Pensacola YC hosts the 2018 KONA North American Championship - Oct 19-21

The 2018 Kona North American Championship comes to Pensacola Yacht Club 19-21 October, 2018. Fifty competitors are expected to use this event on Pensacola Bay as a tune-up for the Kona Worlds the week following in Clearwater, Florida © Konaone.com / Pat Winkelman

National Championship windsurfing returns to Pensacola, Florida this weekend for the first time since 1989. Pensacola Yacht Club will host the KONA North American Championship with check-in and late registration and the "Kona Beer" welcoming party Friday October 19 followed by racing on Saturday and Sunday.

Kona Beer donated by the local distributor, The Lewis Bear Company, and Saturday's dinner courtesy of Moe's Southwest Grill of Pensacola will make for happy times at all the social events for the competitors and guests. Headquarters for racing and post-racing activities will be in the PYC Watson Sailing Center.

"The KONA North American Championship will be colorful and exciting." said regatta Chairman Tom Pace. "This is not just a national event but the championship covers all of North America. It's another opportunity for Pensacola Yacht Club to showcase sailing and the spectacular sailing venue we have here in Northwest Florida."

PYC Commodore Jim Reeves welcomes all the sailors and race officials to Pensacola. "Pensacola Yacht Club is very proud to host the KONA windsurfers for their North American Championship. Hosting the championship not only attests to the beauty of Pensacola Bay sailing, but also attests to the talent and expertise of our club staff and the volunteers who form our excellent Race Committee and support the regatta. Our volunteers make it all happen!"

PYC Fleet Captain and regatta Principal Race Officer Hal Smith added, "Pensacola is arguably the best place for one-design sailing in the USA and certainly the best in the south and the state of Florida."

"These zippy windsurfers... We expect more than 30 competitors... all have the same kind of boards, but they fly different brightly colored sails sized differently depending on the competitor's weight. That makes for close, exciting sailing on a tight course."

Men, women and juniors sail together with sails to designate their body weight, from Yellow for light to Orange for Heavy with Red, Blue and Green in between. This is a unique handicapping system that allows large fleets to race all together on one course. Crowded starting lines and high-traffic mark roundings are a trademark for this class.

Racers from all over the world will be setting their sights on Florida for the North Americans and the World Championship regatta which follows the next weekend in Clearwater. Local sailors will include juniors Matt Grove and Zach Smith and seasoned sailors Sean Brown, Jack Stringfellow, Dave Oerting and Chairman Pace.

Pace, a professional Olympic level windsurfer himself, is stoked. "Like the Optimist Nationals we held at PYC in July, PYC's Flag Officers and staff and our Fleet Captain Hal Smith and I want this to be the best regatta ever for this one design class. On the bay we will offer great racing and on shore we'll have the kind of fun and fellowship our club, called the South's Finest Yacht Club, stakes its reputation on."

Check-in and late online registration opens Friday at 0900 and continue through happy hour, until 1900. Racing Saturday and Sunday is on the Pensacola Bay course, about a 5-10 minute sail from PYC's 250-foot wide launching beach.

Competitors are expected to use this event on Pensacola Bay as a tune-up for the Kona Worlds the week following in Clearwater, Florida. A maximum of ten course races may be sailed over the two days, plus a possible long distance race, too.

Prizes will be presented for 1st-6th Overall, 1st-3rd Women, 1st-3rd Under 18, 1st-3rd Under 15 and 1st-3rd for Grand Masters 65+. The prize giving will follow racing on Sunday.