North American F-18 Championship starts this Monday in Quebec, CA.
For a complete list of competitors and for more information on the event, visit http://www.naf18.ca/index_en.html
Fair winds to all sailors!

One remark about your website though !

Mitch is a hell of sailor but he isn't "F18 World Champion".

He maybe current EU tornado champion and former F18 world champion; but "F18 World Champion" suggest holder of the current title and that he is not.

Current F18 world champion are the Brother Boulogne on a Cirrus F18

I also seem to remember that Mitch was F18 world Champ already a few years back but that since then Gavin Colby and others have been holders of that title.

Wouter

As usual,
Wouter grasps at any opportunity to insult North American sailors.
He even insults a World Champion because he is helping their regatta.

A World Champion IS A WORLD CHAMPION FOREVER.
Just like an Olympic Champion IS AN OLYMPIC CHAMPION FOREVER.
Just like a Wimbledon Champion IS A WIMBLEDON CHAMPION FOREVER.

For someone who owns a leaky Prindle 16, half of a mutant taipan, and never attends regattas,
he always has a derogatory comment about people who actually race and put on regattas.

He is a true credit to The Netherlands and the f16hp class.

Hi Sam,
Maybe need to look at his comment in context :
The web-site says :
"Mitch Booth, F18 world champion, will be attending the event
and will give a sailing seminar at 3 p.m. on July 5th."

Now THAT statement leads me to believe that Mitch Booth is the CURRENT F18 World Champion, which is not the case, and Wouter has just set the record straight, which I`m grateful for, since I didn`t know who the CURRENT World champ is in the F18 class, now I do.(As it stands, I don`t really care) Sure, Mitch Booth might be multiple World Champion, but the title NOW belongs to someone else.
I`ll make an example : If you read in a sailing mag an article about "Gavin Colby, Hobie 16 World Champion" you would think hey, he`s not the World Champion, he didn`t even compete ! I`ll bet if it was an American sailor who won the recent Worlds, you`d send a letter / e-mail to the Editor of the mag, informing him of his mistake in print. Not out of being insulting to the sailor or class concerned, just to set the record straight so that other sailors can be correctly informed.
Your title as a World / National / Regional Champ only lasts as long as it takes for someone to beat you at the next event. If you don`t attend the event, you can`t claim you`re still the World Champ, since you weren`t there to defend the title. An Olympic Champion has 4 years to bask in the glory, if he wants to remain the champ, he has to go out there & win it again. (So he`d better spend those 4 years practicing ! )
I agree with you, once you`ve won a World Championship, no-one can take that sense of acchievement away from you, but they can take the title.
I don`t think Wouter had intentions to insult either Mitch Booth or your class, it may just be that you will read that into it because you have unresolved issues with Wouter based on some previous disagreement.
I read Wouter`s post and found nothing offensive toward anyone in it, just a correction of the facts based on a literal interpretation of what he read.

Perhaps we should all try to be civil & respect eachother`s right to their own opinion, without making condescending remarks about eachother, the type of boats we sail, and our nationalities. (Having said that, I`ll take every opportunity to tease you guys about how heavy your boats are, but it`s done in jest and I really hope you take it that way, no disrespect intended.)
The fact that we are all sailors is the common thread that lets us chat to eachother & learn from eachother as if we knew eachother, so let`s keep it friendly.

Cheers
Steve

If you want to have a look of what's going at the F-18 championship and the weather conditions in Quebec City, click on this link.

http://meteo.baiedebeauport.qc.ca/index24h.html

Fot the moment (10AM), it's pretty quiet but the wind is supposed to pick up. Forecasts are 10-20 kn wind from northwest.

André

Go Krantz and Lennard !!!
4th overall, no wind today
Dave Mosley
www.teamseacats.com

The event site is VERY slow with results and pictures... Usually by the following day.

Here is an un-official report from day 3 (Day 2 had no wind and no racing)

Rain all day. Wind from 20 kts early on and 15 - 18 kts later.

Another good day for Hobie! Unofficial Finishes and estimated results...

Mitch: 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 / First overall with 10 points

Greg and Jacques: 3 - 3 - 2 - 1 / Second with 16 points

Matt Struble on a Nacra F18: 2 - 2 - 7 - 3 / Third with about 28 points

The 2004 F18 North American are over.

Un-official results... by phone. The website is slow to update.

1- #1179 Mitch Booth Herbert Dercksen Tiger 12 Points (Today 2-2-DNS)
2- #1452 Greg Thomas Jacques Bernier Tiger 14 Points (Today 1-3-1)
3- #343 Matt Struble Ed Nolan Nacra 23 Points
4- #1253 Tom Korzenienwski Kevin Smith Tiger 54 Points
5- #1521 Sylvain Carignan Christian Nadeau Tiger 60 Points
6- #349 Jean-Marc Proulx Lise Duchaine Nacra ? Points
7- #1144 Dan Borg Alan Maguire Tiger 69 Points
8- #870 David Lennard Mike Krantz Tiger 80 Points
9- #327 Martin Hamel Maxime Loiselle Nacra 81 Points
10- #96 Patrick Roy Alain Fernet Nacra 90 Points

Winner Mitch Booth (who sails approx 260 days a year in Europe and around the World and a former F18 World Champion)was closely followed by NA teams Greg Thomas, Matt Struble and others who typically sail between 25-30 days a year. I think this was a wonderful showing of our NA F18 teams! Mitch did several clinics during the event to "spread the wealth" of his knowledge. Thanks Mitch! May we see continued growth in the F18 classes in NA!

Mitch is already on his way to Italy for the F18 Worlds starting Monday... Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier will be attending the Tiger North Americans in California (Monday July 19 through Friday July 23, 2004)... Busy guys!