That page has changed from when Les first posted. My guess is that they're in the process of updating it.

Looks like a couple of Tuna to me! Love 'em! Riding on powerful tuna

GARY

who wants a Tuna when its a dud ? see the results, it never did better than 3rd
Q

and the second boat got a 20,17,8,dnf, that s worse than a dud
Q

Q


You obviously based that using a fair and just analysis of boats racing history.

Tools aren't only an A Class designs.

Guys,
You cant base any analysis on the hull design from the results from the lake. The wind is so shifty and its really easy to sail into a hole and park. The locals did well and the local knowledge paid off. Secondly, the Acat is really hard to sail downwind fast, so the sailors skills are pretty important.

I think its the sailor's skills first, the rig second, the hulls third.

You'll notice that Lars won, even against Ben's new wing and Ben's no slouch.

The LR2 looks better in person and the build quality is top notch. I think the only way to really judge it is to sail it.

Bill

Are the A-Class worlds being sailed on a lake this time around?

Islamorada, FL

http://www.acatworlds.com/

I updated the page last night, added some racing shots as well as some links to videos on youtube.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze28w8n/
http://www.youtube.com/user/lesburn1
The videos are from a still digital camera so the quality is not very good.

Lake Hopatcong A- Class Fall Regatta and Atlantic Coast Championship Series.



The 2nd Annual Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club Fall A-Class Regatta was held this weekend September 29-30th.



The weekend started with a full and very long day with 15 sailors coming in Thursday night (Sept 27th) or early Friday morning for a full day of Coaching with Lars Guck. Lars started with some of the very basic concepts of boat handling and added some of the latest most up to date theory and knowledge of A-Class Racing. Starting strategies, Gate rounding strategies, and Sail trim and weight distribution were discussed with a very complete question answer session. After 2 hours of Lars demonstrating on his boat and running thru his version of tacks, string pulling, etc.. a break for lunch with Pizza and Sub-sandwiches was enjoyed. Then it was off the water for a series of drills and races.



Lars had all the sailors do repetitive starts on 3 minute count down and mixed in a short course one lap race every once in a while to keep everyone engaged. While the sailors were doing their drills a Video was recording their progress and showed later back in the club for further analysis. The starting line at first was very deep as sailors had a wide range of experience. As the drills progressed the group at the line as the gun went off, was very tight and very competitive, showing proof that practice does work. During the entire time Lars was barking out suggestions to the sailors and providing some limited one on one coaching when indicated. The clinic ended and boats were put away, only to allow a short period of time before the first party was to start. Peter and Nancy Hefele again hosted the Friday night dinner party at their lake front home with great music, food and plenty of ****. All guest sailors were shuttled back late in the evening to their respective host homes via boat.



Saturday we woke up to a beautiful sunny cloudless day with a 10-15 knot breeze out of the NW. The rest of the sailors from out of town arrived and we had some breakfast at the club and started 28 sailors on the line for the first race. The conditions were gusty and provided some very challenging windward beats but some fun and exciting down wind runs.



One of the best parts of Saturday was everyone walking around the club lawn looking at all the new boat designs and shapes. Peter Cogan and Ben Hall had their new hulls there, Steve Clarks design was represented by Bill Vinning from CT. John and Ian Lindahl also made the trip from Michigan with their new LR2 hull shape. Fred Smith from Canada was also there with his brand new LR2. All of this new technology sitting side by side with 30 year old CatNip boats. John Lindahl (Michigan boat builder) and Cal Fuller (father of the CatNip, from Lake Hopatcong) spent many hours discussing boat design. But, nothing was more interesting then seeing Ben Hall set up his new Fixed Wing boat and push it off the ramp into the Lake. We also had a Hydrofoil expert snooping around all day too looking to see what the A-Class is up to now and how he could push that technology into his new Hydro foil Cat boats.



Unfortunately we had several causalities right of the bat with two major collisions occurring and sending three boats back to ramp. The 30 year old CatNip had its starboard bow ripped off at the start, amazing enough the helmsmen was able to sail the boat back to the club by keeping the damaged hull out of the water on the starboard tack, and keeping it from sinking. An XJ was speared and repaired via duct tape for the rest of the races. Lars Guck took 1st place in the 3 races Mike Gruber from LHYC, Ian Lindahl from Michigan, and Danny Goritski from LHYC taking turns at second and third.



Saturday night, “Rums of Puerto Rico” sponsored a Caribbean theme party and dinner at the LHYC. Nearly 75 sailors and guests attended the dinner, live DJ music and dancing until late at night. Sailors were again dragged away to their host homes for some well needed rest. Needless to say all the rum was consumed.



Sunday morning a very slow start to the day was felt by all sailors. A beautiful morning was found with bright sunshine and a light breeze out of the east. Everyone was egor to get another set of races in before calling it a weekend. The breeze shifted immediately to the North East then back again to the east. True to lake form, the wind was making it challenging. Only one race was attempted and a 5 boat photo finish was seen by the spectators at the finish line with local Danny Goritski taking the last race by a foot. Ben Hall pull across at third with Lars Guck third.



