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Florida 300 Early Registration Ends March 1st.
Florida 300 Distance Race – Starts May 17 with 5 days of racing ending on Saturday, May 22, 2016. Party to Follow!
Early Registration Ends March 1, 2016
This year's Florida 300 is going to be the best ever with an extra day of racing and the finish line at Daytona Beach. Lots of details to come, but we already have more sponsorship in hand than ever before and a big beach party at the Ocean Deck near the finish line on Sunday following the race.
Many of you have read about events like the Worrell 1000, Tybee 500, Great Texas, or the Hogs Breath. These challenges give a beachcat sailor a chance to do something few accomplish by pushing themselves and their boat to sail hundreds of miles with a bunch of like minded (crazy) sailors.
If you have the boat, and basic skills like surf launching and landing, why not give yourself this opportunity? If you are ever going to do a major distance race the Florida 300 stands out as a “doable” event. Five days of racing with reasonable leg lengths from 60 to 80 miles and each finish line is right in front of your hotel! Couldn’t be better, so come along and join us for the 2016 Florida 300 and save $55 by getting your registration in by March 1st.
To get your early registration in or ask any questions please contact any of the Sail Series Promotions board member on the Contact the Florida300.com organizers.
2016 Nacra 17 Worlds Final
Billy Besson and Marie Riou from France Win 2016 Nacra 17 Worlds
The Unbeatable Billy Besson and Marie Riou chose to sail the final race of the series even though their point spread was enough to call it a week! Billy and Marie are definitely please with their performance and with the event as a whole. They feel the race committee, and all of the organizers were great on the support and thank them for helping put on a successful World Championship. The pair took a 2nd place finish to add to their already extremely low score. When asked how he felt about his days finish Billy replied,
"It was a little bit complicated near the harbor because the wind is going to be shifty with the buildings. We finished two, which is not so bad, but when we are competing, we like to win every time." Never settling for second best apparently.
Interestingly enough, competing on just another race course away from the Nacra 17 fleet, the 49er skiffs also had their 2016 World Championship. They too had a World Champion announced. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke also took home their fourth World Championship title. Billy notes,
"We were in competition to see who could get the four World titles, haha." Well Billy, it seems you both take home the win!
Still sitting in second, taking their first ever silver medal at a World Championships is Danish team of Allan Norregaard and Annette Viborg Andreasen. Allan gave us a quote before going out as he was all smiles and completely relieved. Today Allan and Annette found out they are the Nacra 17 duo going to represent Denmark in the Rio Olympic Games, this August. Three regattas were used in the Denmark national selections: 2015 Europeans in Barcelona, 2016 Miami World Cup, and this final 2016 World Championships. The second boat in contention Lin Ea Cenholt Christiansen and Christian Peter Lübeck fought hard to stay near their compatriots, but after the final points/protests, they were unable to beat out Allan and Annette.
"It's a big relief to be over that trial, and now we are surprisingly in such a good position, which we didn't know because we were defending our trial, it's really surprising for us that we would end up so high on the scores, so it's really just a bonus for us now to go out there and fight for a medal," said Allan. "It turned out as good as it could for us, cannot complain!"
Allan and Anette finished just two places in front of the Italian to give them just a five point lead ahead of Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri of Italy. The strong Italian team pushed their way back on the podium managing a third place finish, bumping their overall place into third.
The Danish team of Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank came to shore with low hanging heads. The pair competed very strongly throughout each day, and were very much looking forward to ending this 2016 World Championship with some silverware.
The final medal race took a turn for the worse for these two Austrians. The boat was focused very much on their competitors around them that they weren't focusing on the shifty conditions that only progressed as the race went on.
"It was nice to see that we can fight for a medal, and looking at the 2015 Worlds, they were not like this, so that was quite great. Even with the medal race, we are proud we had come so far," Tanja admits.
This pair will be have their chance in the coming months to take on their competitors once again before the ultimate athletic event in Rio.
Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin came back from a bit of a dip in scores to steadily finish in fifth overall. The pair took a bit of a risky move going into the first upwind leg and had to fight back to keep a near top position.
"We still were able to pull off a fifth off at the Worlds which is a great achievement, especially after coming off a silver in Miami, so its a great way to finish off our US tour,"
Jason Waterhouse feels he and Lisa will be able to keep this momentum going into the rest of their season continues.
"Now, back home for a bit of rest, and then back at it training in Sydney harbor!"
The sailors all enjoyed their time in Clearwater, and with the trying and variable conditions, they all felt this venue definitely helped to showcase the extreme talent amongst the fleet.
END of regatta reports, we call it a wrap here at CLEARWATER Florida. Thanks for receiving and posting.
Kind regards,
NACRA 17 Class association.
