Jetty Park Ocean Regatta

sounds good...
who else is going?
Michael c

How about making a US F16- Taipan race calender ?

Then everybody knows what to expect and they can plan their holliday time to it.

Wouter

Hi Chuck,
Love the regatta, but I will be up north doing seminars most of May and June.
I like the idea of all agreeing on certain venue, however. that is what we have been doing with the Wave Class and in most regattas the Waves have the largest class.
Seems we do have quite a few Taipans in Florida and could even go with the Formula 16 idea, if they ever allowed Hooters.
Rick

Well, why not bring your hooter and gether some experimental data ?

Especially against Michael C's reaching spi. Seems that is the way the newer F16 spi are being made.

I have some experimental data but far to insufficient to properly model the differences in behaviour. I would love to receive more. That is when the Local US F16 officials allow this experimentation to take place in a F16 event. It is after all their juristiction

Wouter

Wouter - Yes a calendar is a good idea - maybe even pick a few regattas through the year that everyone could try and make. After Tybee, I can try to put one together.

Rick - Wish you could make it - we always like seeing the "motorhome" roll into town. I say race with the hooter. If you spank everyone so bad that its not fair -then we will have to figure something out.

Jennifer emailed and oh yeh - she pointed out the race is the 7th and 8th. And she said she is planning on racing at Jetty Park. So lets get a few more boats and have a fleet. Where are the other Mikes?

Chuck

Chuck,
Sounds like fun. Nancy and are hoping to make over.
We'll race Taipan with or without spinnaker.
Mike Hagan

Chuck,
Any suggestions on where to stay for the regatta? Some place near by but not too expensive would be nice.

Is there a published race notice on the internet anywhere to get all the race details?

Jennifer
Taipan #262

My last couple of posts have not worked, but I will try again. Jennifer, there are lots of Motels, the two I have numbers for are

Radison, Cape Canaveral
(407)784-0000
Closest to Jetty Park

Days Inn, Cocoa Beach
(407)783-7621

The Raddison is nice, but I'm not sure of the price. I will try to find more hotel info tomorrow. Also we live about 30 minutes from the site, and you are welcomed stay with us if you like.

Chuck
321-773-9844

Hi,
Here is the site that has schedule and motels for the race. Hope lots of you can make it. It really is a great place to sail.

JPOR NOR

Chuck,

with whom were you sailing in the Jetty park regatta in 2002 (last year). There are some nice pictures of you two.

See here for an example

Wouter

Did I miss something? "Exactly" where is the regatta held? For those of us that don't live in Cocoa Beach, where is Jetty Park? Obviously it's near Port Canaveral...but what are the specifics?

My boat's a long way from being ready to race, but it would be nice to possibly come up there and meet some of you in person...you know...put a face with the names...besides, it might be just be the source of inspiration to finally finish my boat...

Bob

Hi Bob,
Jetty Park is directly south of Port Canaveral. It is pretty cool - you can watch the Disney ships go out from you cat. They look pretty darn big.

Directions from Ft Pierce would be:

Exit the I95 onto the SR528 (BeeLine) Head EAST on SR 528.
Take the BeeLine all the way to Cape Canaveral
Turn Left on DAVE NISBET DR 0.1 miles
Turn Right on GEORGE J KING BLVD 0.9 miles
Turn Left on PARK RD 0.2 miles
Turn Right on JETTY DR/JETTY PARK RD.

My sail number is 189 - Look me up.

******************************************
I sailed with Mavis - sloop. It was kind of funny - two years ago we got to sail with the 5.5 sloop class. Well last year they said no way - go sail open - so I sailed sloop in the open low ps with a couple I20's, N6.0's, A's, P19's. Well the wind was cranking and we were ended up being able to sail boat for boat with the big boats. The spins would put some distance on us downwind, but we could hold our own against all the other boats. We came out second I think to a carbon 5.5. uni on corrected. It was a super fun race.

Chuck

Thanks for the info Chuck...I will be visiting my girlfriend in Titusville this weekend and will try to get down to check out the regatta.

Bob

So how did the 4.9's do? I went to check out the race on saturday and heard from the comodore there was 4 or 5 Taipans... only got to talk to one of the 4.9 sailors from Tampa? (Seath?)who was sailing one up with his new boat. The rest were out there racing till the afternoon storm came in fast and shut everything down. What a fire drill that was huh?

