Published: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:00 AM MDT

The Continental Skier of the Year is given to the skiers who race primarily in North America with top results on either the US SuperTour or the Canadian Nor-Am series.

Continental Skier of the Year (men):

Ivan Babikov (CAN). Ivan dominated the North American racing scene this year. He won every US Nationals distance race (four events total), the overall SuperTour title, and three Canadian National titles. He was second in the other Canadian Nationals distance race. He also had three victories on the Canadian Nor-Am circuit, and won both North American World Loppet events the Gatineau Loppet and the American Birkebeiner.

Continental Skier of the Year (women):

Kristina Strandberg (SWE): Kristina focused on the US SuperTour series, making 18 starts and winning four races. She won the overall SuperTour title and had two podium finishes at US national events. She finished second in the American Birkebeiner World Loppet race.

Honorable Mention: Perianne Jones (CAN). Perianne made an impressive 12 starts on the Canadian Nor-Am cup circuit while also spending two stints in Europe to race World Cups. She had three victories and five second place finishes in Nor-Am events and won the womens overall title.

Ivan Babikov on his way to victory in the American Birkebeiner (Photo Credit: Factory Team)

Kristina Strandberg racing on the SuperTour (Photo Credit: Factory Team)

Other FasterSkier Awards:

- Harvey and Sargent are FasterSkier Juniors of the Year (April 21)
- Stephen and Kuzzy are FasterSkier Rookies of the Year (April 22)
- Maria Grevsgaard and Marius Korthauer win FasterSkier Collegiate Skier of the Year awards (April 23)
- FS Continental Skier of the Year (April 24)
- FS Performance of the Year (April 28)
- FS Skiers of the Year (April 29)

Related on FasterSkier.com:

- Babikov and Strandberg Win SuperTour
- Babikov and Stephen Repeat; Lillefjell Surprise US 50Km Champion
- Babikov and Stephen Win at Distance Nationals
- Babikov and Stephen Top Podium in Freestyle Race at Canadian Nationals
- Babikov and Dong Win American Birkebeiner
- Babikov Gains Canadian Citizenship

- Golovko and Strandberg Win North American Marathon Cup
- Strandberg, Golovko Win Aspen SuperTour Classic Race
- Strandberg and Zimmerman win SuperTour Distance Event
Originaly from Source

[Source: RC44] With recently crowned World Champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz (Star) and Vincenzo Onorato (Farr 40), the second regatta of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008 promises to be a fantastic sailing event. Indeed, Ben Ainslie, Russell Coutts, James Spithill, Sbastien Col, Larry Ellison, Cameron Appleton and many more will fight hard for the title on board ten strict one design RC 44s in the superb venue of Cagliari.

Just one day to go until the start of the second event of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008! The tension is rising on the pontoons of Cagliari. Indeed, this regatta - organised by Yacht Club Cagliari with the support of the City of Cagliari - assembles some of the worlds best sailors on board ten strict one design RC 44s. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: BMW Oracle] Cagliari, Italy, 22 April 2008 BMW ORACLE Racing competes in the teams first competition of the 2008 season starting tomorrow at the RC 44 Cagliari Cup in Italy. Skipper Russell Coutts and team owner Larry Ellison are sharing afterguard duties in their first regatta together.

This is Larrys first time sailing the RC 44s and he is really enjoying it, said BMW ORACLE Racing skipper Russell Coutts. On our first day of training yesterday, we saw 25 knots of fresh sea breeze off the Sardinia coast. We had a great time shaking down the boat and tuning up with some practice starts and drop set maneuvers. Larry is looking forward to helming this week in both the match racing against the pro skippers and in the fleet racing events against the other owner/drivers. Its a competitive fleet here and promises to be great racing. Read the rest of this entry »

Quebramar, last year’s champion of the up-and-coming GP42 class, is now back on the water in Valencia after having modified their boat during the last couple of months. The team has now been renamed to Iberdrola-Quebramar, its main two sponsors, and officially forms part of the America’s Cup challenger Desafo Iberdrola-Quebramar, also renamed to reflect the new reality. In fact, together with the TP52 boat, they will be the team’s only racing activity this season, given the standstill in the America’s Cup.

