Ft. Pierce March Regatta

Better than that, I bet we could join the regatta if we asked.

a stand up suggestion!

I put a feeler post out there to guage the response. While I wouldn't be worried it was posted in the general sailing forum, the sportboat forum posters are notoriously anti-multihull so I'm not so sure now.

CLEAN is a cool cat though and it seems that he's

organizing

this snafu.

From Clean:

My dance card is getting a bit full.

Mar. 7 The Space Coast 45 Indian River Run, Pineda Park, Melbourne, FL.

Mar. 21 22 Performance MidWinters, Pensacola, FL

Good lord, they're having a

cheap-butt

drunken

regatta and they're having to THINK about inviting multihulls? What is this world coming to? They should be lucky that we don't have a patent on that regatta format!

Been a sea-change in perspectives on Multi's there. Have our own forum, Vegas and Clean have become racers on Multi's, and with DoGzilla people are becoming curious.

I'm surprised it's even a question of IF we would be invited. I'm just assuming we are.

Did you catch that Tempesta has used Sailing Anarchy Yacht Club and this regatta as the basis for a formal submission for an AC team?

Funny, but to them lead sledders,

Cheapass

is about $2,000.

What we could do if skippers dropped that kind of dough at, say, tradewinds...

I'm still interested in seeing who might be interested in this. Ocean sailing that time of year is golden.

Since it looks like I'm the PRO for this

event

- I'd like the F-18's and I-20's to come.

But you've got to help a bit - by organizing a launching spot. All the monohulls will be overnighting inside the inlet. You guys need a beach. Google Earth shows a big-butt beach on either side of the inlet, with some particularly choice spots on the south side.

Who's a local who can work with Mr. Clean to get beach access?

Confirmed dates are March 14/15.

I remember this inlet. IIRC there is a huge park right there at the beach. I don't know if it could be worked out that we launch from that public park.

Also mbounds, I hope you're up to the task.... this event is the qualifying regatta for SAYC's America's Cup Challenge!

I'm liking this. Come down one weekend and do the Space Coast 45, leave the boat, and come back the following for the CHAW Regatta.

All right sign up one F18 - Team Zhik

I just found a flight to WPB for $88 round trip Mike. Buy it for leaving WPB Sunday after the SC45, and the return flight for the day before the CHAW.

Have to clear it with the war department first.

We have some sailors in Ft. Pierce, I'll see if I can get them over on 1D, there is a big park on the intracoastal side south of the inlet that we have used in the past, not sure about ocean access.

There used to be a big Hobie 20 fleet over there, Coutney Vohle (sp?) I think was in charge. They used to have a big Halloween regatta, don't know what ever happened to that fleet.

Few points.

North jetty is a big surf spot when the fronts push a north wind/swell. Not a good place to launch in those conditions. I think it's a state park, so you may have to check about launching there.

South Jetty is clean on the north swell, and not bad on

usual

days. Access used to be limited, a sandy spot right next to a condo building, but they may have built that out since my days windsurfing there.

There is a public park along the south side of the inlet (Mapquest says it's Seaway Drive, and the photo shows a boat ramp, too!) where you may be able to park and launch. Currents in/out of the inlet may be up to 3 kts, but should be manageable if there is any breeze.

And I don't think there's any reason you couldn't launch from the intracoastal and sail out...

I think the south side of the beach may be OK to launch from with respect to waves - the jetti has a cut back that gives a big flat patch to give you plenty of room to get geared up.

On that same day with the kite surfer, the ocean looked like this:

I just don't know if you can get a lot of trailers/trucks close enough to south jetty.

Launching from that causeway beach park and sailing to either north/south side (depending on wind/sea state) would give the greatest flexibility I would think.

Yeah we watched the T500 fleet this past year from that Jetty. I remember the south side being really well protected and flat.

If you look at the Google Earth shot I posted, it looks like there's a bunch of

missing

houses right there in the crook of the south jetty. Maybe a hurricane did some

house cleaning

? Looks like a reasonable access point as long as you have Cattrax.

Does the city / county permit catamaran launching off the beach? Do they require a permit if there's <10 boats?

where were you? I think I remember you guys getting there late after having lunch somewhere further south.

Jake we got there to see Velocity and Tybee fighting it out neck-and-neck past that inlet.

We did stop futher south, a couple times. We caught you walking back off the jetty with yer fancy-pants camera IIRC complaining about needing a memory card or something <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Actually I think that was the leg where we got in big trouble for accidentally backing over a twig with our trailer at a park and instead of getting a ticket we gave the deputy the card to one of our sponsors to try and make it so he and his fellow officers wouldn't be so sweaty under their kevlar in the hot Floridian sun 😛

That was a fun day for us 😛

We're in if any of them want to play.

We would love to have you guys in Fort Pierce. When we say

Cheap-butt Weekend

we mean it. The City is on board, so whatever permits are needed to launch from Seaway, we'll get. NOR will be available today or tomorrow. Thanks for your support - I guarantee you will not be disappointed if you come to this event - the racing and partying will be epic.

Hey Clean, welcome to Catsailor.

As for

cheap-butt

.... here you go:

So that being said, what are your thoughts about RV's on the beach? <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Yeah Clean,
Good to see ya around here. Sounds like it could be a blast , I'll do what I can to be there. Need some tune up for the Tybee anyway.
Todd

I just sent the draft NOR to Clean. It's got

Catamarans with a DPN of less than or equal to 65.0

as a class on it.

That will pick up anything as fast or faster than a Hobie 20 - N20s, F18s, etc.

We aren't going to have the resources to accomodate singlehanded boats or a broad range of DPNs. Probably next year if this takes off.

So no A-cats then?

So no A-cats then?

A Cats rate 64.5