The first day of the 17th Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta showed tough racing. Not only in terms of sailing conditions, but the competition was also full on. The shifty and gusty wind challenged the 45 competing teams, representing five countries. The Dutchmen Wouter Samama and Sam Frank, sailing a F18 Hobie Tiger, lead the fleet. They are tied on points with their fellow countrymen Eduard Zanen and Mischa Heemskerk on a F18 Nacra Infusion. Gunnar Larsen and Bastiaan Tentij are in third position, also tied on points with James and Gillian Power (GBR).

This morning, the sailors were welcomed by a strong trade wind force five. That was exactly what most competitors were hoping for. They enjoyed the tropical conditions and participated in the practise race. Others decided to save their equipment and body. They stayed ashore, which was maybe not a bad idea, as the first damages were a fact. After a lunch break, the official regatta started off with the first race. Meanwhile, the unstable wind had dropped to force three/four.

The stage is set and the 2007 Ronstan A-Cat Worlds gets under way today with a field that is deep in talent, experience and are proven winners.  Sitting around the Tiki Bar last night at the Islander Resort, reflecting on the Blue Water classic regatta, the ISAF decision to remove multihulls from the Olympics and the talented pool of competitors at the regatta, Brian Hawboldt began a tally.  He was tallying the Olympic medals, World Championships and National & Continental championships that this class of sailors represents.  Present at the 2007 Ronstan A-Cat Worlds are the winners of 16 Olympic medals and over 50 World championships, not just from multihull classes, but from 505’s, I14, DN class iceboats, Lasers and a diversity of other sailing disciplines including around the world maxi-cat racers (Cam Lewis & Randy Smyth).  While the results from the last day of racing in which Glen Ashby took three bullets to win the event, it would be a folly to predict the outcome of the regatta.

It is clear in looking at the final results of the Blue Water classic Regatta that the top sailors in the A-Class all are in competition for the World title.  The final results are Glen Ashby in 1st, fellow Australian Scott Anderson 2nd, Swiss competitor Luc du Bois & Lars guck tied in points for 3rd and Pete Melvin in 5th.  Though this was a tuning regatta, all the competitors sailed hard and the racing was close.  The top thirty boats in the fleet finished within 30 seconds of each other over the course of a 45 minute race.  The real test begins today.

The 2007 Ronstan A-Class catamaran Worldsin the Florida Keys, Islamorada, FL, USA November 9-16, 2007. With a record setting 100 boats pre-registered, the 2007 Ronstan A-Class catamaran Worlds sponsored by Ronstan, FSE Robline, Corum, and West Marine is now only weeks away. The regatta will take place at The Islander resort hotel in Islamorada, FL. The Islander has been hosting the US A-Class for its last two midwinter race weeks and was the unanimous choice by the US class as the best venue to host this world championship. The race site is a 9 square mile area of the Atlantic ocean protected by an offshore reef. Sailors will enjoy clear aqua water and hopefully warm and consistent easterly winds of 8-15 knots.

The international contingent includes Glenn Ashby from Australia who will be racing to defend his 2006 title. Glenn is a multiple world champion in the class and is regarded as the best A-Class sailor ever. In addition, Glenn is regarded as a favorite to medal in the 2008 Tornado Olympic event in Qingdao, China with his teammate Darren Bundock. In addition to Ashby, other top international sailors racing will include past world champions Scott Anderson and Nils Bunkenberg, Olympic medalists Andrew Landenberger and Goran Marstrom, New Zealand champion Murray Philpott, top Dutch sailors Sjoerd Hoekstra, Pieterjan Dwarshuis, and Piet Saarberg, Alinghi designer Mike Drummond (New Zealand), and top Swiss sailors Dieter Melcher and Luc De Bois.

WE ARE AUCTIONING OFF ROBBIE DANIEL!

With the US Tornado Olympic Trials approaching fast, we find ourselves trying to raise the funds needed to pay for the necessary equipment and expenses for Robbie Daniel and Hunter Stunzi to win the trials. At the conclusion of the trials, the winner will be your next Olympic representative at the 2008 games. Currently our goal is to try and cover about $41,000 in expenses that we expect to incur in order to compete in the event, which includes expenses for, travel, living, food, equipment, sails, coach boat, fuel, coaches and their expenses.

