Capricorns leaving soon for the US

John, you pretty much promised to e-mail me some pictures with proof.

Have not received them nor any race results.

Neither you nor Trey, with your long lists of inside contacts, was able to produce any proof that ;"... the Infusion is making a very strong showing in Europe against all comers ...".

So clearly I'm the one who is talking out of my %$# here.

All the other stuff that gets thrown in is just you guys trying to chance the subject.

Wouter

Wouter / Guys:

I think everyone needs to take a deep breath, step back and wait till the proof comes in. Be it photos, results OR whatever. This is suppose to be a fun forum to exchange ideas and thoughts. Not a name calling and bashing session. RIGHT?

Doug Snell
Hobie 17
Soon to be Mystere 4.3 Formula 14
www.tcdyc.com

Well okay,

I wish Gunnar and Mischa the best of luck in the upcoming Voorjaars Bokaal series. I would also do the same for the thrid big name, but I'm not sure whether public use of his name has been cleared yet. Of course Peter can sail a very good race as well.

Will be fun to see the infusion do well and see hobie's reaction to it.

I have arranged for my test ride already. I'm expecting it to be really soon. After that I'll see alot of them as three of them will be in my club race series.

Wouter

John, "against all comers" sounds more like a big regatta then the two/three boat testing it has boiled down to by now.

Seesh..

Agreed.

How about some facts.

I've given you guys the facts. And Wouter, my e-mails to you keep bouncing. Are you still using that hotmail account?

Look, you boys can interpret things however you want - good sailors say they are sailing the Infusion, that they like it, it is going well against other platforms and it is racing this weekend. Stop trying to make something I said in passing more than it is - why are you guys trying to tear down the boat? It exists - it is real - it is sailing.

Here are a couple of pics that I've tried e-mailing Wout. I got these on March 10th - the boat has certainly been wet since then, don't you imagine? No wonder the guys who are sailing it don't post here - you'd think I claimed Bigfoot was having an espresso at the corner cafe and would be sailing a one-off F-16 in the Round Texel this year.

Bigfoot! Really! I didn't even know he could sail!

Seriously, great looking boat!

I would have no issue if you had elaborated on "against all comers" as you have done now. But instead you and Trey went "Wouter hunting" and tried pulling some red tape.
Now you are transposing motives I certainly dont have on me. "Talking the boat down" and say I am putting really good sailors off these forums becouse I follow up on your post.. That's so silly I prefer to go and change some bad poo-diapers on "the little one" instead.

I thought that big transoms were bad. I saw an Infusion after the AC last week and was surprised at how big they were. Not that they are huge, per se, but seem certainly bigger than the N20s I had been staring at all week. Seems like things were going away from that. Just wondering.

John,
I doubt they are racing this weekend, there are two mayor Spring races held in Holland and both start April 9th.
From what I've heard they are test sailing it, dont know if against non-nacra F18s.
I'm going to one of them next weekend so maybe I can see if it's any good.

The pictures you got where also visible on this website, which is from a Yamaha director who also happens to be a nice guy and sailing/racing enthusiast. (Although sadly the link to the Nacra F18 pictures "new toy for boy" no longer works.)

The websites from the clubs hosting the Spring racing series are:
Hellecat
Roerkoning

PTP -

Volume maybe? Seems like you gotta put something back there when you've got the skipper sitting on the back beam and the crew trapped and standing on the transom with the kite up... dunno.

Rolf -

I was knee-jerk responding to Wout's assertion that I was "delusional" and I'd posted "bull." I've re-read this entire thread and still do not see what the big hairy deal is. It's not like I work for Performance or own one of the boats. It was info I passed along. It's not hunting if someone else fires the first shot - a civil "I'm not sure that is accurate" might have been better received on my part. The pile-on mentality afterward fostered additional push-back. I'm a nice guy - but I won't be shoved. You asked nicely for open regatta results - looks like you'll have some to consider by the end of the month, both EU and US. My apologies to you personally if you think somehow I was out to decieve you.

Hey Tony -

Dunno, mate - Jack at Performance mentioned yesterday that the Infusions he'd sent over were racing on an inland lake in Holland this weekend and that Capricorns were also expected to be there - I did not press him for details - again, just passing it along. Perhaps I misunderstood.

I can say for sure that an Infusion (Pete's boat) is now in Georgia and is expected to compete in a largish F18 fleet for Spring Fever in a couple of weeks.