So those of you who raced...how did you like your boats performance in those conditions? How did it fend in comparison to the other types of boats out there? Honesty please...LOL...no embelishing...LOL...I am curious, as those are typical conditions for where I like sail. My old Supercat 17 use to love sloppy conditions like that. Wondered if you felt the Taipan 4.9 was a little bit out of it's element in short confused seas?

My neighbor, Conner V. (teenager)won one of the open classes, I believe, on an old prindle 15.

There were 4 Taipans, 3 sailed uni, and I sailed sloop. You will have to ask the uni guys how the boat sailed, but for my wife and I we had a great time. We weigh in around 280 lbs and had no problems depowering. The boat handled great upwind, and was fast keeping up with most of the boats - we sailed boat for boat with the two H20's out there both upwind and down. Downwind the boat accelerates so fast that in those choppy wavy conditions you can almost non-stop surf.

I will try to get the corrected and non-corrected times posted and add a link here.

Sunday, Jennifer smoked uni. Winds dropped way off and the chop was still present making for some trying conditions. Jennifer actually finished the 2nd race ahead of me boat for boat. Ouch! So in short the boat handled great and still amazes me what it does against boats with 2-4 feet more waterline.

Chuck

Here are the open low results.
JPOR Open Low Class

I'm just playing with the results here but it looks like it was pretty much a first in wins race.

Boat type entered (alfabetical order)

Hobie 20 64,9
Nacra 5.5 uni 69,8
Prindle 19 66,4
Prindle 18-2 68,8
Taipan 4.9 sloop 68,1
Taipan 4.9 uni 69,9

The ratings for the Nacra uni and Taipan uni are very close (69,8 - 69,9); only 5 seconds per hour difference here
That Prindle 18-2 is not to far off either. And ofcourse the Hobie and P19 were pretty much on a par too.

Final standings apprear to be :

(--place---crew---type---points)
1 Bird N5.5U 5
2 Harnden T4.9 10
3 Lindsey T4.9U 13
4 McKnight H20 20
5 Kuftik H20 22
6 Uschold P182 26
7 Bielefeld N5.5U 28
8 Coffman T4.9U 28
9 Deans P19 32
10 Stern T4.9U 44

By to saw the bear truth here are the elapsed time finishings

Race 1 elapsed

1---Harnden-----T4.9 0 47 48
2---Deans-------P19 0 48 3
3---McKnight----H20 0 48 55
4---Kuftik------H20 0 49 42
5---Bird--------N5.5U 0 49 50
6---Lindsey-----T4.9U 0 52 35
7---Bielefeld---N5.5U 0 55 9
8---Coffman-----T4.9U 0 55 24
9---Uschold-----P182 0 56 18
10--Stern-------T4.9U 0 0 0 DNF

Race 1 handicap

1 Harnden T4.9
5 Bird N5.5U
2 Deans P19
6 Lindsey T4.9U
3 McKnight H20
4 Kuftik H20
7 Bielefeld N5.5U
8 Coffman T4.9U
9 Uschold P182
10 Stern T4.9U (DNF)

Race 2 elapsed

1 --- McKnight H20 0 52 41
2 --- Harnden T4.9 0 53 10
3 --- Bird N5.5U 0 53 57
4 --- Kuftik H20 0 54 20
5 --- Deans P19 0 54 25
6 --- Uschold P182 0 57 37
7 --- Lindsey T4.9U 0 58 40
8 --- Coffman T4.9U 0 59 29
9 --- Bielefeld N5.5U 1 0 42
10 --- Stern T4.9U DNS

Race 2 corrected

1 --- Bird N5.5U
2 --- Harnden T4.9
3 --- McKnight H20
4 --- Lindsey T4.9U
5 --- Uschold P182
6 --- Kuftik H20
7 --- Deans P19
8 --- Coffman T4.9U
9 --- Bielefeld N5.5U
10 --- Stern T4.9U DNS

Race 3 Elapsed

1 --- Bird N5.5U 0 53 25
2 --- Kuftik H20 0 55 25
3 --- Harnden T4.9 0 55 41
4 --- Lindsey T4.9U 0 57 52
5 --- Coffman T4.9U 0 58 22
6 --- Uschold P182 0 59 21
7 --- Bielefeld N5.5U 0 59 58
8 --- McKnight H20 1 1 35
9 --- Deans P19 DNS
10 --- Stern T4.9U DNS

