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L7 Sport Trimaran has less control lines than a Hobie 18 catamaran.
Mike Leneman has designed, built, and test sailed a revolutionary coastal day-sailor trimaran called the L7. It is a pocket-cruiser that can kick butt on many of the much more costly, coastal racing trimarans.
Until now, the biggest difference between a catamaran and trimaran has been the way that the trimarans were designed to primarily sail upon their center hull while leaning on one of their two outrigger style amas. Leneman has made a timely step forward in developing a trimaran that more closely resembles a catamaran.
For so many years, Mike Leneman has been representing a very famous multihull manufacturer who has had the greatest and best trailerable multihull trimaran on the market. That design, brand has been extremely popular and partly thanks to Leneman, has enjoyed tremendous success on the West Coast.
Until now, the biggest difference between a catamaran and trimaran has been the way that the trimarans were designed to primarily sail upon their center hull while leaning on one of their two outrigger style amas. Leneman has made a timely step forward in developing a trimaran that more closely resembles a catamaran.
For so many years, Mike Leneman has been representing a very famous multihull manufacturer who has had the greatest and best trailerable multihull trimaran on the market. That design, brand has been extremely popular and partly thanks to Leneman, has enjoyed tremendous success on the West Coast.
Endurance Sails Series Crowns Inaugural Champion
FLORIDA, USA. (December 17, 2004) David Ingram was crowned the inaugural Endurance Sails Series Open Class Champion for 2004. The catamaran series, sponsored by Endurance Sails of West Palm Beach (www.EnduranceSails.com), comprises six distance racing events around the State of Florida. The series had an excellent turnout with 100 individual skippers participating in at least one event. Ingram will be the first name added to the perpetual trophy, "The Endurance Cup" after his excellent finish at the final event, the Steeplechase, held last week in Key Largo, Florida. Ingram sailed on a Nacra20 catamaran.
Asked about the level of pressure he felt going into the Steeplechase against a large competitive fleet, Ingram replied "You always feel the pressure of your competition, the southeast offers a great deal of talent at almost every event you attend. You never know if you are going to be on the starting line with an Olympic medalist, W1000/Atlantic1000 winner, and/or several national champions." Ingram also commented on the popularity of the series and the outlook for 2005, "Now that the sailing community knows the series is for real the amount of talent on the starting line next year will be dramatically different. Every race will be a hard fought contest. The 2005 season promises to be very exciting." When asked if he thinks the series is only for the hardcore racer, Ingram replied "No! Four of the six races are geared towards a more relaxed fun aspect of the sport. The Mug Race and Hiram's Haul are two of my favorites and I have done them almost exclusively with my wife."
Asked about the level of pressure he felt going into the Steeplechase against a large competitive fleet, Ingram replied "You always feel the pressure of your competition, the southeast offers a great deal of talent at almost every event you attend. You never know if you are going to be on the starting line with an Olympic medalist, W1000/Atlantic1000 winner, and/or several national champions." Ingram also commented on the popularity of the series and the outlook for 2005, "Now that the sailing community knows the series is for real the amount of talent on the starting line next year will be dramatically different. Every race will be a hard fought contest. The 2005 season promises to be very exciting." When asked if he thinks the series is only for the hardcore racer, Ingram replied "No! Four of the six races are geared towards a more relaxed fun aspect of the sport. The Mug Race and Hiram's Haul are two of my favorites and I have done them almost exclusively with my wife."
Strong Start at Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta for Team Larsen/Pols
On Sunday November 7th 2004, Gunnar Larsen and Xander Pols from the Netherlands started strongly at the fourteenth Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta. Last year’s winners were victorious in both races with a northeaster force five to six. The British competitors Stuart Gummer and Gillian Power followed with their Spitfire on the second place. Christopher Sproat and Georgina Burke, also from Great Britain, are in third position in a field of fifty-four catamarans, representing five countries.
"It went very well", was the enthusiastic reaction of Larsen. "We have sailed conservatively, which gave us a good position to start with.” Many teams capsized under genaker and lost their races. According to Larsen, they did not push their Nacra F18 to the limit: "We did not want to start with a discard.” They are again the men to beat. Today, the performance of the Spitfires was remarkable good with four teams in the top ten.
"It went very well", was the enthusiastic reaction of Larsen. "We have sailed conservatively, which gave us a good position to start with.” Many teams capsized under genaker and lost their races. According to Larsen, they did not push their Nacra F18 to the limit: "We did not want to start with a discard.” They are again the men to beat. Today, the performance of the Spitfires was remarkable good with four teams in the top ten.
2004 International Catamaran Challenge Trophy: - Final Results
LOVELL AND OGLETREE SUCCESSFULLY DEFEND TITLE
NEW ORLEANS, LA. (October 23, 2004) In an exciting final day of competition, the USAs 2004 Olympic Silver Medal team of John Lovell (New Orleans) and Charlie Ogletree (Houston, Texas) have successfully defended their claim to the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (ICCT) by defeating Enrique Figueroa and Jorge Hernandez of Puerto Rico. After going ahead on a score of 3-1 yesterday, the American pair needed to win only one match today to hold on to their title in the first-to-four point series sailed in F18HTs on Lake Pontchartrain and hosted by Southern Yacht Club.
