- Best attended cat nationals of the year - 

The Hurricane5.9SX comes home to Brightlingsea SC. ‘The Church of UK Catamaran sailing’
The 25th edition of the Hurricane Nationals could only be held in one club. So on Sept 27th 28 teams returned to Brightlingsea SC in Essex, to compete as part of the 3rd ‘RegFest’ celebration of UK cat sailing, in the place where it all began with Reginald White MBE.

Just reading the roll of honour surrounding the club bar is a jaw dropping story of Olympic and World Championship glory.

 The protagonists: 

The last six National Champions were lured by this mouth watering prospect. Defending 2011 Champion Richie Hanmore and clubmate 2 time Champion Neil Connelly with his Shearwater crew from 1976, nice one! Sail maker, former National & European Champion, Olympic Nacra dealer and ex-Tornado squad member Grant Piggott, crewed by a very accomplished Simon Farren, were back to avenge a narrow defeat in the 2010 edition. Also in attendance, two time winner John Ready, with a very handy ex-49er GBR Development Squad sailor Jamie Bolingbroke.

Every fleet has its dark horses, this year they came in the shape of the Charlesworth brothers who turned out to be blisteringly fast in a blow and the recently reunited team of Bawden and Wass with their very tasty red and white Hurricane, which would prove to be smashingly fast....

The fleet also included; a youth team, six mixed crews, six brothers and two father/son teams, drawn from Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Central and Southern England.

In recent years the classes coaching programme and uniquely detailed, freely available tuning guide has done much to raise the bar.

So just who would take the title at the church?  

Sorry to announce the 15th Annual Hiram's Haul will be postponed due to the latest Hurricane update, showing a small westerly jog to its course late Friday and into early Saturday. This jog is too unpredictable to try a start.

Those who want to cancel their reservations can do so by Thursday at 6pm to avoid a cancellation fee. So please help get the word out to anyone you know who made reservations at Hiram's. However, many of the reservations are those who were not racing so we will be there at the Halloween Party. Come join us for the fun without the work.



We will try to reschedule the 15th Hiram's Haul for another date. Please check the following sites for updates:

www.SailSeries.com

www.PerfSail.com

www.facebook.com/sailseries

The Great Texas Catamaran Race is an off-shore beach catamaran race along the Texas Coast. Starting in South Padre Island and finishing in Galveston, the race covers approximately 300 miles along the Texas coast over Father's Day weekend. The race is conducted in four stages with each stage starting and ending on the beach.

http://gt300.com

NEWPORT, RI, August 28, 2010 -- If wing technology didn’t have everyone’s attention after BMW Oracle Racing’s victorious 33rd America’s Cup, it definitely does now. The high speeds and almost instant acceleration of cambered foils had members of America’s Cup syndicates, top designers, and all sailors in awe. 

Canadian C Class Catamaran Team of Fred Eaton, Magnus Clarke, Steve Killing, Rob Paterson, and Rossi Milev have been along for the entire ride, one way or another. Clarke, Paterson, and Milev took six months off from their C Class program to manage wing protection for the largest wingmast ever built for a race-boat: BMW Oracle’s (223 foot) 68 metre-tall wing. Reunited in March, their team brought four wings to the International C Class Catamaran Championship hosted by New York Yacht Club on Narragansett Bay this past week.

“Upwind the camber is moderate, but downwind with the flap set at 40 degrees, the wing will produce almost double the force of an equal area soft sail,” explains Killing.

Eaton and Clarke raced Killing’s latest design, Canaan, to a thrilling victory today in the final day of match racing. 

NEWPORT, RI, August 27 -- The wind was light and patchy on this first day of match-racing in the International C-Class Catamaran Championship. Canaan, the black cat raced by the Canadian defenders Fred Eaton and Magnus Clarke, was in her element yesterday, winning three of three races. 

Today, was not so smooth. After a significant shift to the south the seabreeze filled in at 12 knots and the third attempt to run a race was a success. More of a success for Alpha however, sailed by Australians, Glenn Ashby and James Spithill.

At the approach to the line Canaan stalled, losing the start and six legs later the first match-race. 1-0 for Australia. In the fleet race designed for the French, British and second Canadian entry, Orion retired. Invictus, of England, crossed the finish line first, and despite powering around the course, just milliseconds after crossing the line Patient Lady VI’s wing tumbled.

NEWPORT, RI, August 26, 2010 -- What a difference a day makes. Today was all Canaan all the time at the International C-Class Catamaran Championship at the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court. The stars today were the Canadian defenders Fred Eaton and Magnus Clarke, who won all three races, while Alpha, yesterday’s leader, sailed by Australians Glenn Ashby and James Spithill, finished second in all three races. In point of fact, Canaan has won four straight races, winning the last one on Wednesday.