Race 3 corrected

1 --- Bird N5.5U
2 --- Harnden T4.9
3 --- Lindsey T4.9U
4 --- Coffman T4.9U
5 --- Uschold P182
6 --- Bielefeld N5.5U
7 --- Kuftik H20
8 --- McKnight H20
9 --- Deans P19
10 --- Stern T4.9U

Race 4 elapsed

1 --- Bird N5.5U 0 43 59
2 --- Kuftik H20 0 45 20
3 --- McKnight H20 0 45 21
4 --- Lindsey T4.9U 0 45 52
5 --- Harnden T4.9 0 49 15
6 --- Bielefeld N5.5U 0 50 42
7 --- Coffman T4.9U 0 51 17
8 --- Uschold P182 0 51 26
9 --- Deans P19 DNS
10 --- Stern T4.9U DNS

Race 4 corrected

1 --- Bird N5.5U
2 --- Lindsey T4.9U
3 --- Kuftik H20
4 --- McKnight H20
5 --- Harnden T4.9
6 --- Bielefeld N5.5U
7 --- Uschold P182
8 --- Coffman T4.9U
9 --- Stern T4.9U DNS
10 --- Deans P19 DNS

Race 5 was cancelled probably as no finish data is presented for that.

What strikes me is that especially Chuck and his crew (Mavis ?) did very well. They were in the top on both elapsed and corrected time. Pretty good show.

I trust all crews had an enjoyable regatta; it looks like that from the results.

Regards,

Wouter

In Chuck`s original post :"I have a couple people really interested in the 4.9, and if we could get a group together over here I think it would put them over the top. We could sail F16 or 4.9".

Please could you tell us who weren`t there if the Taipans were sailing with or without spinnakers. I don`t know your handicapping system, so I can`t figure it out for myself. (we use ISAF)
I`m assuming none of the guys had spinnakers, judging from the fact that no mention is made of them in any of the posts. This would be a pity, as if we`re trying to get the F16 class known, sailing without spinnakers is a bit like going to a go-kart race & leaving your engine at home.
Here in SA we`ve made a concerted effort to arrive at regattas with 5 spinnaker boats, creating awareness of the existence of the F16 class. Sure, we`re not "F16HP", but we base our class on the Performance class 1 category, ie equal to Hobie 16 with spinnaker.
Our efforts have made the Hobie 16 guys take notice, they are seriously considering adding kites to try to keep up with us, so our class has growth potential because we are making ourselves visible at regattas.
The Taipan may be a great boat & attract a lot of interest, but sailing without kites does nothing to get the F16 class growing.
This post is not intended to offend anyone - I would just like to point out that you will only get the F16 class off the ground in ANY country if you arrive in fair numbers as a class (not one-design, but F16). Others will see the growth & want to get involved. No growth, no interest.
It`s worth a try.
See the attached pic - I`ve got my engine where it belongs. (Besides, once you`ve sailed with a kite there`s no going back !)

Cheers
Steve

Wow--great performances.

Why did so many folks sail uni? Given the great performance of the unis with standard taipan sails, I wonder how much faster the boat will be with the larger F16 main! Got one ordered yet Michael?

Any photos of the regatta online?

Why did I sail uni? Because I couldn't get crew. I had two people line up several weeks before the event but they both canceled. Chuck tried to find someone for me in his area but was only able to find someone who weighed 210 lbs. If they had sailed with me, we would have had a combined weight of around 355 lbs which I didn't think would have been very competative againt Chuck and Mavis at 280 lbs. Besides, I enjoy sailing the boat more as a uni then sloop and with the 2 Nacra 5.5 unis and 3 Taipan 4.9 unis sailing, we essentially had a fleet of 5 boats racing boat for boat.

To answer the question of why we didn't sail with a spinnaker, the conditions were not ideal for sailing with a spinnaker. The wind forecast was for 10 to 20 knots Saturday and in the morning it appeared to be favoring the high side of that range. The forecast also called for a very high chance of thunderstorms anytime during the day. The Atlantic Ocean was not flat either Saturday. There was a bit of a rolling sea and a significant surf to sail through to get off the beach. Since I had not lauched in the surf before or sailed in open waters with big swells, I was a little hesitant about even sailing let alone sailing with spinnaker. I have sailed uni with spinnaker in conditions under 10 in flat water and have had my hands full keeping the boat under control. To sail in stronger winds in rougher seas, I don't think so. If I was sailing sloop with an experienced crew, maybe I would have considered it.