One of the things we are doing is to auction off Robbie Daniel. Some of you know Robbie from sailing against him and some of you know him from his coaching experiences. Robbie has a wide range of coaching experience on a variety of boats from small catamarans to large monohulls and live a boards Cats. He has been involved in Olympic Campaigns since 1995 and also has a variety of coaching experience. Currently, Robbie is at the Pre-Olympic Games coaching for the Belgium Tornado team who just finished 2nd at the Tornado ISAF World Championships, with Robbie as their coach.

Catamaran classes build confidence for racing, improve sailors' safety on the water and get new sailors ready for racing. Community classes are great for people thinking about crewing, interested in buying their first boat and looking for social activities. Schools not only provide the boats, schools provide lockers, showers, wetsuits, lifejackets and harnesses are part of the class.

Two California based sailing schools have been successfully teaching community catamaran sailing for years, the University of California Los Angeles and in Mission Bay the University of California San Diego/San Diego State University. Students, faculty and staff at California State University Long Beach can access classes that are not yet open to the general public. Contact information is provided at the bottom of this article.

Classes range in price from $145 per class to $185 per class. An additional one-time fee for membership in the community program may be required. The membership is usually part of the school's insurance requirements. Students, faculty, staff and alumni are often eligible for discounted class fees.

In 1928 Raymond "Frenchy" LaDreau arrived on West Anacapa Island and lived a hermit-like existence for the next 28 years. Frenchy's wife had died, it was said, and he'd come to the island in a state of mourning. As the years passed, Frenchy's sorrow over the loss of his wife did not lessen and his drinking increased. Despite this (or because of this), Frenchy LaDreau became the unofficial Park Service representative, reporting on acts of vandalism and island activities.

When he was 68, he suffered a fall and the Park Service decided to move him to the mainland. He was put on a bus in Port Hueneme. "His destination was not known," a Park representative says, "and that was the last they ever saw of him." Not a single scrap of wood, a nail, a stone, remains to suggest his curious, long tenancy. He was well-known among fisherman from Monterey to Ensenada; fishermen often stopped in to sample his bouillabaisse from the lobster he trapped, the fish he caught and the abalone he pried from the rocks below.

The above is fact, below is legend.

Frenchy's Rum Run NOR

What else did they come for? Could it be his secret supply of rum? Isolated as he was, Frenchy could have served as a supply depot for rum smugglers during the Prohibition. Therefore, we are having a race in his "honor".

De Koog, Texel / Netherlands, June 23 2007 - On Saturday June 23 2007, the Nissan Pro Team Bundock/Ashby won the 30th Zwitserleven Round Texel Race on handicap. The Aussies started with their F18 Hobie Tiger as the furthest boat on the right and grabbed immediately the lead on elapsed time. The experimental Dutch M20’s of Pols/Veenstra and Dercksen/Mcintosh battled for the line honours. Thanks to the bigger sail plan of Performance Sails, Xander Pols and Tjiddo Veenstra had a speed advantage. They were streets ahead when they crossed the finish line after 3 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds. The jubilee edition was sailed in favourable conditions with a south-westerly force three and a calm sea. At 13:00 hours local time, the fleet put up a great show with a spinnaker start. It was unexpectedly sunny and thousands of visitors enjoyed the spectacle.

“Finally, a dream comes true”, said a happy Xander Pols after hitting the beach. “I finished second twice and now we succeeded.” At the light house in the north of the island, the Repeat M20 of Jean-Louis Flier and Peter van Deventer was leading the pack. Pols: “They started low on the line and could sail straight to the gate at the light house. We had to jibe once, but Jean-Louis missed the second gate and had to sail back. That is where we caught up a little on them.” The front runners reached the Wadden Sea too early. Due to the shallow water, their rudders came up a couple of times. The Zwitserleven VX20 of Dercksen/Mcintosh was sixth at the light house. Mcintosh: “We had a slow start, because of a bad spinnaker hoist. We fought our way to the top and closed the gap with Xander several times.” That happened for the first time at the VC-mark before Oudeschild. At that point, the difference was only eight seconds. In the end, Pols and Veenstra extended their lead to six minutes. Pols: “The wind decreased on the Wadden Sea, so we could extend our lead on Herbert.” After the first celebrations on the Texel beach, Veenstra’s face beamed: “My first Round Texel Race was fifteen years ago. We had a collision and did not finish. This time we took the line honours.” The 20-foot Eagle of Jaap Straakenbroek and Menno Vercouteren finished third.