These two teams will match-race tomorrow and Saturday to determine the winner of the International C-Class Catamaran Trophy in play since 1961. This is the 25th iteration of this regatta.

Missing from today’s racing – indeed the competition – was Aethon, sailed by Steve Clark and his nephew, Oliver Moore. Seconds into yesterday's first start, Moore fell overboard and Clark crash landed into the wing, which unfortunately suffered significant damage. They had to drop out of this much anticipated regatta.

Before today's first race Patient Lady VI had some rigging failure, they were towed in to shore and the crew headed back to the race course to observe in an effort to build their knowledge base of the C Class cats. Orion and Invictus  completed all races, often sailing close, but Orion punctured their wing just before reaching shore.

Yesterday the C-Class Catamaran Aethon capsized after the start of race one of the International C Class Catamaran Championship (long nicknamed the “Little America’s Cup”) and her wing was destroyed. The team hit a patch of turbulence left by a freighter for which they were not prepared and were unable to react in time. Crew Oliver Moore lost his footing and was washed off the boat with the mainsheet wrapped around his leg. As the wing rapidly trimmed in, the boat capsized and helmsman Steve Clark, unable to get out of his trapeze in time, fell through the wing, breaking the mast in the process. Both crew members would be fine, and the platform would suffer only minor damages, but what was left of the wing was all but disintegrated in the three-mile tow back to New York Yacht Club’s Harbor Court.

Click to see horrifying video of the crash!

“The thing I would like to stress here,” said Clark, “is that this was not a product of the conditions. It was a freak accident that could have happened at any time, at any wind speed. If the wing is trimmed all the way to windward and can’t be eased the boat will tip over, and these boats are not designed to do that. It’s a tough end to the last 18 months of work Oliver and I put in, but sometimes these things happen.”

NEWPORT, RI, August 25, 2010 -- The nor’easter departed New England today — more or less — and is off to ruin Canada for a couple of days. Its departure — better late than never — gave the half-dozen winged multihulls sailing in the International C-Class Catamaran Championship at the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court a chance to stop talking and start performing. As if they needed any other encouragement.  

Wednesday’s racing took place near Half Way Rock, north of the Pell Bridge, to minimize the remnants of the seas and breeze from the northeast. The wind at the start of the first race was 16 to 20 with puffs pushing it a bit higher. In the first race, Alpha, sailed by Australians Glenn Ashby and James Spithill, had a brilliant port-tack start. It was a shot over the bow. Ashby is an Olympic Silver Medalist and nine-time A-Class, world champion; Spithill was helmsman on BMW Oracle’s wing-sailed trimaran that won the recent 33rd America’s Cup.

Certainly a major story line was the first-leg capsize of Aethon, Steve Clark's and Oliver Moore’s C-Class Cat. This was a new boat for Clark, an American, the absolute prime-mover in the class, who held the International C-Class Catamaran trophy for 11 years, from 1996-2007. Clark has been as important to the class as Tony DiMauro was to the previous generation. These boats motor — on the sunny side of 20 knots — and the disturbed air off a freighter set off a chain reaction that resulted in a capsize and the loss of the wing.

NEWPORT, RI (August 25, 2010) — Six boats and wings are ready to fly, on day two of the 2010 Little America's Cup, aka the International C-Class Catamaran Championship. Instead of racing as planned yesterday, internationally accomplished sailors from five countries played show and tell under the tent at New York Yacht Club. A collection of designers, America’s Cup evaluators and multihull pioneers weren’t too upset that a blustery weather system delayed day one.

One of the most prestigious titles in the world of ultra-high performance sailing, the Championship was last raced in 2007, at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto. There, Canadian challenger Fred Eaton and crew Magnus Clarke sailed Alpha to a 5-0 victory over the previously undefeated Steve Clark’s Cogito.

Of the four catamaran divisions, the C-Class is governed by a simple set of rules that reward outside-the-box thinking in aero and hydrodynamics to create the lightest, fastest course-racing boats on the planet.

“All wings under the C-Class rule are the same area of 300 square feet but it can be distributed in any fashion,” shares Steve Killing, the designer for Fred Eaton’s C-Class program. They are propelled not by traditional fabric sails, but by elegant wings, rigid but with twist capability.

