Mar 10, 2010
By Margot Samson – Windsport Correspondent...
Windsurfers from around the globe converged to the Calema Midwinters this past weekend, and tropical Merritt Island, Florida treated us to 40F every morning and no higher than 55F during the day. You see, you call something ‘midwinters’ long enough, and it’s going to start believing it. I just looked up ‘midwinters’ on Wikipedia to file a complaint with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and hold on to your earmuffs, here’s what I learned: it actually refers to the beginning of winter, the Winter Solstice, a special date in all ancestral cultures when the last feast celebration was held before deep winter set in, and a time when most cattle was slaughtered so it wouldn’t be fed during the cold months. Charming, ain’t it? I don’t know where we got it wrong, but there’s nothing here that says ‘Spring Break.’
Oh, but we’re resourceful: we wore socks with our sandals and bought rubber gloves at the local drugstore against frostbite. We were here to sail, darn it! And at the sound of the horn, we were off and racing on the Banana River as if we were at the Olympics and nothing else mattered. Now, that’s a particularly clever transition because this year, the event was the North American continental qualifier for the Youth Olympic Games coming up this summer in Singapore (check out the excitement at www.singapore2010.sg)! Kids flew in from Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Guatemala and the USA to earn a spot: altogether, nearly 30 of us on shiny Techno293 gear. The pressure was high, and we promptly started the regatta with a general recall.
 Over the course of the next three days, eight races were run to decide who would qualify. The wind was from the North, light to moderate, and pretty shifty. The gusts in these parts of the country have to negotiate their way around the maze of pipes, liquid hydrogen tanks and extraterrestrial radio waves at nearby Cape Canaveral, and they come out of that totally confused. But we overcame the challenges and got it done with a pinch of strategy and lots of pumping!
Four spots were available for the Youth Olympics at this qualifier: Mexico and Puerto Rico earned their way in for the boys, while Canada and the USA (yours truly!) qualified for the girls. What an honor. I had a great regatta the week before at the Island Classic in Sarasota, and was fortunate to carry that good form to the Midwinters. Kudos to Nicole Level Solis Camara and Marion Lepert, who couldn’t officially take part in the qualifier but gave us a taste of their immense talent. Special mention to Rasmus Sayre as well, who led the Under 15 category throughout the regatta and managed to keep up with the top half of the fleet despite having to make his way around the course on a smaller sail.
 If that were not enough, Formulas (with pros Paulo Dos Reis, Gonzalo Costa-Hoevel and Gabriel Browne leading the way), RS:X, Konas, Long Boards, and a number of Sports fleets were on the water as well. Add it all up, and it’s more than 100 sailors who came together to celebrate Calema’s 25th anniversary with our gracious hosts Susie and Tinho Dornellas. It isn't every day you hear more Spanish than English on the race course around here, and that was great. We were all impressed with the organization and treated to some special meals, groovy music, upbeat MC’ing on the beach, and all around great companionship throughout the weekend. Apparently, the Gods were impressed as well, as the temperature climbed into the mid-60’s on Sunday for a positively balmy afternoon. Many of us got sunburned and cracked lips, but we smiled big nonetheless. It’s Spring Break after all!
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