Sunday, January 20, 2008

RS:X Windsurfing Worlds - Olympic Qualifier

There's a good report on the Windsurfing Magazine website about the RS:X World Championships in Takapuna, New Zealand. RS:X is the model of windsurfer used for Olympic competition, and this regatta was the final shakedown for RS:X riders before the actual games. It was particularly intense for the American women; Nancy Rios, Farrah Hall, and Denise Parris, because unless one of them scored big in Takapuna, the US wouldn't qualify to send a woman to the games.

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Fortunately, both Nancy and Farrah sailed well and made the cut. Nice going, ladies. The overall women's winner was the incredible Italian Alessandra Sensini, shown below getting air.

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The men's winner was Tom Ashley from New Zealand. The only difference between the men's RS:X and the women's RS:X is that men use 9.5 meter squared sails, which are usually yellow, and women use 8.5 meter squared sails, which are usually red.

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2 comments:

Catapulting Aaron said...

Don't get me wrong, I love America, but helllloooooooo HUN7.

James Douglass said...

Yeah, I was also impressed with the, ah, "fitness" of that particular competitor. The cover of the latest Windsurfing Magazine is nice, too.