More Information
For more information, high res photos and interviews please contact Gunnar Larsen at gunnar@nacrasailing.com or at +31 (0)6 533 55 806
Photo credits: Laurens Morel
Day Four Nacra 17 Worlds, Clearwater Florida
by: Katy Nastro
Clearwater, FL. Day four of the Nacra 17 World Championship went off without a hitch. The less than stellar wintery weather that Clearwater has produced has now subsided, and finally the sailors were able to sail in nearly perfect conditions out on the Gulf of Mexico.
The fleet was sent out just before noon in a varying 8-12knot breeze, and was back to the beach by 4:30pm. The fast and furious French team of Billy Besson and Marie Riou had a consistent performance throughout the four races that were held. Both of them felt satisfied, and pleasantly happy with the point spread they are currently sitting in. As it stands the French pair sit in first by a staggering 53 points [pending other changes in scores from other teams sitting behind them.
The long day in the Floridian sun didn't seem to phase the three time Nacra 17 World Champion, Billy Besson who came out to win the first race of the day. Marie notes, "We are really happy with our performance thus far, especially after three long days." Their worst performance of the day was an 11th in the second race in which they had a situation with the Swiss team costing them quite a few places after rectifying their mistake. "We lost a lot of places after the first upwind in that race, but we came back and back, ending eleventh, so to us it wasn't really a bad race." The pair is confident they will be able to tackle any other type of condition Clearwater will throw at them over the course of the final two days.
The closest boat currently chasing after the French team is the venerable Italian team Vittorio Bisssaro and Silvia Sicouri. The former World Cup champions haven't had the most impressive scores on the board, but they have kept a consistency needed to take control of second place. Interestingly though, Vittorio and Silvia found they may have had a collision with an unidentified object while out on the race course. No marker or mammal was seen by either of the sailors, but they went from about 20 knots to a dead stop, costing them a 2nd, dropping back 6 places to 8th for the second race of the day.
"I don't know what happened, we just hit something under the water. We asked around and they suggested it might have been a turtle, or something like that," a shocked Vittorio said while meticulously checking over his hulls.
Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, who recently took second on the podium during the 2015 Worlds in Arhus, Denmark, are tentatively sitting in third, but very likely will jump ahead of Bissaro/Sicouri due to a scoring error by the Race Committee. The OCS they bare on results is being protested by Waterhouse/Darmanin with video footage of their boat going back to amend their early intentions. Really consistent top ten finishes during the first three races, with two of their scores being back to back bullets. They did, however, feel a bit of pain on the final race of the day falling way back into 22nd after a layline error pushed by Waterhouse.
"We just sort of got a bit complacent, and we prioritized the left lane as it was really important for the whole day up until the last race. We had a good start, but I just made an error on the layline and it was really expensive obviously. Like yeah, not a good way to end the day but it will probably be our throw out, for sure," said Jason with upbeat demeanor, and even laughed when he heard his finish was a 22nd. "Wasn't as bad as I thought, I guess! We were lookin' really bad there for awhile."
Jason's upbeat attitude even applies to the regatta as a whole, where some might be in opposition regarding conditions, Jason feels Clearwater is a wonderful place due to its ability to challenge sailors with all conditions. "Big waves, big chop, lots of different sea state, it's been a really good regatta to find out who the best sailor is."
Just six points behind the young Australian team is former Tornado veteran Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank of Austria. Zajac noted how much of a drag race the first leg always felt like and kept this in mind when preparing to start. Getting off the line cleanly and making gains downwind in the slight swell we saw today was how Zajac and Frank managed to stay more times than not with the top pack. The former Tornado sailor is looking forward to his debut in the Nacra 17 with his female counterpart Tanja. Two years ago this team was hardly ever seen far from the top five, yet with mounting double digit finishes, they are trying to get their groove back.
This past 2016 World Cup, the pair took home a 7th, and now sitting comfortably in fourth, they may have found the secret sauce.
"For us its important to find out the good material to stay competitive with the good guys, and yeah, we are happy where we are and hope to get a little bit better so we can be on/near the podium come August." Thomas is looking forward to competing with a female counterpart in the Rio 2016 games, in which this will be the maiden voyage for the Nacra class. "It's a more modern class, new vs. old school comparing the tornado and Nacra. And, the biggest difference would probably be - you sail with a girl!"
Rounding out the top five is Allan Norregaard and Annette Viborg Andreasen of Denmark. The long, sun filled day didn't seem to bother either these stable minded sailors as they sailed their own races, and were able to keep top ten after their initial eleventh to begin the day's set.
This 2016 World Championship for the Nacra class is operating on all cylinders and the sailors couldn't be keener to take on the varying conditions that come their way. Three races scheduled for tomorrow to end the qualifying round, and before we know it, Sunday's medal race will be upon us.
More Information
For more information, high resolution photos and interviews please contact Gunnar Larsen at gunnar@nacrasailing.com or at +31 (0)6 533 55 806
Photo credits: Laurens Morel
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