Lake Neusiedl, Austria, May 19th 2006 - Team Zwitserleven Booth/Dercksen is close to a medal at the ISAF WorldS ailing Games 2006 in Austria. After eight races on Lake Neusiedl, the Dutchmen are second on the points table of the Hobie Tiger class. The Australians Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby are leading. The medal race on May 20 will be decisive for the final podium ranking. According to Mitch Booth, the competition is close. Theoretically, it could be a win or a tenth.

Before Herbert Dercksen starts to talk about today's racing in Austria, he expresses his feelings about the tragedy onboard ABN AMRO II: This is a really tragic story and our deepest sympathy go out to all at the ABN Amro team, and our hearts go out to Hans=92 family and close friends.

Team Full Tilt Race Report, Saturday, May 20, 2006
My crew Corey M. & I entered my Tornado "Full Tilt" in the annual "Hardway" distance event this past Saturday. This race starts in Santa Barbara and finishes in Ventura harbor. There are several courses between the different fleets participating. The ORCA class big multi's typically go around Santa Cruz island for a ~70 mile distance...though this year they voted for the lesser 45 mile option of going around Anacapa island.

This year's event was officially opened up to the beachcats for the first time thanks to much lobbying by several individuals, including Ventura Nacra driver John S. Though John could not make the event himself, he did a lot of leg work promoting the it and even shuttled teams to SB the morning to the race!

We had 7 boats turn out....4 I20's, 1 Hobie Tiger, 1 Prindle 19 with spinnaker and our T. We were given the shortest course, sharing with the non-spinnaker class keelboats. Start outside SB harbor, Oil Rig Platform "C", Platform "Habitat", Platform "Grace" then finish inside Ventura harbor...for a 29 mile race distance.

May 19th, 2006 -- Team Tybee Island sailors John Casey and Kenny Pierce completed the 500 miles from Hollywood, FL to Tybee Island, GA in just 44 hours, 15 minutes and 54 seconds to win their 3rd Tybee 500 victory. Team Tybee made history by being the first team to win each individual leg in addition to the overall title. Daily event videos, pictures, and updates may be viewed at www.Tybee500.com.

Five other teams finished the race with three teams dropping out or being disqualified for receiving outside assistance. Team Tygart Racing had finished in the top 3 almost every leg, but on the last leg just miles from the finish, it was evident that something was wrong.

Just Swell! MBYC Cat Fight, San Diego, California, by Connie Brown

What is cold (51 degrees), has a sizable storm swell, rains and has sun? A great weekend of Cat racing!  On Saturday wind direction was due west at 270 degrees and blowing in the teens with swells from trough to peak from 8-10ft. Event coordinator, Carl Teyssier, noted that it was, “an educational day for skippers and crew”.

I had a different platform for this year’s Mission Bay Yacht Club Cat Fight. Usually, I would be hanging off the side of a cat catching a stiff breeze but this year I had a great ride on a 36ft Monohull Committee boat photographing the days events and the photo opts kept coming.

The swells on the first day crested one right after the other and sent several committee boats riders to the side rails more then once.  Racing was a hard and fast. With several boats capsizing and a few completely turtled, some needed chase boat assistance. By the end of the second race on Saturday, more then half the boat had heading in. The other diehard teams wanted more. The Race Committee obliged.

Spring Fever at Lake Hartwell, Georgia, (April 14-16) is a professionally run catamaran regatta that is one of the top events in the Eastern USA. Lake Hartwell, located on the border of Georgia and South Carolina is a great place for a regatta, great camping right onsite. See Spring Fever 2005 Pictures

This year it is also the Southern Area Formula-18 Championship. (See Calendar Listing) All beach catamarans are welcome and Forumula 14, H16, H18, Isotope, Mystere 4.3, NACRA 5.8, NACRA 20 fleets, as well as others, are expected.

The event is presented by Nigel Pitt, well known catamaran sailor. Since this is a large regatta, Nigel has an urgent need to have a good idea who is coming.

"Our original concept for Spring Fever was to bring together all makes of catamarans and rebuild the fun that we all used to enjoy at the large regattas. Our goal was, and is, to have 100 or more teams and their families getting together in a fun but competitive atmosphere."

So please, if you are planning to attend Spring Fever, fill out the registration form: 2006 Spring Fever Pre-Registration Form.