Bundock scores ISAF World Cup N 17 win in Australia; next stop - Miami... Coral Reef Yacht Club. courtesy of Sailworld news

OOPS!!! I'll try again... somewhat older news than I presumed http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2013/12/06/bundock-curtis-power-ahead-melbourne/

For video see http://www.sailing.org/worldcup

btw - there are no medal winners from the USA to date, so the showdown in Miami will test our spirit.

Registration list for the ISAF Miami World Cup: http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubm...?regatta_id=7500&custom_report_id=41

Currently 25 Nacra 17s registered, and I know there will be a few more from the USA. Lots of talent in the fleet, with the three Australian teams, the Austrians, a fast Argentinean team, Iker Martinex (multiple 49er medalist) from Spain, Olivier Backes (F18 WC) with his wife Ingrid Petijean (top 470 helm), Enrique, the British squad....

The level of talent that has moved into the Nacra 17 is just awesome! Sailed the boat last week in Miami- lots of fun, especially double trapping downwind. I found the boat to be very predictable and enjoyable, but it wasn't all that windy.

Where did they move from? other beachcat fleets, monos, skiffs, ???

Most are from other cat classes - Tornado & F18s.

An interesting one is Mark Mendelblatt - who is most accomplished in the Star class. That's a serious paradigm change.

Also interesting are Lucy Macgregor (match racing) and Pippa Wilson (470). But they've both been sailing the N17 for a while.

Nina Curtis (Bundy's crew) is a silver medalist in the elliot 6m also. will be very interesting to see if they make it to rio in 2016, still a fair ways off yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Curtis how rude is wikipedia, it lists her weight! lol

How long has Iker Martinez been sailing cats? I remember his name from the Volvo Ocean Race, as well as his Olympic success in the 49er. It's also amazing that he moved from the 49er (still in the Games) to the cats.

I'm less surprised about the women coming from other classes, since they sort of had to, unless they were cat sailors the whole time and had no Olympic experience.

Say what you want about the boat or mixed discipline, but it certainly creates new interest and discussion points.

Mike

If you go to the competitors link that Bert posted, click on any name, and it will take you to their ISAF sailor profile. Click on the "Results" tab and you can see what how they've placed in major ISAF events. Iker's been sailing the N17 about a year.

Nina Curtis Mother,Eve crews for Anthony Dutchatel.They are the current Grand Masters Hobie 16 World Champs.She was crewing here in Fort Walton Beach for the 2011 Hobie 16 NA,s
The Canadian kids made the jump from Laser Sailing.

That's a great feature, even if it's incomplete (lists "only" the major ISAF events). Thanks Matt.

I think the next year or two will be very exciting, and we'll see some interesting changes in the rankings as teams are coached and learn the boat.

Mike

Some footage from sail Melbourne. the boats looks like a handful in a blow!

Very Cool! Let's wait and see how the race track in Miami sets the stage for these athletes. Perhaps we will enjoy some thrills and drama from Biscayne Bay.

The N 17s have earned a start in the Medal Racing for Saturday (Finals). That will be worth watching.

My guess is that 30+ competitors will have registered by tomorrow evening. Some teams I have seen in Panama City have not registered to date, but I bet they will.

Looking at that entry list, I really wish I could be there!

Very cool video, except the slow-motion to enhance the near capsizes was a bit much. Watching that, I think they need to work up the mixed crew thing for spectators. They should make the women wear a bright pink bib (or the men wear a bright blue one), or even have different colored jibs or a panel on the sails, just to help us visualize which teams have women skippers (and how they are doing vs. the male-driven boats) as we watch, without having to refer back to an entry sheet.



What does this mean, Bert? How does a class "earn" a medal race format for the Olympics? I'm reasonably sure the lead-in events simply attempt to match the planned Olympic format as test events, and the overall Olympic format may evolve between the quads. And I know that there are several different formats for the different classes. But how does a class "earn" a medal race at the Olympics in the first place?

Mike

In order to be in the medal racing the class must have a credible number of entries and be exciting to watch. Sometimes, near the end of a quad, USA sailors can up their financial worth, such as the two USA Laser sailors match racing one another in 2011 for the larger portion of available sponsorship money. That is how Janet Baxter explained it. The two sailors just battled it out during the medal racing where a race scores double points.

The medal races are a part of the ISAF World Cup Series.

Last year the N 17 class was not invited.

Nacra 17s definitely had a medal race last year, the results are here: http://mocrresults.ussailing.org/2013/Nacra17/Nacra17.html

If you look at the NOR for the MOCR all of the Olympic classes are scheduled to have a medal race, it doesn't appear any of the classes are trying a different format.

It's not the slow motion that bothers me so much (although there was a bit too much of it), the sped up video between those drives me NUTS.

These boats and sailors were handling some serious breeze. That was pretty cool.

These two, at this point of the video, are clearly quite comfortable on the boat:
http://youtu.be/pehYM0RfyyU?t=1m5s http://youtu.be/pehYM0RfyyU?t=1m5s

Thanks Jeff, I was not aware they were allowed to race last year since the fleet was rather small. I hope we can at least see one USA team in the race on Saturday. Watching the boards, 49ers, and cats take their turns will be worth the trip.

Good points, guys. Thanks.

Mike

This morning is dentist free, so let me revisit the medal racing...

In 2011 we were on Tom Duggan's Laser course with approx. 150 competitors in full - rig and Radials. The Medal Racing was on Saturday and the selected classes took turns sailing one final race for double points. Classes included Laser, Laser Radial, Mens Boards, women's boards, and 49ers. The course was shorter than the days prior, but the spectator fleet was huge. The Greeks and Israelis had both chartered 60 - 70 footers for their entourages. There were some other cool vessels outside the picket, but I remember the Greek flag was larger than the Israeli flag by a few square feet.

I believe last year's medal racing for the N 17s was just an additional Race 11 on Friday.

I suspect that Mr. Duggan's Race Comm will be managing the race track, with all the dignitaries, from the deck of the Epstein's trawler, Tonto's Reward. N 17s will be participating, for the first time, for this crowd. Actually this is great exposure for the catamaran culture. As I find out more, I will be glad to share the news.