But the win did not come easily. In the first do-or-die match for the Challengers, Lovell and Ogletree replicated the mastery theyve displayed all week in match racing, controlling the Puerto Ricans in the pre-start and leading around the first mark by several lengths. And while the 9-12 knot southerly breeze was the most promising all week for match racing, there were not only opportunities to speed away in the puffs but also pitfalls to die in the lulls over the 2.5-mile course. Soon after their rounding, Lovell and Ogletree gybed away to protect their lead only to fall into a hole while Figueroa and Hernandez sped away to a spectacular three-minute lead, the largest of any match of the week.
Thanks for the mulligan, quipped Figueroa to a disappointed but smiling Lovell between matches. We lucked into that one. Even with a long-standing rivalry between these two going back to their Olympic Tornado competition -- the sailors have maintained their good nature and camaraderie both on and off the water.
NEW ORLEANS, LA. (October 23, 2004) In an exciting final day of competition, the USAs 2004 Olympic Silver Medal team of John Lovell (New Orleans) and Charlie Ogletree (Houston, Texas) have successfully defended their claim to the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (ICCT) by defeating Enrique Figueroa and Jorge Hernandez of Puerto Rico. After going ahead on a score of 3-1 yesterday, the American pair needed to win only one match today to hold on to their title in the first-to-four point series sailed in F18HTs on Lake Pontchartrain and hosted by Southern Yacht Club.
But the win did not come easily. In the first do-or-die match for the Challengers, Lovell and Ogletree replicated the mastery theyve displayed all week in match racing, controlling the Puerto Ricans in the pre-start and leading around the first mark by several lengths. And while the 9-12 knot southerly breeze was the most promising all week for match racing, there were not only opportunities to speed away in the puffs but also pitfalls to die in the lulls over the 2.5-mile course. Soon after their rounding, Lovell and Ogletree gybed away to protect their lead only to fall into a hole while Figueroa and Hernandez sped away to a spectacular three-minute lead, the largest of any match of the week.
Thanks for the mulligan, quipped Figueroa to a disappointed but smiling Lovell between matches. We lucked into that one. Even with a long-standing rivalry between these two going back to their Olympic Tornado competition -- the sailors have maintained their good nature and camaraderie both on and off the water.
Hurricane Jeanne Can't Stop NACRA North American Championship
Hurricane Jeanne hits regatta location with less force than expected - Nacra North American Championship is still on!
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - Hurricane Jeanne came barreling up the coast of Florida and Georgia late last weekend and the Nacra North American Championship regatta site was in jeopardy.
Weather Channel's Jeff Morrow was on Tybee Island over the weekend, keeping a watchful eye on the winds and waves. However, the storm was downgraded to a tropical storm and Tybee Island did not receive the damage that was expected or experienced in other parts of the Southeast.
After contacting Regatta Official Chuck Bargeron this morning, he briefly stated It¹s a go! and quickly hung up with no time to chat.
Pete Melvin and Nacra A2 to Sweep A-Class Championships with 7 Bullets!
Pete Melvin and Nacra A2 "Team Up" to Sweep A-Class Championships with 7 Bullets!
September 23, 2004 - The new Nacra A2 catamaran, with Pete Melvin at the helm, swept the A-Class North American Championships with 7 bullets out of 11 races! 28 top sailors from North America competed for the championships but were defeated by Melvin on the A2 who¹s total score was only 13 points.
The boat I sailed was a stock Nacra A2, built with the latest materials and production processes, fresh out of the box and included a Hall Spars mast and Ullman sail. "It's performance was outstanding!" says Melvin. The A2 was very fast in all conditions sailed, including the 20 knot+ conditions experienced the first two days, as well as the more moderate conditions at the end of the regatta.
Click on "Read More" to see full story and results.
Hobie 16 North American Championships
9/18/04 Final Results, Hobie 16 North Americans Mexicans Armando Noriega and Roderigo Achach are the
new Hobie 16 North American Champions. Noriega is a
Pan-Am Games silver medallist in the Hobie 16 but the
title of North American Champion is a first for him
and for Achach. The team dominated the seventy-one
catamaran fleet, on Lake Oneida in Syracuse NY, finishing
twenty two points ahead of the second place team, and
2004 Alter Cup Champions, Mike Montague and Cathy Ward
from California. Defending Champions Paul and Mary Ann
Hess finished fourth.
The regatta came to an anticlimactic end on Friday with only one race started in winds just above the class minimum wind strength of five knots. The conditions where light and shifty for most of the week with the exception of Tuesday when the winds topped out at about fifteen knots.
