News
US Wind and Water Open 2008
Women's double winner at the Corpus event, Clarissa Hempel reports on how things unfolded. Check out her website at: www.clarissahempel.com
Corpus Christi is a very pleasant place to have a Kitesurf event. Windy 90% of the time, warm and really nice people.
The disciplines of this event were course racing and freestyle. There were about 40 people competing, from 12-year-olds to 50. The first day we accomplished five races with winds blowing at an average of 15 knots. Shawn Farley is the man, the dude dominated the guys' event, leaving behind Damien Leroy in four of those races. On the girls' side, Melissa Gill and I were in a battle in most of the races. She's an amazing rider. It took lots of effort for me to stay in the lead. After winning four of those races I wasn’t sure I would be able to do five more on the next day as scheduled. My body was done! Course racing takes a lot of your body and by the end of the day I couldn’t feel my legs!
But on the second day the wind blew again, not so strong, but there was enough to run a few races. So there was no other choice, we had to race! We finished four races and did some freestyle heats, not too successfully though since the wind was a little too light for the handle-passers...
The last day on Sunday was a 40 knot wind day, perfect for freestyle, for which I also ended up in the finals against Melissa one more time...
I had an awesome time and I’m looking forward to the event next year!
I would like to thank all of those who were cheering for me, supporting and sponsoring me in this event. A special thanks to Nil, who made everything happened.
Oh! How about the bikini contest!!? Yup, 500 bucks definitely helped out in my finances!
RESULTS
FREESTYLE:
MEN:
1. Mike Blomvall, Sweden
2. Rocky Chatwell, USA
3. Jesse Richman, USA
4. Jon Van Malsen, USA
WOMEN:
1.Clarissa Hempel, Brazil
2.Melissa Gill, USA
3.Stephanie Cruise, USA
4.Stacey Fonas
COURSE RACING:
MEN:
1. Shawn :, Mexico
2. Damien Leroy, USA
3. Jesse Richman, USA
4.Kent Marinkovic, USA
WOMEN:
1.Clarissa Hempel, Brazil
2.Melissa Gil, USA
3.Stephanie Cruise, USA
4.Stacey Fonas
See more of Clarissa at: www.clarissahempel.com
More on the event itself at: www.uswindandwater.com
Corpus Christi is a very pleasant place to have a Kitesurf event. Windy 90% of the time, warm and really nice people.
The disciplines of this event were course racing and freestyle. There were about 40 people competing, from 12-year-olds to 50. The first day we accomplished five races with winds blowing at an average of 15 knots. Shawn Farley is the man, the dude dominated the guys' event, leaving behind Damien Leroy in four of those races. On the girls' side, Melissa Gill and I were in a battle in most of the races. She's an amazing rider. It took lots of effort for me to stay in the lead. After winning four of those races I wasn’t sure I would be able to do five more on the next day as scheduled. My body was done! Course racing takes a lot of your body and by the end of the day I couldn’t feel my legs!But on the second day the wind blew again, not so strong, but there was enough to run a few races. So there was no other choice, we had to race! We finished four races and did some freestyle heats, not too successfully though since the wind was a little too light for the handle-passers...
The last day on Sunday was a 40 knot wind day, perfect for freestyle, for which I also ended up in the finals against Melissa one more time...
I had an awesome time and I’m looking forward to the event next year!
I would like to thank all of those who were cheering for me, supporting and sponsoring me in this event. A special thanks to Nil, who made everything happened. Oh! How about the bikini contest!!? Yup, 500 bucks definitely helped out in my finances!
RESULTS
FREESTYLE:
MEN:
1. Mike Blomvall, Sweden
2. Rocky Chatwell, USA
3. Jesse Richman, USA
4. Jon Van Malsen, USA
WOMEN:
1.Clarissa Hempel, Brazil
2.Melissa Gill, USA
3.Stephanie Cruise, USA
4.Stacey Fonas
COURSE RACING:
MEN:
1. Shawn :, Mexico
2. Damien Leroy, USA
3. Jesse Richman, USA
4.Kent Marinkovic, USA
WOMEN:
1.Clarissa Hempel, Brazil
2.Melissa Gil, USA
3.Stephanie Cruise, USA
4.Stacey Fonas
See more of Clarissa at: www.clarissahempel.com
More on the event itself at: www.uswindandwater.com