Worthington to get Olympic windsurfing training center

Worthington's Windsurfing Regatta and Unvarnished Music Festival have concluded, the Globe reports, with thousands of people having gathered on the shores of Lake Okabena to listen to music, learn about prairie ecology, and cheer the races in the U.S. Windsurfing Association (USWA) National Championships.

And Tim Walz's colleagues tease him about representing Mayberry. 

There's some truth to that: people are pretty hospitable, look out for each other, and share those other pastoral virtues that help make a democracy work.  But the windsurfing on the prairie lake symbolizes the district's promise in the  21st century:  inventiveness, innovation, and--oh yeah--wind.

Myer's Lake was never like this.

At the end of the article, there's an announcement:

USWA vice president Bill Keitel announced Saturday that the United States Windsurfing Association board of directors decided to locate an Olympic Training Center in Worthington.

“The exciting thing for Worthington is an Olympic training camp will be a great benefit to Worthington’s promotional quiver,” he said. “The benefits to Worthington will be that we will have Olympic-class sailors come to this community to train for specific periods during the summer.”

This year's national champ loves Worthington, too:

“We were told Worthington is one of those places the community gets really involved with the sport,” Martinez said on why he made the trek to Minnesota. “We don’t usually get to see people at the beach cheering us on. That is great.”

Photo: Wind power in Nobles County, on and off the lake.  (Brian Korthals/Daily Globe)

Comments

[bill keitel]

Hats off to Bluestem Prairie & Tim Walz!
Sailors throughout the nation and beyond (Argentina, Great Britian,Finland, Germany,Russia, etc.) showed up to compete in this event to compete for the title of United States-National Windsurfing Champion. Lake Okabena had more sails per square foot....than any place on earth. This made it more colorful than the Albuequerque Balloon Festival.....just a heck of a lot faster!
A big thanks to Bluestem for recognizing the event!
bill keitel

U.S. Windsurfing V.P.

Ollie Ox says: We'll take the thanks for Bluestem Prairie, but recommend that you send any thanks to Congressman Walz to his congressional or campaign offices.

While we really like the representative, this blog is an independent site kept by an individual who was born and raised in Southern Minnesota by a family that had been there since territorial times. I love Southern Minnesota, not just because of that birthright, but also because it's so wonderfully surprising--like hosting windsurfing championships on an inland lake.