Category: Reporting

<img src="http://www.thebeachcats.com/albums2/album165/11KC3123.thumb.jpg" width="150" height="99" border="2" align="left" vspace="5" hspace"5">Aruba, November 11th 2003 – The top ten competition of this year’s Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta is strong. On Tuesday November 11th 2003, the gap between the numbers one and two overall decreased to one point. The British team Sunnucks/Self is still leading, followed by the Dutch Formula 18 sailors Larsen/Pols and Graat/Koene.

After breakfast in seabreeze, the competitors had to wait for wind. At half past ten, the postponement flag was taken down and the fleet left the beach for the starting line. Due to light winds, the course was short, but it still took small boats a long time to get around in the burning sun. Two Inter 20 teams, Breur/Buyse and Deutekom/De Vries, from the Netherlands were in the lead. They managed to stand the heat of the British Tornado’s and finished in the first and second position, followed by Sunnucks/Self. Team Larsen/Pols stayed close and got a third place on rating after the two Nacra’s Inter 20. Sunnucks: “Gunnar is very good. He’s always there. I think he will win.”

Aruba, November 10th 2003 – On Monday November 10th 2003, the British team Sunnucks/Self moved into the overall lead of the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta. The Dutch Formula 18 teams Larsen/Pols and Graat/Koene claimed the second and third position overall. Due to light winds, the race committee had to shorten the two races of today.

Today’s first race started with light wind conditions. After a general recall the fleet started correctly at the second signal. The first upwind lap was nerve-racking with lots of wind shifts. While sailing downwind the wind direction shifted about 180 degrees. As a result, the spinnakers were taken down and the race committee decided to let the teams finish after rounding the first gate. The British couple Julia and Ashly Machin, sailing a Hurricane 5.9, had a good race, which resulted in a second place on rating. Yesterday’s leaders, Richard Allen and Stuart Gummer, sailed a dramatic race. After a good start, they ended up in a windless part of the course. A 37th position was the result.

Here's a first person account of solo Hobie 16 catamaran sailing from the Gold Cup Regatta that was sailed Nov. 8-9, on Lake Meade, NV.

I counted 10 Hobie 16 catamarans at the Gold Cup on Lake Mead this past weekend. While there was no wind for sailboat racing on Saturday, Sunday was awesome.

Performance Race Week 2003 combined with Formula 18s prove a successful North American Championship

Performance Catamarans, the builders of NACRA, Prindle and Inter catamarans invited the Formula 18 class to join their 2003 Performance North American Championships held in Pensacola Florida October 13th through 16th.

Monday morning the skies were gray with a light NE at 5-10 knots. The Race Committee set up a "Course 2" and the racing got underway by 11:00 am. Then the wind started to. Only seven of the Inter 20 teams to complete the course before the time limit expired.

The Alter Cup Committee has accepted a proposal from the Hobie Cat Company to provide boats for the 2004 and the 2005 US SAILING Multihull Championship regattas for the Hobie Alter Cup. The 2004 event will tentatively be hosted in June of 2004 in the Long Island Sound area, and sailed on the Hobie 16. The 2005 event will be sailed in April or May 2005 in Southern California on the Hobie Tiger.

2003 Qualifying and ladder events throughout the US are mostly complete, and a roster of teams that will be invited to compete in the 2004 Hobie Alter Cup will be finalized in January 2004. The list of qualified teams will be posted on the Alter Cup website at www.ussailing.org/alter. A schedule of 2004 qualifying events for the 2005 Hobie Alter Cup in California will be posted on the website in the early spring 2004.