By Dan DeLave

I wanted to talk about the weekends regatta but first I would like to point out that there seems to be an increasing understanding that since the yacht clubs are running more regattas these days for multihulls there are more yacht club members in our ranks. For example 8 of the 11 entries in the Formula 18 event are members of yacht clubs. There are also sailing associations that are worth looking into if there is a monetary concern. Pick one that is a member of the Southern California Yachting Association. This will open up even more events to multihulls.

This weekends regatta started off with a threat of a high pressure system hanging over or near the Long Beach event. That would not be good for the typically good conditions that most people come to the event for. That high pressure system either did not fully materialize or went away somewhere.

The noon start saw about 5 MPH of breeze and most of the boats made it to the starting line on time. Dave Sparkuhl, sailing with Karen Christensen, was giving lessons to the Formula 18 group on how to sail in that light breeze. He took the lead and kept finding ways to increase boat lengths to finish in a comfortable first. Followed by Steve Leo then Jeff Petron.

Texas City Dike Yacht Club (Fleet 8), Division 6 and the Texas Offshore Multi hull association are proud to present Wayward Winds 2005. This open class multihull regatta will take place at the Texas City Dike on September 24th & 25th 2005.

For up to the minute information, results and photographs go to http://texascitydike.com


Please RSVP to help us with planning.

For more information email seagreen@texascitydike.com

Chris Green
Commodore,
Texas City Dike Yacht Club (Fleet 8)

Ventura provided the best wind of the week on Thursday at the Hobie 16 North Americans topping out at about twenty knots. Four races were sailed ending the Semi-Finals. On Thursday night the Gold and Silver fleets were announced at the classes traditional Cut Party. Friday is the final day of the event. The Silver fleet is scheduled to race in the morning and the Gold fleet will sail in the afternoon.

Going into the last day it is a foregone conclusion that the event winner will come form Hobie Division 13. Division 13 includes Puerto Rico, Mexico and Guatemala.

The race committee has eased up a bit on the schedule today running only three races. This ensures that all of the teams have had an equal number of races at the end of the day as we get towards Friday, the last day and the Gold fleet finals.

Enrique Figueroa an Olympic Tornado sailor from Puerto Rico sailing with his wife Carla is still in the lead. Figueroa is working towards his fifth North American Championship in the Hobie 16 this week. Family teams and couples teams are the norm in the Hobie 16 class and it’s very common to see one of them on the top of the score sheet.

The provided boat format of this year’s event has brought some top-level international competition to the North Americans this year with competitors hailing from seven countries.

It was a late day on the water with the final race of the day ending at 7:30. After waiting for wind all morning racing finally got started at 2:30 in the afternoon. The wind built slowly throughout the day and each group got in one race with double trapeezing conditions at the end of the day. Each team sailed two races today with four races total.

Defending champions from Mexico Armando Noriega and Roderigo Achach are off to a good start and lead the series. Americans Kieth Christensen, a three time past champion, and Kristen King are in second.

The favored team from Puerto Rico, Enrique and Carla Figueroa jumped the gun at the first start but managed to salvage a 15 after re-starting. They were second in their second race.

There are lots of young teams at the top of the field this year. Juani Maegli and Christina Guirola from Guatemala came to California directly from the ISAF Youth Worlds and are presently in seventh place.