The yacht, helmed by Laureano Wizner and crewed entirely by Desafo Iberdrola-Quebramar’s sailors, carried the first test session under excellent conditions. The intense low system that was stuck over Eastern Spain has finally dissipated but the strong and constant breeze lingered on until Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: PUMA Ocean Racing] What began at 4am under the darkness of night and a full moon, ended more than two hours later in the morning dawn. Following an arduous 20 mile trip, PUMA Ocean Racings new boat for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 made its way from Goetz Custom Boats in Bristol, Rhode Island to the Newport Shipyard in Newport, where it will receive final preparations before going in the water.

I am just incredibly pleased with the effort that went into the boat design and build process. We started building just over 6 months ago and finished within days of our goal, said Ken Read, Skipper, PUMA Ocean Racing. Everyone at Custom Line Yachts, Goetz Custom Boats, our designers at Botin & Carkeek and the engineering firm Gurit have worked incredibly hard to get this boat ready and do what they do best: build what we hope is a very fast boat. Now I am looking forward to the chance to do what we as a team can do best: and thats go out and sail. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] Brilliant sunshine and a steady 10-12 knot easterly breeze gave the perfect start to todays first day of match race competition in the Brasil Sailing Cup, the years first event of the World Match Racing Tour. Ian Williams (GBR) and his Team Pindar are showing their World Champion style, being undefeated among their five other rivals in Group A, while WMRT veteran Magnus Holmberg (SWE) shares the top of the leader board also on three wins.

Among the six teams in Group B, Paolo Cian (ITA) of Team Shosholoza and Bjorn Hansen (SWE) of Alandia Sailing Team emerged undefeated in their two flights of the day. Group B will be first to resume round-robin competition in the morning. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: RC44] Whoever thinks that match racing should be competed on board slow boats should come to Cagliari and watch the ten RC 44s match-racing in 25 knots of wind, surfing down the waves and yet crossing the arrival line merely separated by a handful of seconds.

This is indeed what happened throughout the day in Cagliari on day one of the RC 44 Cup. The ten boats and their (mainly) pro skippers offered an extraordinary show off the coast of Cagliari, sailing no less than 21 matches in the best possible conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] Anticipation runs high today for tomorrows start of the Brasil Sailing Cup in Vitoria, Brazil, the first event of nine of the 2008 World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) season. As with all WMRT events, an impressive slate of 12 skippers and their crews representing Americas Cup teams, top-ranked positions on the ISAF Match Race Ranking List, and up-and-coming aspirants who have won qualifying events are all poised for battling each other for their share of WMRT ranking points and a piece of the US$150,000 prize money purse. Read the rest of this entry »

By Karl Saidla
Published: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:00 AM MDT

Karl Saidla is a member of XC-Ottawa and the Alpina Racing team. The following does not necessarily represent the views of FasterSkier.com.

While at the Canadian Championships at Whistler Olympic Park, I was given the opportunity to test next year's prestigious Red Dot award winning Alpina ECL classic boots. The new boots represent a very significant redesign, but in ways that I think most racers will appreciate. For pictures of the boots, as well as information about the Red Dot award, please go to http://www.fasterskier.com/news5295.html

From the outside, the sole appears to be unchanged, but it sure feels different once you have it on your feet. For lack of a better comparison, it feels like the sole is very thin, giving you an enhanced feeling for what is going on underneath your feet. The forward flex doesn't feel substantially different, but that's a good thing as Alpina have had a very nice and supple flex in their classic boots for quite a few years if you ask me.