Newport, R.I. (August 5, 2010) – Steve Clark has been dreaming of winning back the Little America’s Cup for the USA ever since he lost it to Canada in 2007. In 1996, Clark’s 25- foot C-Class Catamaran Cogito (pronounced with a soft g) had blown away designers and engineers with its mammoth wing sail and unmatchable speed, and with helmsman Duncan MacLane and crew Erich Chase it handily defeated Australia’s defender Edge IV on Port Phillip Bay to win the International C-Class Catamaran Championship, fondly referred to as the Little America’s Cup.

Cogito became and remained the gold standard of C-Class Catamarans for the next eleven years, a place in C-Class cat history to which Clark wishes to return by entering his new boat, Aethon, launched earlier this year, in the 2010 Little America’s Cup, set for August 22-28 off Newport. Clark’s goals for this Cup are oddly reminiscent of what they were for the 1996 event. Clark’s first experience in the C-Class had been in 1985 when he was involved in Patient Lady VI’s unsuccessful defense of the Cup, losing to Australia’s Victoria 150. It was largely this defeat that drove Clark to develop Cogito. Now, his “Cogito Project” is back where it started: testing a new boat and taking aim at winning the Cup back again.

After a tough weekend at the Islander Reef Run, the second race of the Endurance Series hopes to be an easier day on the water with a much shorter course. Gilligan's Run is the shortest course on the Endurance Series schedule. At just under 30 miles, the race starts and ends at the Acapulco Hotel and Resort in Daytona Beach Shores. The course usually runs North to a mark just offshore from the Ocean Deck Restaurant, then South to round a Ponce De Leon Inlet ocean marker buoy, then back north to the start. The weekend is topped off by awards presentation and fish fry at Steve and Cindy Caron's house within walking distance from the Finish line which is always attended by most participants.

Texel/Netherlands, June 11 2010 - A week prior to the start of the 2010 Zwitserleven Round Texel Race on Saturday June 19, the organization received 448 pre-entries. The high quality fleet represents fifteen countries. World's biggest cat race is part of the Zwitserleven Sailing Week, and so is the 2010 Grand Prix/Europeans Slalom Windsurfing. This event takes place under the auspices of the International Funboard Class Association. More than fifty surfers from eight different nationalities have subscribed so far.

The Zwitserleven Round Texel Race is about two different competitions. It includes the battle for the line honours and for the overall victory on handicap. The equipment plays an important role in the first case and development assumes large proportions. Xander Pols (NED) won the line honours twice before, but lost them in 2009 to William Sunnucks and Simon Farren. This British duo brought out new big guns by introducing an extra wide M20, which has meanwhile been copied by many competitors, like Pols. Also the curved dagger boards will finally enter the infamous cat race. John Moret and Danny Radelaar from the Netherlands, third over the line in 2009, will use the same set-up as Pols.

500 miles in 6 Days up the Atlantic Coast - The Tybee 500 is an extreme sailing endurance race from Islamorada in the Florida Keys to Tybee Island, GA. The annual race begins May 10th at the Islander Resort in the Florida Keys and continues up the coast for six days, arriving on Tybee Island May 15th.

Each day there is a spectacular beach launch through the Atlantic surf that is very exciting for race fans on the scene. After the teams leave the beach the race is covered live on the Tybee 500 website at http://Tybee500.com . Each catamaran will carry the Spot™ satellite tracking beacon enabling a realtime view of the race on the website while the teams are offshore.

Race Schedule: Starts are 10am, finish times vary.

• May 10 Start from Islander Resort, Islamorada, FL and finish at Ramada Hollywood Beach Resort, Hollywood, FL.
• May 11 Start from Ramada Hollywood Beach Resort, Hollywood, FL and finish at Jupiter Beach Resort, Jupiter, FL.
• May 12 Start from Jupiter Beach Resort and finish at the International Palms Resort, Cocoa Beach, FL.
• May 13 Start from the International Palms Resort, Cocoa Beach, FL and finish at the La Playa Resort, Daytona Beach, FL.
• May 14 Start from the Playa Resort, Daytona Beach, FL and finish at the Amelia Hotel, Fernandina Beach, FL.
• May 15 Start from the Amelia Hotel, Fernandina Beach, FL and finish at the Oceans Plaza Beach Resort, Tybee Island, GA.

This will be the 8th annual race, beginning in 2003 where two man teams battle the open ocean, equipment breakdowns, and fatigue to be the first on the beach at Tybee Island. Sailors appear as alien figures wearing their protective gear. Each sailor carries enough food and drink to compete for up to 20 hours, in case light winds keep them offshore longer than expected.

