Alex “The Kid” secures the shot while I jabber relentlessly.
Photo: Meredith Block

Now I’m in Newport to cover the most technically advanced catamaran event of our lifetimes, the Little America’s Cup. The OTWA 7 Team will quench all of your deepest sailing desires with live audio, live tracking, insane pictures, daily stories on Sailing Anarchy (like mine on the front page now!), and some great sailing commentary. You can even chat with us if you log onto justin.tv while we’re live. If you follow this thread from the beginning your brain will slide out your ear like a raw egg, but you’ll know just as much about this event as any of us.

Photo: Jack Young Performance Catamarans

Photo: Meredith Block

Hosted by CRAW and Racine Yacht Club, the 2010 Racine Catamaran Championships was also the 2010 F18 North American Championships. I know, it’s confusing, but screw it…let it go. There was enough politics going on before this regatta to make Blago blush already.

The good part was the Club and CRAW did a killer job with off the water organization. The food was tasty, parties were..um..progressive and the raffle was entertaining. We did run out of complimentary beer on the first day though (no wind).

Photo: Moving-Target-Photography

This was the most talent-filled North American F18 event yet, with no more than 10 teams with a shot at the title. So what happens? The wind takes a Fat Bastard crap almost all week. During the first race of the regatta, the fog was soupy thick and we could not see the top mark until we were about 100 yards from it. I’ve never raced in such a condition. The breeze was pretty non-existant as well. I was expecting the abandonment flag to come out at every corner, but it never happened.

Mischa and Carrie won that race coming out of the fog flying a hull from the far left side in the first leg. Us, the Glasers and Daniel/Stunzi had good starts and were on top of the fleet in the middle. Let me just say the middle was not the place to be as EVERYONE from the left came screaming in destroying us at the top mark. We were left playing Wii tennis and fine tuning our rigs for a couple days after that.

Hold on one friggin second! Check this out. You can read the story, watch the videos and check out the race tracker all at once!

Race tracker is at Kattack. Go to the web player, register then head to the CRAW B-course races. The videos are lower in this post, and you know where the story is.

Wednesday finally came with a bit of breeze from the SSW after a long delay. When the fog finally burned off, ‘Team Matt Damon’ (Matt Struble/Damon LaCasella) turned it up in race two with a bullet. I chose the right (wrong side) for the second race in a row and couldn’t climb out of the super shifty hole. I looked back to count my place in the race at the top mark (about 40th). We were able to cut that in half, but our regatta was not juicy at that point.

Matt-Damon sailing upwind.
Photo: Moving-Target-Photography

The breeze filled a little more for the second race of the day (race three) with the right and left pressure lanes battling each other. The right side was good at times, but by the time they reached the top mark the left side pressure was greater, and there was a convergence zone. Again, off the line we chose the right side, but worked it better on the first leg, taking in plenty of shifts. We came around the top and stayed in the same puff all the way down, which put us close to the top at the gate. We then went to a right lane and took it across the course all the way to the left layline. By the time we were done with that leg we were in second and attacking team Matt-Damon. We ended up second in that one. Macca and Fergie ended up third, capitalizing on that same upwind shift we did.

Macca-Fergie Clinic

Race Three Video

Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

The weather pattern was obvious after race three, and the breeze freshened to 8-12. We had enough of that going right crap. Before the start I noticed a nice pressure patch coming in from the left side and decided to take the pin, which ended up being ENTERTAINING!

Here is an interview with Dalton and I about the day’s racing, especially race 4. There are some other things in the video. Our interview starts at about 3 minutes. There were black flies biting the hell out of us, which makes for a tough interview.

Race 4 video: At about 4 minutes it gets interesting, as well as 11:20 and then 18:30.

Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

Leading Race 4
Photo: Meredith Block

John Tomko and Ian Billings with a third in Race 4.

We treated Race 5 the same as 4, and took the pin again. However, Olli Jason had a nice lane off the start and had the lead in the first leg. We spent the rest of the race trying to attack Olli but hold off the rest of the fleet. We did a great job of that through most of the race, but we learned a big lesson on the last leg. We thought the upwind finish would be set up next to the windward mark, but the RC set the finish about 200 yards to the right. We overstood huge on the left side and went from second to sixth. Our teammates, Robbie Daniel and Hunter Stunzi, ended up winning race five from fourth place.

Photo: Moving-Target-Photography
Robbie Daniel/Hunter Stunzi Interview This is a great conversation between Jack Young (Performance Catamarans) and Robbie Daniel (AHPC).

Here is the vid of Race 5.

Watch live video from onthewateranarchy on Justin.tv

For the first time on the F18, it felt like I had speed to burn. Part of that is a great crew and another part is the boat, rig and sails. After three days of fairing the hulls that boat better have been fast.

Our Velocitek Speed Puck said it was a pretty good day.

Congrats and thanks to all the competitors, CRAW and the Racine Yacht Club in making this event a great time. Congrats also to Trey Brown and Brian Payne, the new Nacra 20 North American Champions.