And I'm not name dropping here - I don't have a magic "in" with the factory. I was calling Jack for about the 50th time and finally got him on the phone to tell him thanks for his support of the Alter Cup. I don't imagine I'm in his rolodex.

Yep, 170 mb free space in my inbox and an attachment limit of 10 MB.

Why are you trying to turn a conflict about a single claim into a much larger dissing of the whole design ?

I don't think any of us tried claiming that the boat didn't exist, didn't sail or that it was bad in any way.

The conflict is completely focussed on the "Infusion is making a very strong showing in Europe against all comers" statement. That is all.

These were made at the Dutch Boatshow Hiswa which was held from 28 feb to 5 march 2006. I already said that the boat was at this boatshow, no disagreement there. No relevant proof in it either.

I don't do "imagining things" John. I KNOW it has been wet since here in Netherlands. The proof is here behind this link (and in the picture).

http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho... page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1

If you read my reply to this older post then you learn one reason of why I don't need to talk to Jack at PC or whoever.

Trey, are you still reading this ?

Actually John, one of them did post on this forum. The very guy who is crewing for Gunnar in the picture posted 3 replies in the infusion thread of late februari 2006 when the first pictures were published of them sailing the boat on the Dutch North sea. His handle is nacra555 and he even supplied his e-mail adress in a post so he could be contacted by interested persons. On his new infusion I'll be getting my Infusion test ride.

Trey, are you still reading this ?

I certainly hope the other sailor in the picture does remember me. I finallly cleared his new Marstrom M20 handicap rating at the RC office at Round Texel 2003 where I was the acting rating official. He was the M20 importer and dealer at the time. Some people have short memories however.

Trey, are you still reading this ?

Honestly, you guys really should have done your homework (on my person) better.

Now, having said all this in my defense in my well know sarcastic style (He, its me, wouter !) I will now make my end to it.

I want to appologize to John if he feels that I wronged him. It was never my intent to insult anyone or bad mouth a new F18 design. I was trying to express my amazement at a particular statement that I felt was more then just a little bit unfounded at this time. However the way I expressed this can well have been too confrontational, and that is uncalled for.

So John, I'm sorry to have offended you.

Wouter

Wouter

...

I want to appologize to John if he feels that I wronged him. It was never my intent to insult anyone or bad mouth a new F18 design. I was trying to express my amazement at a particular statement that I felt was more then just a little bit unfounded at this time. However the way I expressed this can well have been too confrontational, and that is uncalled for.

So John, I'm sorry to have offended you.

Wouter

I think I can clearify this.

This inland lake can only be the IJsselmeer and that means that they are at cat club "de roerkoning". Remco Kenbeek is the Dutch importer of the Capricorn F18 and he has his shop right at this cat club. Last year there were quite a few Capricorn F18's at this cat club, among which Remco himself. For this reason you will expect alot of them to be out on the water.

The official racing calender of the Netherlands mentions sunday 2nd of april as the first day of the "voorjaars bokaal" = spring cup. However on the webpages of the actually organising clubs it is said that both events only start on sunday 9th april. This will, no doubt, lead to confusion and misunderstandings. At this time I don't know which announcement is correct, but I would gamble on the homepages of the club themselfs. If so then there will not be any official racing in NL this weekend. Most likely only a handful of boats out on the water doing some practizing after a long winter of no sailing. All crews will still be clearing the "rust" out ; so any reports must be viewed in that way.

Hope this helps

Wouter

Why the hell would you do that?

Carry on gentleman, but may I request more flying poop?

http://www.geocities.com/bobl1961/

http://www.triumphtheinsultcomicdog.com/

Hey John, I was talking with Robbie and thought if you were interested we could setup your boat down here first and you could sail it with Robbie and test it against us on the Tiger. If they arrive before we leave for Austria on May 6th it would be great practice for us as well.

Just a thought... we don't have an arrival date just yet so it's a bit premature.

Yeah - you guys stop trying to make-up and start slinging again!

Does anyone else wish that they could give people swirlies over the internet?

As I have become somewhat of an authority on poo and poo-flinging lateley, I can positively inform you that real poo-flinging leaves much more mess than this.

We are investing heavily in pot training at home, as changing diapers on a very active 1 year old at times visualizes what happens when "the [censored] hit the fan" really well.

Well, Olli made a nice try to get back on topic, but this train wreck of a thread already has the word "Infusion" in it more than Capricorn, followed closely by "poo" now. So I like Rolf's new tack.

