Well on my way back to Maui from Italy and what was supposed to be an exciting start to the 2012 PWA racing season sort of fizzled out as the week went on.  With the first event of the year in a brand new location in Italy and a number of sponsor changes for some of the top guys it was certainly an exciting story line.  But with light to no wind for most of the even, the race crew struggling to set a course in the deep waters, gusty and shifty winds and strong currents and to top this off a lot of debris in the water(full size tables and chairs were spotted among other things)the excitement never really materialized.

For me personally it was a brutal way to start the year, traveling all this way to sit around for most of the week on the beach and then be able to only race one and a quarter heats wasn't exactly what I was looking for after nearly four solid months of prep.  I wasn't the only one that had misfortune with debris in the water and I guess that is the breaks sometimes but to have that happen and then only get enough wind for one round and not be able to make up for it is tough.  It was my second heat and I was on my 8.4 and my 78 board, I had a good start and was battling hard to arrive first at the first mark.  There was so much debris in the water, sticks bags, buckets I was hitting stuff down most of the first reach but I thought I had made it through the thicker stuff as I was about 100 meters from the first mark when something caught my fin and brought me to a quick halt.  It felt like a slow motion crash as what ever it was that I hit was soft and didn't cause any damage to my board.  But from what others told me that saw it it didn't look slow motion at all and looked like a very hard impact on the water.  I felt my boom break as I was getting launched through the air and the final impact broke the arm completely off giving me no chance to get back up and continue racing.  As I sat there in the water cursing my luck and all the crap in the water I felt a piercing sting in the back of my leg.  It felt as if a nail or needle had poked me and pierced deep into my skin, it turned out to only be a jelly fish sting but one of the most painful ones I have ever felt.

I knew this was only the first round but with the way the forecast was looking I didn't like my chances to get enough racing in to discard this disaster of a round.  I did however think that we would at least get one maybe two more rounds in so I could get some racing under my belt and climb back up the ladder.  But the wind never really came, it did tease us hovering ever so close to the limit but only came back late in the evening of the final day in time to just finish the last few heats of the one and only round.  All I could do was watch and root for the guys I wanted to win and pack my gear to head back home.  In the end my guy didn't even win but it was an exciting final, to bad for Gonzalo who had the win in the bag but the wind petered out on him on the home stretch and lost first by less than a board length.  He should be happy with a second place finish though, his best ever and a great way to start the season.  Congrats to Bjoern for starting the season where he left off.

It was great to get back to Italy, I did really enjoy my trip and the area but the food didn't quite live up to my Italian expectations.  I did get to go out to one very nice dinner at a local sailing club and that food was great but from everything I had heard it didn't quite live up to that.  The views were also amazing, looking across the water at Sicily and Mt. Aetna was gorgeous and different from most of the other places we travel to.  I also met some really nice people all of whom were very friendly and very hospitable.  Unfortunately the wind didn't really help out to much but in the end we did have a result which is always better than nothing at all.  Hopefully the organizers of the event were happy with the overall outcome and can try to become a regular stop on our tour.  Italy is such a nice country to visit and a very popular windsurfing country as well so to be able to have a regular tour stop there would be good for all of windsurfing.

I also have to say that I have had a great trip back to Maui, the check in at Reggio Calabria went much smoother than excepted except that my bags were only checked into LA where I had to spend one night before continuing on to Maui.  This is pretty normal practice for airlines but sometimes we get lucky and they will check it through but that hasn't happened for a while with all the stricter security in place.  I figured I would give it a shot in Chicago again after clearing customs to see if they would help me out but I didn't really expect much.  However I got very lucky and had the two nicest ladies at American Airlines ever, Laura and Susan.  They worked some magic and took great care of me.  They re-tagged all my bags so that they would go directly to Maui and I wouldn't have to deal with them in LA, what a huge relief.  So if you are ever in Chicago and clearing customs with AA make sure you say hello to them and tell them what a great job they are doing!!!

Three more hours to go and I will be touching back down at home in Maui.  Hit the reset button and start again to get ready for Korea.  I have less than a week at home to unpack, repack test and tune some new gear and my current gear as well as get as much quality time with my wonderful family.  Looking forward to this and to hopefully more wind and racing in Korea!!!!

Aloha
Micah Buzianis USA34
www.micahbuzianis.com

Photos : PWA/Carter