Mark,
I agree with you,(never thought I'd say that) but when you throw "And so the discussion on the PRO / Organizing Authority Liability discussion re Tradewinds starts." something like this up when there is an altercation it doesn't make folks want to jump in. It could be taken either way, because it followed Bob's post I figured you were backing his point of view. I expect about 15%, if that many, of the regattas I attend would meet P.U.'s guidelines. That would thin my racing season out considerably. Enough Hijack.

NOW ...Let's hear some Tradewinds stories, c'mon guys.

And if possible some pictures!

Pics are on the way, we got a few. (hundred)

To address the argument, the regatta ran GREAT! We had very few incidences . I can't even remember any race that I'd been in where thee was not some close calls. We had safety boats/mark boats watching the entire course

2 yrs ago I was glad there was sufficient chase boats there to pick my butt out of the water as my boat had sailed away from my crew and I, who were dead tired(fat and out of shape), maybe chip short? Dont remember, but they were great!

OK, since we're killing time telling stories of RC and TW past, I got rescued by a Wave and RC last year after a series of repeated righting-reflippings.

Where's da results?!! Top 3 in class at least?

The event was great, the RC did a great job of getting races off.

I think some people were scared off by the weather report, but once again never listen to the weatherman (like Bob), we had great sailing weather.

There were Waves all over, and I20s all over, and F16s, H16s, A-Cats, and F18s and even a couple sharks. You go around them like any other regatta.

Come on Bob, your scared of boats at the mark? Your scared, really??

Okay, here are first three in each class. Rick will have full results and story and pictures tomorrow on our home page.

A-Class (5 boats)
1. Smyth
2. Webbon
3. Pitt

F-16 Fleet (5 boats)
1. McDonald
2. Bohan
3. Cross

F-18 Fleet (8 boats)
1. Daniel/Rodriguez
2. Easton/Burd
3. Krantz/Lennard

Hobie 16 Fleet (9 boats)
1. Korzeniewski/Taxwell
2. Borg/Heatherington
3. Hilk/Korz

Nacra 20 Fleet (12 boats)
1. Newkirk/Holmes
2. Brown/White
3. Smith/Hoffman

Portsmouth Fleet (3 boats)
1. Davis (Hobie 17)
2. Pattenaude/Sherry (Shark)
3. Putney (Shark)

Wave Fleet (10 boats)
1. Leah White
2. Stan Woodruff
3. Dave White

52 boats and Bob is worried about too many boats around?

How big were the courses Mary. 1+ mile windward?

Outside course was 1.1 miles on Saturday and .9 on Sunday when the wind was lighter. Inside course was .2 to .3 miles shorter than the outside course.

Nice to once again see how easy it is to stir the pot!

Y'all make me proud.

BC

Bob - don't be a hater!

So nice size course for the outside loop; and the inside sounds about right for "slow" boats.




And this helps how?

Huh? Bob, I don't know where you have been sailing these last 20 years since the spinnaker boats started meshing in with all the rest of the non-spinnaker boats. But, all the regattas I have gone to ALL MY LIFE have had a mix of slow boat and fast boats.
Perhaps in a perfect world your perfect race course might show up. I believe you opinion was not very well thought out.

On another note, Dave White really felt sorry for Mike and Holly. Dave used to build boats and also said he would help repair it so they could continue to sail.
And you all are right, not even a scratch on the Wave.

I will have story and pictures up within a few hours.., 900 pictures to wade through!?!?!?!?!?
Rick

Whats more important is that there wasn't even a scratch on Dave Mike or Holly right?

Sorry I missed the regatta. I too, have been plucked from the water during a tradewinds event by a chase boat

Looks like Capt. Kirk is still out there teaching the young'uns how to do it.

Yes, all were walking and talking just fine.

Kirk and Glen won the Carlton Tucker Memorial Trophy for the winners of the largest class. In intro for Kirk, I said, "Just goes to show that old age and lechery prevail over youth."


Kirk had some great starts and was always in the hunt near the front of the pack. Great sailing on their part.


Rick

Mike's stb. hull suffered a nasty crunch/split extending about 1 foot back. It's fixable, as Jake repaired a boat with a similar type split back to the first bulkhead on another boat.

Ironically enough, Mike said his port hull was repaired earlier, and it suffered little (if any) damage.

Viewing the Wave, it would appear that Mike hit the main beam with his stb. hull. The Wave (# 66 I believe) has a main beam that sticks out about 2 inches from the rest of the hull, and that seems to be what really did the damage. I cannot begin to think what was going through the skipper's mind as the N20 came flying at him.

I'm sure Mike will give a firsthand report on here soon, but from what I understand, he was headed downwind (presumably on port) and was ducking another wave when the one he hit "came out of nowhere" from under the spinnaker. Mike and his crew were actively looking for other boats, but it was just one of those wierd sets of circumstances. The closing speed was very high, further complicating things.

Yes, having an inside course for non-spin boats helps, but the spin boats on the bigger course still picked their way through the other fleets on at least one of the legs in each race. The "B" mark may have helped keep the spin and non-spin boats apart on the first lap, but it was up to each skipper/crew after that to pick their course... (notice this last part)

To address Mary's points, if there were that many people around willing to set up to entirely different racing areas, it would be great. But the real world circumstances dictate doing what provides the most opportunity for the most people. I commend them for all their hard work at making a regatta like this possible.

Now, if we can convince all the other people to buy N20 or F18, we wouldn't have this problem, right?

I thought a "Master" of anything wouldn't be worried about sailing around slower boats. So as "Class Director" how do you run the races?

I don't understand why Mr. Curry thinks the Wave (or any "slow boat") was "the Problem". Any time you have any boats going upwind, while spinnaker boats are coming downwind, these things can happen.

We nearly T-boned Mike Krantz while we were coming downwind at high speed and we too were activly looking for other boats coming at us all day long. But we never saw him as we were also having a -developing situation- with a boat in our class as we converged on opposite gybes, and we were hailing him "Starboard".

Mike was below our kite coming upwind fast, so we never saw him, or heard him hailing us, as we were looking the other direction at the converging boat to our right, when all of a sudden, from behind the kite, out pops Mike, about 20 feet in front of us.

Luckily for all of us he was in the process of bearing off to let us by when he didn't see us bear away, and as soon as Andi saw him he pulled the tiller and slammed our bows down, sending me for a trip to the bow and back. Ask Seth about that!

There have been plenty of other similar incidents at most regattas with a good turnout. I never assume the other guy sees me unless I see his eyeballs and he waves at me, and me at him. We were damn lucky Mike moved for us or it would have been very ugly.

Sounds to me like all you "delicate" boat owners need to buy Waves, THEN we wouldn't have this problem!

If everyone had a wave we could do crazy 8 courses and play bumper boats!