The Zhik 2016 A Class Catamaran North American Championship is ready to launch from Sail Newport!

...weather permitting, of course. We had a front pass through today, leaving us with a miserable wind forecast until very late tomorrow. Same pattern that has plagued us all summer, light northerlies in the morning that refuse to die in favor of a sea breeze.

Anyway, we have 45 boats checked in. Pre-registration list is here: http://www.acatnorthamericans.com/registration/who-has-registered/

We plan to push info online throughout the event, will post more info on that tomorrow.

Mike

Expecting to AP ashore later this morning. Forecast has not improved.

It looks like a great day for an evening sail...

Mike

where is the best online resource for updates/information?

I don't do FB or twister, but I guess I should drink that cool-aide at some point so big brother can sell all my data.

I'm with you on the FB thing.

The website has been updated with official docs. We'll be doing mark roundings, etc. on Facebook.

AP ashore came down at 1430. Breeze is nice now, no towing required.

Mike

Two good races, heading in now, racing the sunset.

Mike

Facebook link: https://m.facebook.com/USAClass/

Stragglers got to shore under the watchful eye of four RC boats, with some light remaining in the western sky. Some boats derigged by flashlight.

I've often joked about racing until I run out of daylight, this is the first time I've come so close. Several mile beat home didn't help...

Several boats were damaged today (collisions with each other and rocks), so the grinders were out and running as well.

Mike

What happened to Bailey? I'm seeing him on the results for day 1 but not for day 2.

Results link: http://www.sailnewport.org/regattas/TFW2016_copy

Absolutely gorgeous day of racing today! One of the prettiest race courses I've seen in a while, wind was quite steady, with a shift to the right before the second race.

Bailey was about the 6th boat reported to me as unable to start and/or continue in Race 3 today. He had a damaged shroud and wisely sailed back for repairs.

More carnage today, and grinders running tonight.

The winds were in the upper to mid-teens. The fleet requested that we stop at two races today, which I felt was reasonable. Everyone was back to shore by 1630, with plenty of time for the party at Ben's (a 45 minute drive from here).

Mike

Thanks for the updates Mike.

What's up with all the carnage?

Are the foils breaking or are there collisions...?

The big news that I was hiding is that the redress scores from Tuesday were for sailors rendering aid to one another. I was hiding that until we could surprise them with sportsmanship awards at this morning's meeting. Bill Vining assisted Todd Woods, and Mark Herendeen plucked Ben Hall out of the water and returned him to his boat yesterday. We presented them with Sail Newport burgees, and Zhik will be following up with some gear. (I learned a great many things working with PU for all those years...)

As for the carnage, some collisions, lots of capsizing, other causes appear to be more mysterious.

Breeze was whistling through the rigging this morning, so we stayed close (Potter Cove, South of Gould Island), with an initial plan to stop after two races.

The first race wasn't bad at all, so we hung in to run two more (three total). The wind built from 10-12 in the first race to 16-18 in the third.

Matt Struble's string of bullets was finally stopped by Lars Guck, who won Races 6 and 7.

Ken Marshack has had the best starts (by far) all week. He's currently 6th overall, on a Classic. Get him on a foiler, and there's going to be some trouble!

Forecast tomorrow is softer, and northerly. We're going to start at 1100, as the breeze is expected to shift East and drop in the mid-afternoon. Two more are scheduled, and needed for a second throwout.

The other big news today, Bora Gulari was found turtled and dismasted in the first race. We got him squared away and tied to a lobster pot, while Sail Newport sent a boat out to tow him in.

This happened as the wind was building, so there was no way I was letting one of my two RIBs get tied up as a tow truck. They all knew that we'd be anchoring carnage, that was decided at a pre-regatta meeting with the class, and discussed at the skippers meeting on Monday. We offered him an anchor, but he elected to grab a pot.

Incidentally, at the meeting this morning, Bora noted some concern about racing in the closer area, due to weeds that were present over the weekend. There were nearly zero weeds today due to the wind direction, and he'd have been sitting all day at Halfway Rock waiting for a tow...

Mike

Well, so much for the light wind day...

20-30 knots out of the North overnight, moderated somewhat early this morning, and slowly dripping to mid-teens. We'll start at 1130 to give it a chance to settle a bit more...

Additional sportsmanship recognition this morning: Mark Skeels for rescuing Andrew Burdett on Tuesday (was reported to me after yesterday's meeting); Mike Nolan for stopping mid-race to sail over to me and report Bora's situation on Wednesday; and Daniel Seagraves, who volunteered to assist us on the water as a rescue swimmer on the safety RIB.

Mike

Finally, a day with no (or minimal) damage/attrition...

We wrapped up later than planned yesterday, due to a moving weather mark, which caused us to abandon and resail race 8. Tough judgement call, and not popular, but by the book as required for this level of event.

One late request for redress to have all 3 sets of results from yesterday count was denied by the PC, then awards were presented and folks headed out.

Laura had a tough day after a great week. She capsized and required assistance at the gate in Race 8 (the first attempt), then did a depth charge at the start of the resail, breaking her tiller. Her spirits recovered, and she received a beautiful trophy made by Ben for First Woman.

Unfortunately, I missed the actual awards, as we were finalizing scoring after the redress hearing. But, everyone had a great regatta, and loved sailing in Newport!

Huge thanks to the Sail Newport team, staff and volunteers who gave up four days of their lives to provide great racing. The team on Everglades Boats, as well as the media, photographers and drone pilot were lots of fun as well.

Special mention to some old local cat-sailing friends who also helped: Phil Vaillancourt and Frank Keefe (who actually flew in daily from MA on his Cessna).

The highlight of my week was meeting a bunch of you who I've only known through these forums, and making new friends.

Any time, anywhere, let me know if I can help.

Mike

Must not have had his leatherman on board. He can fix pretty much anything on the boat with his leatherman :P

(Tybee crew inside joke, sorry)

That's OK, I gave him grief about it too, even offered to write an SI Amendment to add enough races and drops for him to get back in the hunt, but we'd probably be there until November with the luck he was having.

Not that my horseshoe was running on all cylinders...

Mike

That is classic!