Category: Regatta Reviews

2007 'Round the Island Multihull Sailboat Race
Fort Walton Yacht Club
June 15- 17 2007

The 'Round the Island Race is a 100 mile circumnavigation of Santa Rosa Island located in Northwest Florida.  Headquartered at the Fort Walton Yacht Club, the race begins off the point, through the East Pass and continues west to the Pensacola Pass where the northern turn is made for the return trip through the inter-coastal waterway. 

A light but steady breeze and an early morning start made for a fantastic day to be on the water along the Emerald Coast.  Not half and hour into the race, the fleet, heading east through Choctawhatchee Bay, was clipping along at 15 knots as they approached the East Pass and hit puffy wind and a 5 knot incoming tide.  With more than half of the fleet flying spinnakers, the wind shifted and the made the approach to the Destin Bridge exciting as they maneuvered through the pass and into the Gulf of Mexico.

July 1, 2006 - Ventura Sailing Club - First and foremost, we want to thank every for participating in this years event. Unfortunately, this year's Rum Run didn't make it to Anacapa Island. Although a mark was successfully set in Frenchy's Cove for the race, the Race Committee decided to abandon the scheduled course to the island due to a small-craft advisory on the inner waters and a reported 25-35 knots of wind on the outer waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. Not wanting to push the limits of safety for the fleet, we decided stay closer to shore and in more friendly conditions with this alternate racecourse:

• Start at Mandalay Buoy
• Gina to starboard
• "A" mark (Fishsticks) to starboard
• VH Whistle Buoy to port
• "A" mark to starboard
• Finish in Ventura Harbor.
• Course length of 19.6 nm

Conditions on the course were ideal - brilliant sunshine, 2-3 foot white-capping seas, and a warm 15-18 knot breeze. The fleet of 18 racers included 6 PHRF Non-spinnaker, 4 ORCA, and 8 Beach Cat boats. The race began at 11:00.00 for the PHRF non-spinnaker, 11:05 for ORCA, and 11:10 for the Beach Cat fleets. Full Tilt, a 20 ft. Tornado catamaran skippered by Mike Dobbs, was the first boat to complete the course at 13:17.30. The last boat to finish was the SpitDog, a Del Rey 24, at 15:28.06. One PHRF Non-spinnaker boat did not start due to lack of an adequate crew, and 2 Beach Cat and 1 ORCA boat DNF'd.  This left 14 of the 17 original entries finishing the race.

The Youth and Women’s Hobie 16 North Americans concluded on Friday with a third day of good racing and winds of about ten knots.

Although the racing in the Youth fleet was tight at times the Guatemalans always came out on top. Jason and Alexander Hess ended the series with a perfect score of all first place finishes. Last years champions, Michael Siau and Trey James finished second. Canadians Andrew Robins and Trent Freeman were third.

In the Women’s fleet the win went to former World Champion Annie Nelson and Kathy Kulkowski. Worrell 1000 veteran Sandra Tartaglino and Eileen Haubl came on strong in the end to finish the series in second. Mary Lindsay and Barbara Roettger were third.

Racing for the Open Championship starts on Monday. The winds over the weekend have been unseasonably light making it hard to get through the surf. When the wind does come up it tends to be late in the day and could make for some late afternoons on the water.

Wind, waves and shallow water... the 28th Zwitserleven Round Texel Race for beachcatamarans was a tough one. The surf became a huge playground for waves with boats as their toys. It was a challenge to get to the starting line, due to the onshore wind. Many participants crashed and were washed ashore. Even top sailors. Others decided to withdraw from the race and did not try to face the elements. Only 247 teams crossed the finishline, but 120 were disqualified. Wouter Samama and Jeroen van Leeuwen, sailing on a Tornado Spi, smashed the race and world record with almost twenty minutes. Mischa Heemskerk and Sander de Boer finished about four minutes later with their Hobie Tiger, which was enough for the victory on handicap.

At 8:00 hours on Saturday morning 11 June, race director Jaap Tirion wished all sailors a safe and good race. The north-north-west wind was force 5 to 6 and the waves were high. Participants prepared themselves for a tough challenge. Spectators got ready for an unprecedented spectacle. It was like an exciting show. Xander Pols and Sven de Laaf were the first drop-outs among the favourites. Their M20 with brand new carbon sails capsized in the surf, after which the mast broke immediately. Gerard Loos, Rikkert Graat and Daan Koene followed. Mitch Booth and Herbert Dercksen had bad luck as well. Although they were able to start again, the frames inside their carbon Hobie Concept hulls were cracked, which forced them to give up. Sailors were assisting each other to save masts of capsized catamarans. For others it was too late and they needed help to rescue their equipment. Wouter Samama and Jeroen van Leeuwen were also in troubles. Samama: "I thought it would not be too difficult, but I fell off the boat and we broke the tiller and we damaged the bow. Fortunately, we could repair the damage on the water."

The 4th (annual) running of Hobie 101 occurred Saturday, May 14th at the Sail Sandpoint facility in Seattle. Despite the best efforts of the event organizers to limit attendance to maintain some semblance of order, a surge of late and on-site registration resulted in a class that exceeded last year’s class of 35 people. This year’s class included 38 people in 19 boats, including 12 Hobie 16s, one Hobie 18, 4 Hobie Waves, and two Sol Cats.

We specifically told people they had to pre-register because we wanted to limit the class to a manageable size. But people showed up with friends, relatives, the family dog! It was amazing! We can’t seem to keep them away! exclaimed Peter Nelson, one of the event organizers and teachers of the class. Each year it keeps getting bigger and bigger! We figured two years ago the numbers would peak and start falling. Instead, they just keep growing and growing. People can’t seem to get enough of this class! he added.

This year was the first year event sponsors were formally recognized and introduced to the participants. They included: Hobie Fleet 95; Sail Sandpoint; Hobie Cat Co. and the local dealer, Hobie Cats Northwest; and Harken. Each participant received the Hobie University booklet, a Hobie calendar and waterproof credit card holder from the Hobie Cat. Co. and Hobie Cats NW, and several Harken promotional items. The items were devoured by the attendees, and nothing was left at the end of the day!

The class started out in a jam-packed, standing-room-only classroom at Sail Sandpoint’s sailing facility. After a couple of hours to chalk talk, it moved out to the floating dock. There, Nelson and his regular 16 crew, Laura Sullivan, discussed clothing, safety, and rigging, and demonstrated many boat handling skills. After a delicious box lunch in the parking lot where attendees had the opportunity to informally ask questions and meet and make new friends, those who brought boats set about to rig them. Fleet members from the local Hobie fleet walked around the parking lot and assisted participants with the rigging of their boats.