For the third year, the GYA has invited catamarans to share their wind for this prestigous event which is in the neighborhood of eighty years old. The GYA Opening Regatta will be held at Pensacola Yacht Club April 30 - May 01.

The City Community Center, next door to the yacht club, will be available for launching and recovery; however, no alcohol is allowed on public city property. The bar at PYC is not that bad:-)

For the NOR:
http://pensacolayachtclub.membersta...ts/2011/GYAOpening%20RegattaNOR2011A.pdf

FOR Registration:
https://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_registration_form.php?regatta_id=3735

The beach rumor is that a shiny, new NACRA Formula 20 C will make its debut on our bay. The NACRA 20 Class, the A Cat Class, the Formula 16 Class, and the Formula 18 Class designs are invited for a US Sailing DPN shootout. They have shown up before.

If you are interested, please chime in so we can ensure proper planning.

On behalf of Gulf Coast Catamaran Sailing - Bert Rice

watch those sand bars with those curved daggars!

Any F16s attending?

Hoping Reiss/Whitehead, Amador, McDonald, Rice, and a couple out of towners might join the celebration...

Pete,

Now that you are here, what ya think? I hope to meet you tomorrow morning.

...looked to me that a Formula 16 rumble at the yacht club was fixin' to happen...

First day done, Taylor and Matt took line honors 2 out of 3 races. Man, they're fast, watch for them at the AC. Bert Rice Jr. in 2nd. 4-F16's, 3-I20's, 13 knots or so all day, out in the big, lumpy part of the bay. Mark Smith leads the 20 fleet by a whisker (with the experimentals). 2 or 3 tomorrow, conditions look to be the same. More of you b%#@%'s (channeling Ding) shoulda' come. BTW, anyone seen or heard from John MacD?

Another perfect day on Pensacola Bay. Winds a little lighter to start today, but building later. Taylor and Matt continued to dominate, taking a bullet in the first and a 4th in the second (after spending several minutes of the last downwind leg retrieving a broken daggerboard, they were leading at the time). Mark Smith had a better day against the 16's, scoring 2 2nd place finishes. Bert Rice Jr. and son Michael had a 2nd solid day, recording a 3rd (their worst finish of the series) and a 1st.
Final results, 5 races sailed, no throwout:
Reiss 8
Rice 10
Smith 16
Amador 25
Hoffman 27
Harp 34
Pollard 40

Many thanks to Pensacola Yacht Club and GYA for the warm welcome and hospitality. Great tradition and a great place to sail out of.

How did Matt and Taylor break a daggerboard?

They were pushing the "Fun Meter" downwind with the board down and Matthew in the wire is what I heard.

This is an outstanding venue. My thanks to the commodore and the members for their hospitality. It was very nice meeting all of you and I'm already looking forward to next year.