1. Bug Light Distance Race
The next CABB event will be the annual Bug Light Double Distance Race. The date for the event is Sunday, April 9. I know this day conflicts with the Macho Man Race in Tampa, but if you look at April, there are very few free weekends. Easter is on one weekend, the Miami Key Largo Race in on another, and the Hog's Breath 100 is on the last weekend in April. So the April CABB race will be on the ninth. This is a fun race that is actually two races in one day. The first race departs the Rickenbacker Causeway beach and heads south into the bay, around Cape Florida, and out to Bug Light. Bug Light is a large steel channel marker a few miles southeast of Cape Florida. After rounding Bug Light, the race heads for the beach on Key Biscayne. We land at the beach in front of the southernmost condo building. This beach area is just north of the Bill Baggs State Park beach. At the beach, we stop for a break and lunch. Bring your own lunch and drinks. After everyone is refreshed, we reverse the course and sail the second race back to the Rickenbacker. This is a fun venue. Everyone seems to enjoy the stop on the beach on Key Biscayne. This event allows us to appreciate what a great place we have to sail. We get to sail to a tropical island and pull up on a beautiful white sandy beach. It doesn't get any better than this for beach cat sailing. Make your plans to attend. What's not to like? The crew meeting will be at 10:30. Have your boat ready to sail by 10:30 please. Bring one, and preferably two water resistant timing devices. You will be required to record your own elapsed times for each race. I will have the plastic slates for recording times. See you there.
2. TOO MUCH FUN!
The CABB Cat Fight Buoy Races were held March 19, 2006, in Miami, Florida.
Eight boats turned out for the CABB Cat Fight Buoy Races. There were two Hobie 16s, two Hobie 20s, two F-24s, a Tornado, and a Marstrom 20. It was a beautiful spring day in Miami. The temperatures reached the mid 80s by the afternoon. The winds started out as light and built all day long to about 12 knots.
We ran four buoy races just off the Rickenbacker Causeway. Three marks were used for the course. Two marks defined the start/finish line and also served as the leeward gate. The third mark was the windward mark. Each race consisted of twice around the circuit. We were fortunate that John Schiefer was out with his motor boat. He moved the windward mark between races, as the winds shifted more to the east. The first race was sailed in about 5 knots of breeze and took about 35 minutes to sail. Then the winds picked up and each of the next three races took only about 15 minutes to complete.
The two Hobie 16s were sailed by youth from the Miami Yacht Club. One 16 was sailed by Sarah Newberry and Duncan Padura. The other 16 was sailed by Raquel Lopez and Anthony Martely. These two teen teams are practicing for the upcoming US Sailing Youth Multihull Championships which will be held this summer here in Miami. In the fourth race of the day, Sarah was able to recognize a wind shift and port-started the whole fleet. She and Duncan were looking very strong out there all day.
Allen Plasencia was out for his second CABB race with his newly acquired and refurbished Hobie 20. He has been able to practice some during the week, and he is improving rapidly. He is enjoying his new boat and looking forward to his first Miami-Key Largo Race. After the buoy races, Allen and I did some match sailing down the bay towards Stiltsville. The boats were very closely matched. He will be tough to beat with some more experience.
John Esquivel was out sailing his Tornado with Michele Sumptom. John has only had his, recently acquired, Tornado out a few times. He is doing very well with the boat. He was just flying on the downwind legs using the spinnaker. His is one of three very competitive Tornados that are currently berthed at the US Olympic Training Center in Coconut Grove.
I was sailing with Max Everett for the day. Max has been sailing most his life on mono-hulls. He is relatively new to catamarans. He did an excellent job of crewing and he really enjoyed the day. He would like to do more crewing. His name is on the CABB crew list, if you need a partner. The crew list is below.
Raul Lopez, the current F-24 National Champion, was out with his F-24. His crew was doing very well, beating faster boats, boat for boat. He had a crew of four youths who normally sail Optimist Prams. They only did two races and then headed down the bay for a fun cruise. Raul will be defending his title in the upcoming F boat Nationals, April 17.
I did not receive enough finish time data from the racers to determine the overall places for the four races. I do know that Sarah Newberry and Duncan Padura did very well. It looked like they had at least one win and some other top three finishes. John Esquivel also had some good finishes. Carla was also up there as usual on the super fast M-20.
The participants were as follows:
Crew----------------------------Boat------------------Rating
Sarah Newberry------------------Hobie 16--------------76.1
Duncan Padura
Carla Schiefer------------------Marstrom 20-----------56.0
Andrea Newberry
Raquel Lopez--------------------Hobie 16--------------76.1
Anthony Martely
John Esquivel-------------------Tornado---------------59.0
Michele Sumptom
Jim Barrows---------------------F-24------------------76.0
John Sherry
Raul Lopez----------------------F-24------------------76.0
Raul Lopez (Jr.)
Christopher
Alejandro
Lorraine
Allen Plasencia-----------------Hobie 20--------------65.0
Danny
John McKnight-------------------Hobie 20--------------65.0
Max Everett
3. 2006 CABB Crew list
Here is the 2006 CABB crew list. Each of these individual has told me this year that they want to be on this crew list. They want to sail. If you need a crew, this is a good place to start. If you want to be put on the CABB Crew list, contact me and I will add you to the list so you can get out and enjoy some catamaran sailing.
CABB Crew list 2006
1. Claudia Schmid, (305) 569-6313
2. Max Everett, H (305) 673-6457, C (305) 794-9978,
3. Rene Velacco, H (305) 926-0266,
4. Doug Mayer, H (305) 549-5429,
5. Bill Adkins, C (786) 402-0856,
4. Doug Mayer has a Hobie 18 main and jib that he is selling. His contact information is above it the crew list.
5. Eric Arborgast is selling his ARC 21. I don't have any details. He can be contacted at H (954) 473-8181
6. As I mentioned earlier, the US Sailing Youth Multihull Championships are going to be held here in Miami from July 13 through July 16. The regatta is being sponsored by the Miami Yacht Club. They have asked for some help with race committee and other jobs. If you are interested in helping out let me know.
7. The deadlines for entry in the Miami-Key Largo race are rapidly approaching. See my previous email for the exact dates.
John McKnight
(305) 251-7600
CABB Forum:
http://www.catsailor.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=CABB 
