Is he the true James Spithill?
Have a look at the competitors registered to the 2008 A class NAs.
Among the 25 helmsmen you find a
James Spithill
sailing a new EVO.
I wonder if he is the TRUE James Spithill
http://www.acatnas.org/competitors
Is this common practice? How about other classes?
At least in F18, it is very common practice elsewhere in the world. I do not know if they crown the
champion
as a foreigner should they win or not. We had that debate when Mischa won F18 NA's a couple of years ago...he was titled NA champion.
I've seen it happen in lots of monohull classes. They crown the winner as
Winner of the N/A's
but then they also crown the top NA finisher as the
N/A Champion
.
I once saw a result for some class, might have been the Star class, or J-24's or Melges 24's, anyway, the top
N/A
finisher was about 5th overall!

Top 10 2008 Hobie 16 NA's:
1. Figueroa/Jolliam PUR 78
2. Fernandez/Guirola GUA 100.3
3. Merrick/Cleveland USA 108
4. Hess/Arathoon GUA 118
5. Noriega/Norriega MEX 123
6. Colon/Cabrera PUR 133
7. Montague/Ward USA 141
8. Porter/Porter USA 143
9. McVeigh/Bisesi USA 151
10. Hess/Hess USA 164
1. Figueroa/Jolliam PUR 78
2. Fernandez/Guirola GUA 100.3
3. Merrick/Cleveland USA 108
4. Hess/Arathoon GUA 118
5. Noriega/Norriega MEX 123
6. Colon/Cabrera PUR 133
7. Montague/Ward USA 141
8. Porter/Porter USA 143
9. McVeigh/Bisesi USA 151
10. Hess/Hess USA 164
They are all
North Americans
(since there is no
Central American Region
in the IHCA), unlike last year, when Aaron Worrall (AUS) won the H-16 NA's in Alameda. He was the winner of the event, but Armando Noriega was declared the
North American Champion.
It's not the first time something like that has happened.
Is this common practice? How about other classes?
First off, it's not the
Acat US Nationals
it's the North Americans (international by definition).
As others have mentioned, it is common pratice to award the
Champion
status to a resident of the specific area covered by the title of the event (North America, in this case).
However, this is normally specifically addressed in the NOR. In the case of this event, the NOR is silent on the subject of eligibility for the NA Champion trophy. Hopefully, that won't cause litigation.
Mike
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