The upper has undergone major changes to pair the boot down to the bare essentials. There is nothing in the new boots apart from what you actually need for support and proper fit, making the boots very light and responsive. To give you an idea, the inside of the boot looks and feels much like a top quality soccer shoe, with addition of a lacing system that provides more wrap around fit adjustment than a soccer shoe would normally provide.

I skied a 7.5k loop with one of the old boots on one foot, and one of the new boots on the other. While I certainly liked the feel of the old boots, I do think the new boots represent an improvement in that they make it much easier to feel subtle differences through the skis. They are also lighter, which can never hurt. Lateral support felt solid as usual, and doesn't appear to have been compromised by the new design.

While I didn't have time to test the new Skate boots, I did have a chance to take a look at them up close, and the same principles used in the design of the classic boot appear to have been employed. I would expect that this would yield similar results in terms of sensitivity and weight savings. The cuff has been upgraded to a 3D design which, by putting shape into the carbon/titanium, has been found to create even better efficiency by making the transfer of power to the ski more direct. I look forward to getting them on snow next season.

If you are really attached to the current Alpina boots, don't despair, as Alpina plans to continue producing these as well. XC Ottawa athletes Megan McTavish, Alana Thomas, Karl Saidla and Wayne Dustin enjoyed them tremendously. Here's what Megan and Alana had to say about them.

Megan McTavish:

I switched to Alpina two years ago after having numerous foot and leg cramping problems while skiing. I have found that the Alpina boots have basically solved all of these problems! In skating, I was always getting calf cramps while skiing up long gradual hills, especially when it was near the beginning of a race or workout. With my Alpina boots this problem has virtually disappeared due to the cuff not forcing your leg forward at the ankle, and the cuff being a bit lower at the back, accommodating longer calf muscles that women tend to have. I also really like the lateral support that these boots have to offer and I feel like it helps in keeping a flat ski. In classic, I was having problems with the hard back of many of the classic boots. I have bony heel spurs that like nice soft heels, but also I needed a boot that was solid and would allow for a strong kick. Alpina has a nice combination of hard plastic which forms a solid heel section to push back on, and a cushioned area in the middle which accommodates that part of my heel. Both classic and skating boots are adjustable to get a perfect heel fit, whether you have wide or narrow heels.

Alana Thomas:

As Megan points out the fit and performance of the boots is also excellent. I wear the regular width boots, size 39 and was delighted to find that they fit well right away, unlike other boots which require extensive wear time to work in. An added bonus is that I like how they look. I think the flashy red and carbon-titanium cuffs look really fast, particularly when paired with an XC Ottawa race suit!

Making the big switch to Aplina boots this season is a chance I have no regrets in taking. As someone who was perfectly content with my previous boots it seemed a bit risky to try a new fit. Why would I bother switching then, you might ask? For me, it came down to the fact that I felt like Aplina is a more personable brand in Canada, with a very hard working sales rep and distributor in Mike Doble. I knew that if I had any troubles at all, which I have not, Alpina would be able to help me solve them while most other brands would not.

Source: www.xcottawa.ca

Karl racing in his Alpina boots at the Eastern Canadian Championships. [Photo by Ken Trischuk]

Megan and Karl rollersking in Ottawa - photo credit XC Zone

XC Ottawa's “Team Alpina” - Alana, Megan and Karl

All classes, except Lateen Sailing, received the benefit of a nice, reliable breeze and blue skies

Y3K holds slim lead over Open Season in the Maxi Wally class

Palma de Majorca, 19 April 2008 What a difference a day makes. After yesterdays excessive winds that topped 40 knots in the afternoon, winds calmed down over the Palma de Majorca bay on Saturday and spectacular action was the order of the day.

Under sunny and blue skies, the more than 200 boats enjoyed Palmas exciting conditions with a reliable southwestern breeze, ranging between 14 and 19 knots. Although it was a definitely simpler day than yesterday, there was still a lingering swell created by the strong winds, putting the boats and their crews to test. Read the rest of this entry »