After breakdown and reloading the boats on the trailers a barbeque was served up with various meats. The award ceremonies were held afterward out on the lawn. During the announcements, it was noted that within the crowd there was significant representation of the A-Class best sailors. Call Fuller, Ben Hall, “Doc” Stern, John Lindahl, Lars Guck, Mike Gruber were all winners, most multiple times, of the North American Championships. As the awards were given out, Lars Guck with his series of bullets took first place in the fall regatta series, Mike Gruber 2nd, Ian Lindahl with the LR2 hulls got 3rd place, Danny Goritski 4th and Jim Godby 5th.



Since this was the last of the Atlantic Coast Championship series, we also handed out the trophies for this 4 event series. The series is based on the four race weekends held at West River in April, Bristol in June, Cayuga in July and Hopatcong in September. Jim Godby was the only sailor going to all four events, with Mark Skeels, Chris Brown and Andrew Burdett going to three of the four. The First Place trophy was captured by Jim Godby, with Lars Guck getting 2nd, Mark Skeels 3rd, Chris Brown 4th and Tony Arends getting 5th.



Now we are all done and it is time to rest. 3 days of good sailing, socializing, and talking about sailing has worn us all down. Can’t wait to do it again next year.







Lake Hopatcong A-Class Fall Regatta 2007 RESULTS

Helm
R1
R2
R3
R4
Total
Rank

Lars Guck
1
1
1
3
6
1st

Mike Gruber
2
2
6
5
15
2nd

Ian Lindahl
4
3
4
4
15
3rd

Danny Goritski
13
4
2
1
20
4th

Jim Godby
3
11
9
6
29
5th

Peter Block
11
7
7
11
36
6th

Mark Skeels
6
9
10
12
37
7th

Greg Comito
16
10
5
8
39
8th

Chris Brown
8
13
13
7
40
9th

Ben Hall
5
8
DNF
2
43
10th

Peter Cogan
DSQ
5
3
9
45
11th

Peter Hefele
9
18
16
13
56
12th

Dean Lenox
10
6
13
DNF
57
13th

Fred Smith
20
17
8
DNF
73
14th

Fred Steinbaum
17
19
11
DNF
75
15th

Charlie Oberman
18
15
15
DNF
76
16th

Bill Vinning
14
16
19
DNF
77
17th

Bernd Hefele
12
12
DNF
DSQ
80
18th

John Knuth
21
14
17
DNS
80
19th

Steve Levine
19
21
20
DNF
88
20th

Tracy Oliver
7
DNS
DNS
DNS
91
21st

Luis Balzac
15
20
DNF
DNF
91
22nd

Andrew Burdett
22
DNS
14
DNF
92
23rd

Bruce Feakins
DNF
DNS
DNS
DNS
94
24th

Bill Romano
23
DSQ
18
DNS
97
25th

Peter Karpiak
DNF
DNF
DNF
DNF
112
26th

Todd Walter
DNF
DNS
DNS
DNS
112
27th

Thanks for a great report. I'm curious about that CatNip that was damaged. The boat in the photo that was posted earlier appears to be carrying signage from NZ. Was one of my compatriots competing?

The boat is owned by a Kiwi--Andy Burdett who is now living in New Jersey, and is a member of the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club. Andy beautifully refurbished the Cat-Nip last year, and graciously loaned the boat out for this regatta. Andy had upgraded to a Bim XJ this summer.

Update:
Boat #3 is now finished and John and Ian are working on getting it into the water in the next day or two. The main changes are the beam seats (flush with the top and outside of the hulls), slightly changed forward sections that reduce waterplane area, volume and lift and of course reduced weight. There are also a host of small detail changes, but they won't affect the performance too much.

Boat #1 will also be at the worlds, but sailed by Randy Smyth with the sail # USA 1000. In conjunction with Randy we are working on a new type of mainsail that has never have seen before and the hope is that it's really fast. Time will tell.

Will post a few pics of boat #3 in the next few days after its in the water.
RG

Any hints on the mainsail and why it is different? Less than 3 weeks before the worlds...

LOL....I'm not telling but your welcome to ask Randy <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
RG

Here's a pic of Boat #3 still in primer. It will be sailed this way for a week or so before painting while Boat#1 gets repainted. Sailing pics tomorrow.
RG

Every time I see one of these boats I like the look of it more and more!

its is starting to grow in appearance , all it needs now is to be competitive with 255lbs aboard and it would hit a wish list

I think the original hulls will carry close to that.. This one is supposed to have less volume then then first 2 did. RG can correct me if I am wrong.

Right now its sailed with a 185lb crew, but we have sailed it with up to 285 lb (once). The GPS indicated it didn't hurt the boatspeed too much in the lulls and was faster in the puffs over 12 knots but Ian did say that it felt slow to him at times. My best guess right now is that it should be competitive up to about 220-230lb and a little off above that except in a breeze where it will probably be faster.
RG