We only sailed 2 races Saturday and 2 races Sunday because the race commitee had to cancel the other scheduled races because of approaching thunderstorms. We barely made it back to the beach Saturday before a squal line hit. I almost lost my boat on the beach when a gust of wind started to send it airborne. If another sailor hadn't of caught it, I would probably be looking for a new boat right now. Having a light boat has its advantages but staying on the beach in high winds is not one of them.

Jennifer
Taipan 4.9 #262

I'm looking forward to trying the taipan uni--looks like a blast, especially in a breeze.

How do you normally anchor your boat down when it's on the beach to keep it from blowing away?

Hey - Tampa Bayr's - Thanks for making the trek over - especially with less than great forecasts/weather. You let me know which regatta I should come over for. Sorry the weather wasn't all that good - Murphys Law I guess.

Yeah, the thing about the Taipan/F16 - there are so many configurations the boat sails well in - it is hard to get everyone lined up sailing the same. I was the main culprit this time - this is my wife's favorite regatta, and her parents live right there so they could baby sit our daughter. We had planned sailing sloop for some time and I couldn't back out of that. She did the F16hp nationals in the keys with some 15 knot + days and it was a little overwhelming trying to fly the chute in those conditions, so when the weather was similiar to those conditions - she opted to leave the spin behind.

In Florida we have an odd set up - probably over 1000 miles of coastline not including inland waterways that are heavily sailed as well. In my area of Cocoa Beach, Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville, there are so many races within an hour of you - that you never have to leave the area to be able to race every other week during the summer season. So it makes it hard to get people to travel to meet in a common location. So five boats to show up at a given race has been a bit tough for us in Florida. When we get to winter season and late fall, the regattas thin out so that there maybe only one race a month and travelling somewhere to sail makes for sense.

Eric,

In answer to your question about keeping the boat down on the beach...

You should never leave a 4.9 unattended and rigged on the beach if there's any sort of breeze. The mast on these boats is active sail area and even with the sail down they will blow over. I know of a couple of people with dents in the side of their masts. If you have to leave your boat you should drop the mast. All Aussie Taipan sailors will drop their masts overnight at regattas.

Regards,

Rob

P.S. I'm still looking at getting my trailer design to you but my camera (film not digital) has died and I'm not much of a drawer.

Thanks for the info, Rob.

I've got a "base" trailer I'm now starting to modify. Phill Brander gave me some measurements off his trailer, but I'm looking for all the ideas I can get.

A lot of times I have had the problem that boats are stacked up against each other after a day of racing and it is hard to drop the mast. I have had success either putting the boat back on the trailer and securing it, or putting stakes (hurricane tiedowns) into the ground and securing the boat to them. You also have to tie the mast so that if can not start flopping around if the wind comes up. The wing mast can get oscillating so great it looks like the whole boat is going to take off.

JPOR pictures are on-line. (Florida Multihull Sailor)

This is about over night parking. During race heats the A-cat sailors do something different.

Of course I will have the same problem as some of you in a few weeks. It will be difficult for me to drop the mast each time.

The two boats next to me are an widened A-cat and a 18 square. Both with carbon wingmasts.

Both of them have put 4 rests into the ground on which the boat is layed up and fixed. Than they hoist two extra lines to the spreaders and use that line to support the mast. They force rotate their mast to the prevaling wind direction (south east where I am) and fix it there. Than they use the main halyard to put the tip of the mast under tension.

Together this seems to totally prevent any oscillation and their mast are totally undamaged for years now. I do know of an A-cat that didn't do this and had the diamond wires pulled out due to oscillation.

I think I will try to make a picture of the setup they use and I have to ask about the specifics too (for my own boat).

But that is how they appear to be doing it.

Wouter

Chuck...you may want to secure your trailer down too (after you secure the boat to the trailer) if you don't already. I lost the mast on my SC 17 when I left my mast up, boat strapped down to the trailer. When I checked the boat after a storm came thru it was upside down with galvanized steel trailer still strapped to it. Mast was broken in half, and bend in a second place. The Supercat was near bomb proof so the boat itself survived...I think a Taipan would have been crushed in similar circumstances...this is not a slam on the Taipan by any stretch of the imagination...just that the Taipan is a lot built a lot lighter, better on the water, but not really built for supporting a trailer on it's back...LOL

Michael has changed his bleeched hair do for a shiny biljard ball style of thingy !

Also I noticed that Michael sailed with a remarkably identical number to Jennifer.

Mind you that boat of Jennifer looks smooth. Straight white hulls (no lines) good looking carbon stocks. Very nice

Wouter