Sports Betting

Olympic Class Windsurfing hits San Francisco

Sept. 24-26, Crissy Field

The worldwide debut regatta for the new Olympic one-design windsurfing class, the RS:X, is taking place in San Francisco. The RS:X Windsurfing Pacific Coast Championship is being hosted and run by the venerable Saint Francis Yacht Club, which has supported windsurfing since the sport's earliest days.

Forty-five top competitors from around the world will go head to head out on the San Francisco Bay, many with Olympic aspirations and most for their first time on this brand-new equipment. If you're in town, be sure to come down to the beach at Crissy Field and check out these potential medalists in action.

Among the world-class fleet heading to San Francisco is Gal Fridman, the current windsurfing Olympic gold medalist from Israel. Gal's victory in Athens 2004 was the first gold medal in any sport for Israel. Other notable athletes include the No. 1 professional windsurfers from Brazil (Wilhelm Shurmann) and Canada (Sam Ireland). Numerous past and present Olympic windsurfing contenders from a variety of countries will be competing. As well, many local racers will also be vying for trophies: The Bay Area is home to the largest and most highly rated competitive windsurfing fleet in the United States. Also traveling here to race are the three very best U.S. junior windsurfers.

The RS:X, designed and produced by Neil Pryde, was chosen following a series of evaluations by top windsurfers who compared several types of design approaches from a variety of manufacturers. The RS:X is a hybrid of the two main types of race board. The first is a more traditional longboard shape with a retractable centerboard, and the second is a Formula-style wide board using a single fin. The hybrid approach allows for competitive performance in the widest possible range of wind conditions, an essential element for Olympic venues. This type of racing windsurfer is known as a One-Design, which in sailing terms refers to a fleet in which all the boats are exactly the same. This makes for competition based more purely on sailing skill, not on the amount one spends for equipment.

Windsurfing became an Olympic sport at the 1984 Los Angeles Games as one of the classes in the sailing event held at Long Beach. Since then, windsurfing has remained part of the overall Olympic sailing event, and is raced according to standard rules of sailing.

For more information go to www.neilpryde-rsx.com and www.stfyc.com .

Contact the Saint Francis Race Office at 415-563-6363 or Event Developer Bill Weir at 415-816-2464.

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