TheBeachcats.com is happy to announce the launch of www.Tybee500.com a new website for the 2010 Tybee 500 long distance catamaran race. Teams wishing to enter this years race from Islamorada, FL up the East Coast of Florida to Tybee Island, GA can begin the registration process by filling out the simple online registration form.

There are over 3,000 photos from past years races, so be sure and take a look and see if you spot anyone you know.

Each team that is accepted to participate in this epic adventure will be provided with a team profile page on the Tybee500.com site. News items and updates posted on the site will be automatically tweeted, so be sure to add Tybee500 to your twitter account.

2009 NACRA North American Championship

The 2009 Nacra North American Championships was held in Fort Walton Beach, Florida the week of October 12-15, 2009 and was sponsored by Performance Sports, Inc, the manufacturer of NACRA racing catamarans, Annapolis Performance Sailing, Harken USA, Emerald Sails, and ZHIK USA.  The event was hosted by the multihull friendly Fort Walton Yacht Club on beautiful Choctawhatchee Bay.  The North American Championships, or NAs, was open to the Nacra 20 class, the Nacra F18 class, and the Nacra F17 class.  However, the Nacra F18 class decided not to attend leaving only the 20s and F17s to mix it up on the bay.  Four races a day were scheduled for the 4 day event.

DAY 1 – Monday, October 12th

Monday dawned with sunny skies and a south to south west wind building to 8-12kts.  The FWYC Commodore said a few words welcoming all the teams and after skippers meeting, the sailors finished rigging their boats and set sail for a 1200 start.  The order of starts for the week was the 20s first followed by the F17s not on a rolling start.  The courses were US Sailing multihull courses 5G and 6G with an upwind finish leaving one more chance to be a hero or a zero!

After the fourth race of the day in the 20 fleet, Alex Shafer/Nigel Pitt wrapped up the day with finishes of 1, 1, 1, 2 to lead the fleet.  Wisconsin favorite Guy Selsmeyer was not far behind with finishes of 2, 2, 3, 6.  There was a big collision at the start of race 1 involving Kirk Newkirk and Chris Blake resulting in one of Kirk’s rudders coming off the boat.  Chris quickly sailed up to Kirk and the crews swapped boats.  Nice!!  Kirk went on to sail scoring a 4th and setting up a redress situation for the end of the day while Chris headed back to the beach for repairs.

In the F17 fleet, former 2 time class champion Bob Curry showed the way with an awesome first day score of 1, 1, 1, 1 followed by Jim Leonard with a score of 2, 3, 2, 2.  Curry was challenged at 2 A mark roundings and 1 gate by Bill Gillispie.  The battle line was being drawn between Jim and Bill as only 2 points separated them after the day’s racing.  It wasn’t very long after the races were concluded that the boats were washed off by mother nature.

As of 2009, the Round Texel Race is to be continued as Zwitserleven Sailing Week. This high-performance event unites spectacular activities that rise the adrenalin. For decades the main focus was on the Round Texel Race itself, whereas the new program becomes more extensive, challenging and longer. Not only for the competitive and recreational sailors, but also for the audience. The first considerable addition is the 2009 World Championship Windsurfing Slalom that will attract world's best windsurfers.

From June 8 until June 13, the Texel beach at Paal 17 will be the center of everything that sails on the sea, beach and through the surf at high speed. The Dutch Championship Catamaran sailing has expanded to three full (instead of half) racing days and the ultimate Round Texel Race on June 13. After the last finish on the first three days, the participants are welcome to compete in the TNG Short Track Races. The exciting finals will be held on Friday. There is also more to do for fun seekers, as the Light House Race to the northern point of Texel will be added to the traditional Horstocht to the south.

On the second day of the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta 2008, the fleet of 41 teams had to deal with tricky sailing conditions on the Caribbean Sea. From time to time, big clouds brought rain showers and gusts. That resulted in a shifty and variable breeze, which made it an interesting competition. Dutchmen Booth and Nieuwenhuis are still in the lead by one point, with Xander Pols and Frank de Waard (NED) in second position. Last year’s winners Eduard Zanen and Mischa Heemskerk (NED) climbed to a third place. Henk-Johan Hankart and the Grijpma brothers are first overall in the fleet of slower catamarans.

Today’s weather required a lot more trimming and smart racing. The winning strategy was about getting the shifts and pressure right. Sunburned legs and arms had a rest, as it was mostly clouded. The morning breeze was about 8 knots strong, but in the afternoon it picked up to 16 knots and more. During lunchtime on the Aruba beach, the competitors could share their experiences and reconsider their tactics. Or simply enjoy the Aruba hospitality. Late afternoon, they decided to have their happy hour in sea, as the rain was pouring down in a tropical shower.