Rolf - in the US, we potty train much later than many other countries. My daughter will be three in July and I'm just now getting to the point that we can go extended periods with her in panties rather than a diaper. I'm more than a little frustrated that her school requires that she be potty trained by the start of the fall term, but they do nothing to continue the efforts we're expending at home. She's at the point where you have to ASK her if she needs to use the restroom. She'll tell you if she does and everything is great. If you don't ask, she'll mention it only after it is too late. In all other regards, I'm over the moon about her school and the educational program there.

I have found it terribly interesting how other cultures pursue this little project. Americans might find it absurd to try potty training as early as the age of one, while someone from Africa might find it abhorrent that children walk around in diapers at age three here. Lots of reading on the subject.

Trey, are you still reading this? LOL!

Wouter and I have continued our discussion via PM - which is where it should have gone to begin with.

Olli - I'm planning right now to come and build the boats with you guys depending upon delivery date. Wife has a couple of commitments in the first week of May that could conflict, so as details emerge, obviously let's talk more.

Y'know, I bought line, blocks and a carbon hot stick last year - I've had the trailer for a couple of months... nice to think I'll finally have a boat to go with the accessories.

I am just curious to know how many of those Capricorns will show up at the Lake Carlyle event. Will the be a total of 5 Caps in the US or did I get the numbers wrong? All I am sure of are Ollie and JW.

I would also like to know who is still holding out for an Infusion hoping to take it to Carlyle?

This is all very exciting. Seems like we (North America) are just about coming into our own as far as Formula 18 Racing. Now let's figure out how to make em go fast!

Later,
Dan

By the way JW and Wouter: I think most of us were entertained by your banter. Real poo...not interesting.

I see that Robbie has already registered for Nationals, so that's three Caps.

Kevin Rejda is still holding out for an Infusion - possibly late June. Kirk is getting one, too, and I'm pretty sure Nigel and Alex are still expecting one each as well. There are others that had deposits down when the Infusion was the Alter Cup boat but that pricing fell through - haven't asked who is still on the list.

This is getting exciting! Three Capricorns, four Infustions, Tigers, Nacra F18s, What else?

Is Jack listening? Need to let some boats stay in the US.

I should ask if Pete Melvin is interested in going to Carlyle. I will bet that there could be a demo boat for him to use.

I think Alex already has an Infusion doesn't he?

Gentleman start your engines! Let's get this party started!

Later,
Dan

Try one of these.

http://www.webehave.com/pottyvideos.htm

Dan, I just heard that they've decided to fill the container anyway and bring 7 caps so there will be two more for sale so maybe we'll have a small fleet of them at Carlyle.

Also, Dan - unless Alex got a boat in the last week, the boat that was delivered to Kirk was Pete's boat, on loan to Nigel until more production boats are out. I understood them to say that they (Alex and Nigel) would be racing that boat at Spring Fever, which is also the NAF-18 Southern Area championship - an important F18 points event for the 2007 Worlds in Australia.

John:

That is the boat that I thought was going to be Alex's. Thank you for clarification. I have always wanted to participate in the Spring Fever regatta. Everytime I was going to make plans I would call Nigel to see if he could hook me up with a boat. I could never get one. It was really not Nigel's fault as I always want to sail in the biggest class and there are fewer boats available because of it. It started when I was sailing 20s and now I would want a Formula 18.

This year would be tough to get there as I could not get Eileen there...what with Europe looming. I talked to someone about sailing with me there this year, cannot remember now who, maybe Sue K., but I never got it together. Maybe next time. Fortunately, it will be really easy to qualify for Australia it seems there will be many spaces available, from what I heard.

Ollie:
I have talked to people in this area about the Formula 18s and many do not know much about the Capricorn. We are just getting sailors up to speed about Formula 18s. I do not think I will be able to promote any of them here, but I like that I will see them soon. The West still has to be considered Hobie Country. At the last regatta we had 12 Formula 18s and only one of them was a Nacra. All the rest were Tigers. There are about 5 really capable sailors that own the Nacra F18s here but it is hard to drag them out to the regattas.

Both of you:
Keep me posted on what you are learning with the Capricorns. I am waiting with baited breath to hear all about them.

Later,
Dan

Thread Hijack!!!!

Hi Dan

I have noticed much the same thing in my part of the world and often wondered... WHY?

Short of saying... The Hobie sailors go racing... They just go racing...

I really can't explain it.

I am curious as to why some one gets a race boat and then does not go out to play with an active ten boat fleet.

Mark