26 A-Class catamarans raced over the weekend in beautiful Bokeelia, Florida off the local beach of Ben and Nan Hall's new Florida second home. The fleet quality was high with Hall, Smyth, Cope, Moon, and Daniels racing. There was also several new A-Class sailors racing their first major class event including Bill Goggins, the CEO of Harken who was there with a brand new EVO HT. The fleet also included former J-22 North American champion Peter Merrifield and current ISAF team racing world champion Peter Levesque. We got to meet Wes Wilcox who came down to Bokeelia to pick up a boat he purchased from one of the competitors. Wes recently switched jobs from Trek Bicycles to Harken. Wes was in charge of the carbon R&D that produced the bikes that Lance Armstrong and his US Postal/Discovery racing teams used in the years they dominated the Tour De France. I told Wes he needs to call Lance in a couple of years to see if we can get him out on an A-Class, seems that would be a fun thing for him to retire in to!
We did not get to race today because the breeze was hovering in the low to mid 20's all morning but we did get two fantastic days of sailing and racing Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the fleet participated in a day long tuning and racing clinic with 4-time North American Champ and 2007 WC runner-up Lars Guck. After a two hour onshore session covering boat setup and boat handling, we spent four hours on the water doing short 2 lap windward-leeward races. I think we did at least 13-14 races. Most of the races were in 8-10 knots but the seabreeze kicked in good for the last 3 races at 15-18 knots. The tight courses in the windier races made it feel like you were doing
wind sprints
!
Four races were sailed on Saturday in 10-20 knots of breeze. The conditions were tough as in each race there were 10-30 degree oscillations with 5-10 knot changes in wind velocity. You had to keep your head out of the boat and shift gears smoothly. I felt pretty good for the day with a 2-3-9-3 but was disappointed to find out I was OCS in the first race. Ben Moon had the best day on the water with a 2-2-1-1. He was followed by Woody Cope and Randy Smyth in 2nd and 3rd with Ben Hall right behind. Unfortunately that's the way the regatta scoring ended with the cancellation of today's racing due to the high winds.
The next event in the southeast is the A-Class/F-16 Invitational at Gulfport Yacht Club next month followed by the North American Championship at Fort Walton Yacht Club May 11-15.
Sail light, sail fast.
Bob Hodges
A-Class USA 230
Bob excellent report seems like you folks had heeps of fun. We certainly missed our regular A catters at the GYC race this last Saturday.
Just a quick FYI
The April race you are referring to is no longer called the A-Class/F16 invitational. It is now titled The GYC Multihull event. We want all multihull classes to show up and participate along with the A cats and F16s. Each class will be scored independently a cats and spin boats will have separate starts. Expected fleets are A cats, F16, F18 and hopefully a few N20s show up to play.
Its turning out to be another big event. Hope to see you there.
I heard through the grapevine we have 7 F18 teams committed to the event.
The A Cattter's know how to put on a regatta, and despite the rock star talent, everyone was low key, the weather was fantastic, the food was great,a dnthe sailing venue was unmatchable ANYWHERE!
A Big thanks to Ben Hall for the gracious hospitality, and looking forard to seeing you guys at Spring Fever.
Bob, thanks for the excellent report, could you also send one (and pictures) to the editor of Sailing World? Seems there were several mono-hull types sailing the A cats, might bring some more interest from the monohull world if they see some of their own doing it -kitty style- for a change. Sailing World just did a multihull issue and has said they would include more cat racing...if they got the reports submittied.
Thanks.
I was at the Sebring 12 Hour LeMans race all day Saturday, thanks to Jack Wohrle!
There was a bunch of great video taken over the weekend, especialy close up of Lars sailing in 15 - 18kns. This as well as a detailed report from Ben Hall wile be available soon.
I've gotta backup Dave 100%. Bob summed it up well, now here's my take. This was my first A cat regatta and I had an absolute blast. The race committee did an unsurpassable job , so a huge THANKS to Steve and his youth sailors from the Edison (I hope I got that right) sailing center. They were top notch.
The clinic beforehand was very beneficial, since I was basically starting with a blank sheet, but the help from the fellow racers was the biggest help for me. Any question that I asked of anyone was answered in detail, especially Ben Moon, he always had time for my elementary questions. I'm still not sure why he finds the need to talk like Crocodile Dundee all the time, but he sails super fast and will tell you anything you want to know.
There was a post awhile back about A-catters being snobby. If they'll take a Hillbilly like me into their fold how snobby could they be. This is a fun crowd alot like the distance crowd I race with.
As an A-cat doubter for the last few years, I didn't see anyway those little boats with NO spinnaker could posibly go as fast as a spin boat. I proved myself wrong in spades this weekend. Downwind when the breeze piped up I felt like I was on my Nacra 20. Same surfing, same carving bear aways, it is awesome.
If anybody is on the fence about an A-cat ,I'd say do it. There's alot of affordable used ones on the market now.
I still love my N-20, but now there is another tool in the toolbox and the A is the right tool for me for marks racing.
It was great meeting everyone and thanks for all the help.
Todd Hart
USA 42
It is indeed Edison Sailing Center in Fort Myers. A special Thanks to the gracious host Ben Hall and welcome to the West Florida shores don't be a stranger. Another big thank you to all of the talent that went to a great deal of effort for the Saturday race and the Sunday study of the winds from the shore. It really doesn't blow like that here all the time. The last thanks is to each competitor that took the kids out for some fantastic thrills aboard their BEAUTIFUL cats. These kids have finally been exposed to another color in the sailing rainbow and I am positive that the grins that came off of the water will translate into at least one new, young, talented catamaran sailor.
Hey Bob,
Good talkin' to ya Sunday.
Keep on 'dubbin.
Eurovans rule!
Todd:
As with ANY race situation it is all about weight. An A cat only weights 165 lbs and with a lot of sail. It has to fly.
Doug
OH!!!!!! That should make <img src="<>/shocked.gif" alt="shocked" title="shocked" height="15" width="15" /> a good tow vehicle!!! 4 mpg?
Doug
probably more like 4 gallons to the mile.