Canadian national Mike Dobbs and American national Glenn Brown, both full time residents of Southern California, attended the U.S. Tornado Nationals in San Diego.  They sailed on Mike’s Marstrom Tornado “Full Tilt.”  Mike immediately follows the Nationals with the Olympic Pre Trials. Mike began Pre Trials with a fellow Canadian as crew but was looking for a new crew when Glenn Brown made this post to Catsailor.com.

" Mike Dobbs broke his crew, and another team may have, too. If you're in the San Diego area, and you can crew for him tomorrow and/or Sunday, give me a call..., and I will put you in touch. I'd do it myself if I didn't have prior commitments. (I crewed for Mike in the Nationals this week.)"

A genuine tale of the underdog gaining new ground, you should find these reports a very pleasant read.  Thrills, spills, and collisions with beasts are all contained herein.  Here are their reports, so far:

Fri Oct 6, 2006 9:20 am
I'm dragging the boat on the tilt trailer there tomorrow morning...should be quite a sight as I pull in to the yard with the Mini Cooper rig!

The new Carbon mast is already there as is a new main to go with it. From the registrant lists, looks like the usual suspects will be there, including the Canadian team of Alain & Eve-Marie from Montreal and Martin & Ben from Michigan...these boats are our nearest rivals, so far I've only beaten them rarely.

We have high hopes...got a day of pro coaching under our belts now...though we now have a better idea on what to improve, it remains to be seen if we can execute on those things in a race situation.

I plan to make race reports nightly if time permits...starting Monday. Mike

Be sure and read the rest of the reports, great stuff from on the scene!

September 11-15 The 36th Hobie 16 North American Championship, aka: the Continentals, starts Monday off Roger Wheeler Beach in Narragansett, Rhode Island. The regatta will continue through Friday.

Sailors from fourteen states and five countries have pre-registered for the event. For Hobie 16 racers from Guatemala to Canada this is the year’s main event. Year after year the 16 Continentals attracts the biggest one-design catamaran fleet on the continent with the competition and the parties to match. Some come to measure their skills against the best and some for the parties but everyone comes to celebrate this simple one-design that started it all.

This year’s championship will double as the country qualifier for the 2007 Pan American Games. The top four countries from the NAs will qualify for the Pan Am games.

Nine past champions will be racing this week making this event as tough as ever. A complete list of past champions and daily updates during the week can be found at www.HCA-NA.org

Only 11 days more before Wayward Winds Regatta at the Texas City Dike. This open multihull event has been running for over 30 years. Its shaping up to be a good one this year with strong participation anticipated from many classes of boats, including the Hobie 16, Tiger and A-Cats. There will also be a novice class which looks like it will be a good size. You can get more information, including the Notice of Race and contact details at the TCDYC (Fleet 8) website.

Last years event was well attended despite being rescheduled due to Hurricane Rita. You can get a good view of some of the A-Cat fleet that showed up in this picture.

Chris Green
Chair, Division 6.

Orange II crossed the finish line at "The Lizard" Thursday evening July 6, 9:24pm local time (4:24pm ET).Bruno Peyron and his eleven men of crew completed the crossing in 4 days, 8 hours, 23 minutes and 54 seconds with average speed over 27 knots Orange II beats the previous record by 9 hours, 4 minutes and 12 seconds. Bruno Peyron said.. "The feeling? It is a major joy… There are great smiles on tired faces… ".

US Sailing and the Canadian Yachting Association have selected the 2006 Hobie 16 North Americans as their respective Pan Am trials for sailing in the Open Multihull discipline. Brazil will host the 2007 Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro. This elite athletic event will include sailing in nine of the Americas most popular one-design classes. The Multihull discipline will be contested in Hobie 16s.