On Friday June 22 2007, the British Fatface-team Styles/Crawford won the Texel Dutch Open after an exciting conclusion. In the end, the gap to Dutchmen Heemskerk and Tentij was only half a point. The British F18 Capricorn duo Gummer/Burke were third. The Open Class I showed new leaders, as both F18 Nacra Infusion teams Huntelman/Van der Kamp and De Koning/Van Leeuwen took a bullet. Thanks to a moderate south-western wind, the course was laid out along the coast, which gave a good view for the people on the Texel beach. They witnessed the battle against the current while beating upwind. The consideration whether to choose for less current or more pressure, made it an exciting game. In the very last race, Hans Primowees was finally beaten once in the Open Class II. He finished second after the British Nacra 500 of Luke and Adam Butler, but he won the overall series. Later in the afternoon, Heemskerk and Tentij won the TNG Short Track Races.

De Koog / Texel, June 21 2007 - On the second day of the Texel Dutch Open in the Netherlands, Hugh Styles and Ryan Crawford (UK) consolidated their lead in the Open Class I. They finished third and first on handicap, racing a F18 Nacra Infusion. Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij scored a first and fifth, which left them in second position overall. The Frenchmen Jean-Christophe Mourniac and Frank Citeau climbed on the leader board and are third overall, followed by their Nissan team-mates Jörg and Arne Gosche (GER). Father and son Gosche had a good day with a fourth and a third. Hans Primowees still leads the nine small cats. The participants in the Open Class II have completed only one race this afternoon, since they were not in time at the first upwind mark of the second one. After almost two hours of postponement, the breeze was strong enough to start racing, but later the wind died due to a front that moved across the North Sea.

Race 1 - Duel experimental M20’s

In the first race, the two experimental M20’s of Pols/Veenstra and Dercksen/Mcintosh battled for the line honours. Herbert Dercksen and Aaron Mcintosh had a good start, while Xander Pols and Tjiddo Veen had more problems in the middle of the line. Pols: “We closed the gap to Herbert and we could pass him in the last downwind.” According to Pols, the speed difference had to do with their custom made rig: “Mischa Heemskerk and Peter Vink made a beast of our M20. They worked together on the development of the sails, made of PBO-cloth, which is also used in the America’s Cup. PBO loses strength due to UV-radiation, but the material is stiff and therefore fast. The cut looks like an A-cat mainsail, but flatter. We added a jib as well. The acceleration is awesome. I have never had this feeling on a boat before.” Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij, sailing a F18 Nacra Infusion, won on handicap. They were even leading at the first top mark, but had to give up that position under spinnaker, as the M20 was the faster cat.

2007 'Round the Island Multihull Sailboat Race
Fort Walton Yacht Club
June 15- 17 2007

The 'Round the Island Race is a 100 mile circumnavigation of Santa Rosa Island located in Northwest Florida.  Headquartered at the Fort Walton Yacht Club, the race begins off the point, through the East Pass and continues west to the Pensacola Pass where the northern turn is made for the return trip through the inter-coastal waterway. 

A light but steady breeze and an early morning start made for a fantastic day to be on the water along the Emerald Coast.  Not half and hour into the race, the fleet, heading east through Choctawhatchee Bay, was clipping along at 15 knots as they approached the East Pass and hit puffy wind and a 5 knot incoming tide.  With more than half of the fleet flying spinnakers, the wind shifted and the made the approach to the Destin Bridge exciting as they maneuvered through the pass and into the Gulf of Mexico.