Top Five:
- Armando Noriega and Roderigo Achach
- Mike Monntague and Cathy Ward
- Bob Merrick and Eliza Cleveland
- Paul Hess and Mary Ann Hess
- Wall Myers and Tyler Myers
Full results and pictures are on the event website at www.HobieNAC.com .
Womens Hobie Cat Sailing in Cancun Mexico, Womens Hobie Worlds Final Day.
Here's a report from the scene at the Hobie Worlds in Cancun Mexico written by Liza Cleveland, who is crewing in both womens and open races.
The day was going to be a challenging one. Arriving on the beach at 8:30 to help the Brazilian Grand Master team with whom we were switching off boats, the wind was alread blowing hard. It was cloudy, and the wind was still from the NE with a possibility of going more easterly as the day progressed.
The Masters and Grand Master teams left the beach, and I went back to the hotel to eat more food. Because Annie and I were only .7 kilos over minimum weight, there was still a possibility of another weigh-in. Which reminds me, at the end of our last race on Day 1, we hit the beach and immediately a gentleman from the Race Jury came up and asked that we please get weighed again. We had promised ourselves to be sure to drink a bottle of water each on the way back to the beach, but we forgot, and once you hit the beach, if they think you might be underweight, you get weighed immediately. If it turns out that you are underweight, all your races for that day are disqualified. So we went over to the high-tech scale, stripped down to our bathingsuits, and got weighed. Luckily we had gained a kilo...as I mentioned, we´ve been trying to eat as much as possible!
Race 1: After the somewhat chaotic exodus from the beach (due to the fact that they blow a horn and all of a sudden 60 boats want to leave out of a fairly small stretch of beach that is not near reefs), we headed out to the race course. Suddenly I was experiencing conditions heretofore never experienced by yours truly. The waves were massive. The wind was blowing about 17 knots which is a decent double-trapping breeze, but the waves made just staying on the boat difficult. At times when you are out on the trapeze, the boat would fly over a wave and both your feet would leave the boat!
The day was going to be a challenging one. Arriving on the beach at 8:30 to help the Brazilian Grand Master team with whom we were switching off boats, the wind was alread blowing hard. It was cloudy, and the wind was still from the NE with a possibility of going more easterly as the day progressed.
The Masters and Grand Master teams left the beach, and I went back to the hotel to eat more food. Because Annie and I were only .7 kilos over minimum weight, there was still a possibility of another weigh-in. Which reminds me, at the end of our last race on Day 1, we hit the beach and immediately a gentleman from the Race Jury came up and asked that we please get weighed again. We had promised ourselves to be sure to drink a bottle of water each on the way back to the beach, but we forgot, and once you hit the beach, if they think you might be underweight, you get weighed immediately. If it turns out that you are underweight, all your races for that day are disqualified. So we went over to the high-tech scale, stripped down to our bathingsuits, and got weighed. Luckily we had gained a kilo...as I mentioned, we´ve been trying to eat as much as possible!
Race 1: After the somewhat chaotic exodus from the beach (due to the fact that they blow a horn and all of a sudden 60 boats want to leave out of a fairly small stretch of beach that is not near reefs), we headed out to the race course. Suddenly I was experiencing conditions heretofore never experienced by yours truly. The waves were massive. The wind was blowing about 17 knots which is a decent double-trapping breeze, but the waves made just staying on the boat difficult. At times when you are out on the trapeze, the boat would fly over a wave and both your feet would leave the boat!
New Carbon A-Class Cat from Perfromance Catamamarans, The Nacra A2
May 6, 2004 - Performance Catamarans, Inc. To Build The Nacra A2
Santa Ana, California -- Today, Performance Catamarans announced the introduction of the new International A-Class catamaran. Teaming up with the well-known design team of Morrelli & Melvin and co-designer Jeremy Laundergan, Performance will manufacture the Nacra A2, their first entry into the carbon catamaran market.
The International A-Class Catamaran is a high-performance ³box rule² International Sailing Federation design specification dictating an 18-foot long, 7-1/2 foot wide catamaran with 150 square feet of sail area and a minimum weight of 165 pounds.
Hobie 16 Worlds getting underway in Cancun Mexico
The Hobie 16 Worlds: Racing starts on Wednesday for the Women's, Youth,
Master and Grand Masters World Championship.
The Forecast is for partly cloudy skies with a high of
87oF with winds from the East Northeast at 12 mph.
Who to watch: In the Women's the defending World Champions from France Lauren Pelen and Lea Jeandott will be on the starting line ready to defend their title. To do that they will have to hold off their French teammate and winner of the ISAF World in the Hobie 16 class Marie Duvignac sailing with Pauline Thevenot.
Bronze medallist from the ISAF Worlds Susan Korzeniewsi sailing with Kathleen Tracy (USA) will be looking for her first World Championship victory.
Annie Nelson, sailing with Eliza Cleveland, will be making her return to the Hobie 16 class after winning the Women's Worlds in 1995.
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