  Pete Ashman

19.  Devon Roesch

20.  Ian Berger

21.  Art Spangel

22.  Phil McPhilly

23.  Valdas

24.  Jeff Tannenbaum

25.  Mike Jamieson

26.  Dan Perelman

27.  Scott Lynch

28  George Kellner

29.  Wes Yland

30.  Jeremy Grosvenor

31.  Joe Rocco

Open Class Racing

1.  Bart Kornas

2.  Steve

3.  Chris Dohan

Women's Racing

1.  Deniz Kalaycioglu

2.  Jill Marr

3.  Jeanne Baumann

4.  Christina Clement

5.  Marianne

6.  Liz Kline

7.  Alison Dunton

Women's Freestyle Finals

1.  Deniz Kalaycioglu

2.  Jeanne Baumann

3.  Jill Marr

Men's Amateur Freestyle Finals

1.  Jeff Schultz (Yeah boy!!!!)

2.  George Pav

3.  Jake Agoos

4.  Michael Alex

Men's Pro Freestyle Finals

1.  Mike Burns

2.  Kurt Veith

3.  Chris Elderedge

There will be more to come, including in-depth looks at the board toss, relay races, spencer buckets, and the eternal battle between Pete and George.

(Photos by the mighty Bill Doutney.  Misspelled names to be corrected ASAP...please let me know if I have you or someone you know wrong!)

Comments

[Pete Roesch]

Devon Roesch was sailing in the junior division and came in first
Pete

[Michael]

Right you are Pete...another Roesch for me to trail behind in defeat (congratulations, Devon!) I don't know what happened to the junior division info...will ask for it immediately.

[mike burns]

Congrats to all the competitors! It makes all the planning worth while to see so many smiling windsurfers in one place. Congrats to all the winners!

[f Messina]

I must admit, I was losing my stoke for windsurfing a while back. It's guys like Mike Burns and Michael Alex that have really helped in windsurfing's revival.

While I may still be a cranky old timer...I see new faces at Heckscher all the time now.

In fact, because of lite air, free style windsurfing's numbers are beginning to climb again.

Thanks guys

[Michael]

Thank you, Frank, though as I've said a dozen times before and I'm happy to repeat, watching you and Lorelei carve the first jibes I'd ever seen poured gasoline on my own stoke years ago!

I think Long Island windsurfing is growing because we're able to communicate, we've got so many good places to sail, and there are loads of great people with generous personalities on the water. We've got MC Thom helping create great events, we've got ABK coming three times per year, we've got a great windsurfing shop out east, we have a star in Mike Burns (and perhaps another coming with Jimi Sobeck) etc etc. And to your last point, wind snobbery is on the wane...a lot of guys are happy to get out there in 8 knots and play with tricks.

Hope to see you on the water soon!