For pics go to:
Meredith Block’s photos in the forum at SA
Moving-Target-Photos
Surf City Racing Smug Mug

Full Results Here

There was a quite a bit of coverage for this event and now there is a place to see it all at once!

Helm: Dude, check it out, I can put one foot on the hull and one on the rail. Oh, and maybe you should let some main out, bro.
Crew: Don’t bother me, I’m thinking about a turtlehead I’ve got pokin out. I think it’s touching my wetsuit.

Helm: Dude, really??
Crew: What? I’m telling you I’m gonna lay that tird out right now.
Helm: No really, are you gonna sheet out or what?

Crew: Seriously man, I think I can catch it in my hand.
Helm: Aaagh, It smells like a burnt monkey dipped in rotten egg yolks! I’m outta here!

Crew: I caught it, I caught it! I’m coming to show you!

The Red Gear Racing dualie. I had to keep checking to make sure I was still pulling the trailer.

I started this recent spree in Panama City where I dropped John Tomko off his C2 and did some training with Taylor and Matt.

Thanks to Eric Witte, I had a VIPER Club to show the Juniors in yacht clubs in the Annapolis area. When that was all said and done, I journeyed to Eric’s house to make the final exchange to the full load and headed up to Wisconsin for the Formula 18 North American Championships. I’m the first one up here, and we’re putting the boats together tomorrow.

Thursday, the junior winners of the VIPER Club contest show up and we start their training. We also have a Red Gear Racing training camp this weekend for some excellent C2 sailors. Cat sailing is more than alive in the US.

Stay around. We also raced a Henderson 30 last weekend, which is a truly excellent story.

I don’t recommend anyone trying this, but I had to give it a shot. I felt the daggerboard fly by my leg when they went by. If it was any closer it could have folded over it like the shark I hit at the Jacksonville Inlet, a place we aptly nicknamed “Shark Alley.” It’s shot in HD so you can full screen it.

This is 15-year old Taylor at the helm with his equally young crew. I guess I don’t have ‘trust issues.’

Click here to view the embedded video.

You know, there were two sad moments training in the bay at Panama City, FL three weeks ago. The first was cleaning the glob of oil we had on the bow at the end of the day. The second was gybing to miss the oil boom spread out on the southern shore of the north part of the bay. Sad times and good times wrapped up in one day.

Sailed in mostly light to moderate conditions, the 300 mile race did feature some drama on the high-Gulf and close finishes. Two boats were lost, the crews lifted from the cats, with only the platforms salvageable after they washed up on the weed ridden, barren coastine, after a squall ripped through the fleet. Many teams were knocked down and rode the winds out before righting their boats.

The last two days proved to be lollipop conditions, with teams battling it out for leg wins, although it’s not always easy. Team Velocitek took a four minute bite out of Ruff Rider’s 15 minute jump on the third day, leaving Ruff Rider to match race, or stay connected on the last day to maintain their 11 minute lead.

Ruff Rider was not to be denied and finished second corrected for the leg after a sprint to the finish. When Ruff Rider crew, Ian Billings, saw they had a chance to win the leg when the Capricorn of Salva Vida Vela hung up in the surf, he sprang off the boat and started pushing like he’d get deported if they lost. How could he quit with the helm yelling ‘hee-haw’ so loud.

After noticing the effort put forth by the Ruff Rider team, Salva Vida Vela’s ground crew let out a Nordic howl as he willed their Capricorn over the finish line to be crowned leg winners by one second. ‘Spent’ would be the word.

Texas City Dike Yacht Club protected the third position and team Rudderless rounded out the top four.

The elapsed time winner for the last leg and open fleet champion was Yost Auto, who overcame monumental challenges like losing their main in one leg and a rudder in another. Poison Girl ended in second in the open fleet with Jack Flash, the Hobie 18 old school (not an old school sailplan) truly earning the third position.

Head to the OTWA thread on Sailing Anarchy for more interviews and Justin TV action, as well as the GT 300 site for results, and the picasso site for more pics. And of course you can visit my gallery for the GT300 for more pics.

Team Texas City Dike Yacht Club really came through for us, providing their RV for us to abuse all week. Some of the crew even slept in tents. I know it’s hard to compete when you can’t run your program like usual. Thanks a ton. Also, to Billy Richnow, the PRO who was always accessible to us and provided clean, concise answers whenever we asked. The important thing is the competitors ‘get it.’ They gave great interviews and most of the time came over for an interview no matter what situation they were in. Overall, I felt it was a big step in live sailing coverage, and I hope to keep doing it in the future.

Real thanks to Australian High Performance Catamarans, and Red Gear Racing for making this all possible. If you need a fast, solid F18 or F16, this is the one for you, believe me!

Thanks to Australian High Performance Catamarans, makers of the ultra slick Viper F16 and C2 catamarans and Red Gear Racing for making this all possible.