A lot of thanks to North Cape Yacht Club on the western end of Lake Erie (just north of Toledo, OH) for putting together what we are hoping will be a fantastic North American Championship event. With 36 boats pre-registered and rumours of 6-7 other non-registered participants, we are hoping to equal or exceed our record number of competitors we had at Fort Walton Beach Yacht Club last year. The main "guns" of our class will be there and I expect a battle for the podium spots primarily between Lars Guck, Pete Melvin, and Matt Struble. Lars and Pete are expected to be sailing their tried and proven A3's with Hall/Glaser rigs and straight non-canted daggerboards but one of them could surprise us with a change in their boat or rig. Matt will be sailing a Glaser powered EVO HT with curved daggerboards. Potential spoilers for the top three that will also be battling for the remainder of the top 10 spots will most likely be Randy Smyth, Ben Hall, Paul Allen, Oliver Moore, Bob Curry, Chad Atkins, Andrew Gaynor, Woody Cope, Craig Yandow, and Bob Hodges. This championship also awards the top master sailor (50-59) and top grand master (60 and over), both categories have keen inter-rivalries.

Measurement and registration gets started on Saturday afternoon and will continue until Monday morning. A couple of practice races are planned for Monday afternoon. PRO Matt Bounds is planning to run 3-4 races a day Tuesday through Friday. We'll be sending update reports to this forum to keep our fans up to speed on the action.

Sail Fast, Sail Light

Bob Hodges
US A-Class Catamaran Association
USA 230