Nacra 17s at Miami OCR

Easy to capsize upwind, when it pulls a wheelie coming up off a wave, and then nose dives on the landing.

That was the issue we were talking about when the Nacra 20 came out, remember? It seemed it would be a whole lot more difficult to find the right balance point going upwind and down, with the middle of the boat trying to lift up.

You are now riding a teeter-totter.

JC's Sarah mentioned it in one of the early interviews.

It was Matt and one of the Sarahs that flipped - photo boat was trolling them and they said they stuck it in coming off the wake and turning down to get out of the prop wash. They were on the way to the course for the first race and were really worried they'd break something - can you imagine the potential heartbreak?

Sometimes you worry too much about breakages, other times not enough. They are lucky they didn't damage the spin pole!

What is the next step after this event? More U.S based Nacra 17 events or do the top 2,3? teams qualify for a foreign event? How many 17's are in North America?

I think we are looking at the only N17s in NA, would love to be proven otherwise.

What we'll see, these teams, hopefully most will keep training N17s, maybe racing F18s and F16s when they can (bigger events, hopefulyy the NAs at least) while they start looking for bigger events in Europe / elsewhere... Wait... maybe I'm just repeating what I remember from the last T cycles....

also, Whitehead is on the us ac45 team.. so I'm sure he'll be doing that alot, taylor, jc and sandra are all very very active f16 and f18 racers... not sure about the others. The cannucks come from 470 / boards, not sure what they plan on doing (maybe team up with a US team for training)... would be nice to see them join a couple F18 races for practice (we'll find you a boat...).

just my random thoughts / guesses

I'm told it has very flat bottoms from the bow back, and it's really hard to keep the nose in to keep it from hobby horsing in waves. Just one more thing the sailors will have to learn how to use is all, and true of any boat.

I think Mark Mandelbrots boat is the only one not at the OCR.

Oakcliff is supposed to get their boats by May.

I suspect these privately owned US boats will now be shipped to the EU for the ISAF circuit there and the N17 worlds in Holland. The Tornado Fleet would occasionally pit stop in the Gran Canarias between now and the EU circuit for training camps. Since there is no development cycle with these boats... I would imagine there are lots of two boat training camps planned with your coach of choice.

I think these sailors will not be showing up at regional events on other boats.... It's pricey to keep a stable of boats in different classes in race ready shape.... They can't afford to show up a regional event and half butt their performance either. Money is also limited.... So.... I think they would love to collect some contributions in the form of paid clinics, talks etc... Otherwise, their time is best spent in training camps.

The next opportunity for NA regatta events is probably November. (Texas to Florida on the Gulf coast)and that would depend on the selection process and marketing campaign set out by the US Olympic.

I am looking forward to hearing Leandro Spina's take on how he will run the Oaklcliff program! That would be an interesting interview!

OK, so do we know WHY Sarah and Matt had such a bad day yesterday?

Mike

Matt Whitehead, Mike Easton and I think a couple others have yet to pick up their boats as well. Some are picking up in Europe some are picking up here. I think Mark Mendelblatt already picekd up his boat but not sure of this.

How can you say Sarah and Matt had a bad day? Sarah is very new to multihulls and was a pretty good youth Laser Radial sailor but not amazing, in this fleet the performance they've had so far is outstanding so slipping a bit shouldn't be a surprise.

Apparently speeds are similar upwind but downwind is where a lot of the changes are made, apparently it was also apparent that the teams with heavy crews off the back (JC, Matt) were paying off in the breeze but lost that advantage in the ligther stuff.

I hear from a little bird that light air isn't Sarah's favorite condition - add to that a new platform, and it is understandable they might struggle. How long does it take to learn to keep flow attached on such a high-aspect rig in 4 knots of breeze? More than a couple days in mid-teens, I suspect...

One of the Euro teams today decided to end their N17 campaign, turns out it is really hard to be competitive without a male crew:
http://translate.google.com/transla... -17-duo-de-koningjongens-trekt-conclusie

So funny - let Google translate, and he's

The King.

Yeah, while I think it may be a little trickier to fill the roll, that's kinda like me saying my lack of performance at Tradewinds was because my sails are old (which they are, but that's not the reason I did so poorly).

I'm not surprised, Jake - my prospects for crewing on a N17 are pretty dim, and that's why I'm not there. The weight and fitness needs to be up front. The back is finesse.

I guess I didn't word it right, what I meant of course was a person of above average strength and a not per definition a male obviously.

No weight? no fitness? no finesse? At least you're pretty.

Seriously Todd, how can I say they had a bad day? Undoubtedly, they're having more fun than I am this week, but they did put up their first two sevens of the regatta.

Not sure how that ranks against being protested by the RC, but I'm thinking they couldn't have thought it was a great day...

So the consensus seems to be that the answer to my question is a combination of experience in the light air. That makes sense.

Mike

Now today was better for them: 1-2. Nice recovery!

Mike

Mike, it was breeze on today. Sarah and Matt won the first race and were leading the second, but flipped in the last 100 yards. It seems that Sarah just needs more time in the light stuff... but who among us doesn't?

Not sure what to think of the new format though, it seems to me that winner-takes-all final race just isn't all that fair.
You could be sailing bullets all week and then finish 4th in that final race (for whatever reason) and lose out on a medal.

Sounds like they need more time in the heavy stuff too, LOL...

Mike

Nacra 17 top three medal race: Reiss/Lihan (USA), Streater/Whitehead (USA), Figueroa/Malatrasi (PUR)

Final results posted!

What new format? The reults for the medal race are up, same as the old format (points count double, cannot be discarded).

What am I missing?

Nice job by Reiss (and his Sarah) to take a bullet in the medal race. Sarah and JC had their worst finish of the week, but almost couldn't be caught overall.

Mike

My bad, The system for the RSX changed so I automatically assumed this would be for all classes.

They're trying several new formats at Miami- I know the 49ers are using a format where the top 6 sail arena style races and the first to win two races wins the event. Whoever enters the finals in first gets to start with one win... interesting format. Personally, I still like the traditional, simple, low points system.

I heard that in one of the videos (new formats were being tested for ISAF), but they didn't elaborate. I read the SIs again, and noticed lots of fleet-specific stuff for scoring and format that I didn't catch the first time.

Is this the first time they used 0 points for race winners? That's very interesting, sort of like the old 3/4 point idea on steroids...

Mike

Grats JC and Sarah!