Warm weather, clear skies, and consistent winds have set the stage for two solid days of action so far at the 2012 US Nationals presented by the AWT.  On day 1 stronger winds allowed for some solid freestyle action for the North American Championships.  Casey Hauser put on a good performance sailing on a 4.8 loco, landing enough moves to lock him into 4th place for the day.  On the women's side, Ingrid Larouche put on quite the show to secure yet again 1st place for the women's division.

With freestyle wrapped up, Day 2 was all about racing.  With glassy conditions for most of the morning, the call was made to run formula as the afternoon thermal finally started to kick in.  Phil McGain, armed with his TR-8 11.0xt, dominated the formula racing, taking 3 bullets in all 3 races, with ease.  Right off the bat in the 1st race Phil was out and in front with everyone trailing from the start.  Perfectly executed, Phil hit the line in clear air and blasted back towards the Oregon side of the river, with SF bay continent Steve Bodner on his heels.  Phil, having sailed the course a few times before the race, smartly made a tack early to stay in the current and stronger wind, though Bodner decided to let him go and head further into shore.  This gave Phil all the room in the world to take off and leave the rest of the pack in the dust.  The next two races were a little closer, but Phil still easily managed to get across the line ahead of everyone else, and has definitely proved himself as the top formula competitor here thus far.

The afternoon thermal kicked in quick, and the call was made to switch to slalom for the rest of the day.  Hitting the water at 4:30 for the first start, the wind ramped up and everyone was able to get out on 7.0-8.4, perfect slalom conditions.  Phil McGain, on his TR-8 7.6, took 1st place again in his first two heats, but a second in his last heat against Tyson Poor currently has him sitting in 2nd overall.  Casey Hauser, also on a TR-8 7.6, started off with a 2nd, but a 4th and 5th afterwards now has him sitting in 2nd place in the Men's division, and 4th overall.  Jordan Reid also sailed 3 impressive races on his TR-7 7.0, coming in just behind Casey in 3rd place for the Men's division and 6th overall.  On the women's side, Ingrid Larouche and Tamara Bockius both sailed well in spite of being thrown on the same start line as all the men, and were able to navigate their way through the competitors to secure 2nd place for Ingrid, and 5th place for Tammy after day one of racing, way to go!

The forecast for the next couple days is still looking good for formula and slalom, so stay tuned to Mauisails.com or our Facebook page for more updates and pics!

Casey Hauser