Thanks to all the people who made this years GC happen. It was a great time with great people and LOTS of great wind (alittle too great at times)!!!!
Thanks to Pete for finding Robi to drive for me for the last two days-I could keep sailing and boat could stay on the line.
Looking forward to the next GC already!!!

Someone earlier asked about Chris Amador, he was there, indeed had his boat set up on the beach and went out for practice but when Hurricane Ida turned north and aimed at his house in Pensacola, he had to hurry home to try to tie everything down. I think he hit the road at about 4am after being up all day/night and left his boat in Gulfport. He did not return in time to race, but his friends took care of his boat and are today trailering it up to P'cola for him.

Chris, sorry you had to go, I hope all is ok at your house!

And Ditto what Joanna said, even though I was not saiing, it was great to see you all again!

On at least one downwind, Casey was allowing a lot of bend in the mast. He didn't seem at all concerned and was very fast!

The gallery has been updated with the latest photos taken by Jill Nickerson.

The videos are uploading as we speak. It will take a little while

Link to photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/wildergfx

Does the updated photo gallery include the photos from Andi's 31st birthday party?? Or the pole dancing? Or the "Road Trip" band??

More Cowbell!

hahhahaha NO

Enjoy the videos, it was a blast to do them

Thanks Robi, excellent work.

Absolutely brilliant Robi.

Great stuff indeed.

I'm so sorry I couldn't be there at Gulfport and after seeing the pics and video's I'm even more sad about this.

On the other hand I'm so happy that things turned out so well and I feel this is a major achievement for the class. And the video's do so much good work in the way of promo. Truly unbelievable.

Both feelings combined make for a very confusing mental state !

Wouter

Robi have set the standard. You should work in television, you are smooth with your interview objects

Excellent work Robi! Thnks VERY much for all your effort.

GO PETE !

We got home last night around 9:30 pm after leaving Gport at 4am on the nose. Had a two hour delay on I-95 and had to detour in South Carolina.

WOW....What an event. Constantine, Kris and I WERE challenged, and then challenged again and again all week. We were looking forward to 5 days of racing and boy, did we get it. The breeze was 20 - 30 when we got here Saturday night and stayed that way till later on Monday and then stayed hefty (for us) through the week and was lighter on day 5. We were there on a Blade, a Falcon and a Taipan, all uni and we had plenty of time to try anything and everything to get the boats to hook up in the high winds going to weather. The two up teams were able to really work the boats and they had some great speed upwind, really smoking. Downwind was both a thrill ride and a horror flick as the gusts came on and on. By sailing in this event we have raised our servicable wind range and we can now scoff at the high wind days that we occasionally get around here. GYC was the best host we could of asked for. They were polite, super accommodating to the racers and ran the event as smooth as silk. All the details were thought out big and small. There were great teams and unis on the course most with a "we're gonna have some fun" attitude, some were more serious, we ignored them. Robbi Daniels was a great sport who always had a smile and a wave as he flashed by going somewhere like he's late for dinner. Gina McDonald was the effervescent ambassador for the sport and always had a smile and a wave even in trying times. Gulfport itself was a great host and venue for the event. The beach, plenty of bars/resturaunts to suite you whether you wanted beach food or upscale, B&Bs, small hotels and cottages all available within walking to the beach. Everytime I do an event there I say that I won't be making that long drive again, but then I'm back again the next year.

Breakage. Conni had very little if anything break on the Taipan. He does that kind of thing just to piss us off. His new sail that he has been complaining about being too flat was well suited for the conditions in this regatta and he sailed very well and got consistant finishes. What a credit to the builders/designers that this boat (2002 Taipan) is strong, light (104kg) and is a competative platform even today. Kris had a trap line part on day 5 and in the ususal attempt to stay connected to the boat via the tiller, that broke also which cost him a trip to the beach. A broken rudder on day one cost him two races and that was pretty frustrating for him as he missed two races. I was having good luck breakage wise with some small things fouling or giving up and being able to fix them during a race or between races. Then on day 4 the head of my main decided to stay attached to the top of the mast as the rest of it came down. DRAT! There was nothing for it except to secure the sail and then what? I was at the furthest point possible from the beach, about two miles as it was diagonal across the bay. I found that the Blade will do 2 -3 knots on the wing mast when it's blowing 15 - 20 on the beam. I had a great sail back and enjoyed the first Florida post card day that we had all week as the sun made it's reluctant appearance. I was now a tourist. Jill finally spotted me by the time I was about to tack for the beach and gave a tow, many thanks. I had bought new sails a while ago but was too busy to mess with them and had decided to sail with what I had on the boat i.e. what I was familiar with. It would also involve some work to reset the mast to the new sail and I'm alergic to work so that was that. So I missed day 4 and sailed day 5 with the new main, approved by the committee of course.

Again, many thanks to the racers and organisers that let us be part of the scene on Boca Ciega bay during the F-16 Global Challenge. Ed

Yes it "was" a great boat but what's the situation on the Taipan now? Seems that AHPC has lost all interest in the platform.

I think the T4.9 still has a future, particularly as an optimized Uni rig.

Ed and Constantine were the best of the Uni sailors at GC. But with all respect to them, I'd love to see someone younger and more athletic, like Tripp Burd, make a serious campaign on a Uni. Imo, the Taipan 4.9 would make a fantastic specialized one-up boat.

Robi,

Great interviews! A pleasure to watch.

Great work Robi,

Whatched every interview from start to finish. Great idea that was excellently executed.

Adrian,

I think you've got better pictures than the one you are using now :-)

Taipans are still being manufactured by AHPC..... But like all boats, are only built to order.

I feel too that the Taipan 4.9 is a good uni boat with a spinnaker. Especially in light winds this design is still very fast in comparison to the newer F16's.

In my opinion, the only modification it needs are T-foil rudders when sailing it with a spinnaker in the rough stuff. That will solve basically all issues a 1-up sailor could have with the Taipan 4.9/F16.

This is still a thing I want to try on my own Taipan F16; shouldn't be an expensive modification.



Come to think of it, what would you think of the above Taipan 4.9/F16 with a carbon mast ? Wouldn't that be one nice lightweight 1-up F16 ?

Wouter

Seth's boat came in at around 235 lbs. so there isn't much room for weight savings.

It's an older boat and he takes care of it but is not obsessive. So, I would assume there is some water weight, from leakage, codensation and absorption.

Watching JC got me thinking about all this. He carried a very light, very fit crew. On one of the downwinds, JC was in the middle of the tramp, had the main sheeted lightly for that much wind, and seemed to be driving deep. And, he was fast. Very fast!

A rock star Uni driver is what the sport and the class needs. Think about: one guy under spin, trapped out, lots of spray, excellent speed. That would make a great shot for TV.