Boy am I busy today..

Eurocat 2011 on JCWW
Eurocat 2011 Gallery

252 BOATS REGISTERED in 4 divisions - Wow, what a regatta.

Full results are available on EUROCAT RESULTS

f18 numbers are down this year, I think that there were 140 in 2010
that meant that they raced in 2 groups of 70. This year,100 f18s, and they all sail off of one start which has lead to a shed load of black flags.

We had one start last year.

Eurocat Update after Sunday's Racing from Bundy's Twitter:

"Congrats to Mischa & Bas for a consistent regatta to take the win. Thanks for making the racing fun & pushing hard."
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"Ahhh whoops! Well not sure we got beaten but we sure did a good job of loosing. Score 1,bfd,2,1,2,bfd,2. Enjoyable sailing and nice racing."

bfd?

black flagged

Nice series, the black flags are a kick in the nuts!

I do wonder how accurate the registration of BFDs is though, on one race on friday we got one while we where on the 2nd start row and where not even close to being over early.
On sunday we had two DNSs (R1+R4) while we sailed all four races, still have no clue why we got those.

Sailing on sunday was really good, lots of wind but still very sailable.
Was pleasantly surprised with sailing the wildcat downwind, not nearly as dive happy as I thought is would be.

100+ trigger happy F18s is too many on one line to keep order!

Don't the class rules prescribe a maximum of 70 or 80? or is that just for world champs?

"I do wonder how accurate the registration of BFDs is though, on one race on friday we got one while we where on the 2nd start row and where not even close to being over early. On sunday we had two DNSs (R1+R4) while we sailed all four races, still have no clue why we got those."

You're entitled to a hearing if you file for redress. RCs make mistakes all the time, the good ones are more than happy to fix them.

"100+ trigger happy F18s is too many on one line to keep order! Don't the class rules prescribe a maximum of 70 or 80? or is that just for world champs?"

While difficult, it can be done. Mid-line RC boats would be a good place to start.

Mike

We got BFDed as well on race 2. We were second row, behind Micha at the start, confident that he knew where the line was and that he was going to make a hole for us by starting like a bullet as usual. Turns out all of us around that area of the line where apparently ahead of the line (hard to judge when you can't see either end of it

Nice regatta, we enjoyed the long distance, but not so much the around the cans races: 100's boats on a start line and my skipper (new to his boat) was not really confident in his boat handling. Not a good combination for good results. I don't think we hit the start line less than 45 seconds late once!

Pepin

What size of events do you guys in the EU get pumped for. The culture seems to be... the more the merrier on the line.

{100 boats on the line is inconceivable... heck.. 100 boat regattas are in the rear view mirror these days)

Are the huge events like Carnac and Texel plus the European championships the focus of your schedule?

In the US, Jamie D took a survey several years ago and found that most of the US fleet wanted a 15 to 20 boat start.. We really seem to not want to see events like Carnac..
God knows a 70 boat handicap start would be unique over here.

When you have a 200 boat world championships there will be 100 on the start line every time.

The problem is Carnac bouy racing is only a two day event, so to break the fleet up is a little pointless.

For sure, I've had my probs with BFDs at Carnac though.

if the PRO uses "Lazer beams" across the start line, the offending teams would not be able to repeat that offense.. and it would be pretty obvious who did...

Haha, that would be one expensive regatta for those of us that like to push the line. General rule is to be over 1 in every 10 starts or you aren't pushing the line hard enough.

Starts really depend on how the line is set. In college racing they purposefully keep the line super short, such that in an 18 boat fleet, 9 boats are usually forced to a second row start. 18 F18's wasn't very crowded on the Spring Fever line 2 weekends ago. Starts were still tough but not crazy. I say the more the merrier-I think race organizers will figure out how to handle 50+ boat fleets, lets just get the fleet sizes to that point!

Or sharks with "LASERS" on their freakin heads!