Tom,

I also expect some really close racing this year. Sawyer has pushed Batchelor (2002 NA Championships) until knocked out with broken mast. Gillespie and Batchelor have raced very close to each other at times this year (though Batchelor and Gillespie started the year on F-18s). It seems the Weatherman has been successful on his new boat in your area. I think the wind strength will be a significant factor in the results. I also believe that we will see others in the fleet come out on top in some of the races. I agree with you that the racing will be very close.

I have experienced the same thing you have, that the faster racers are very willing to share their rig settings and techniques with others in the fleet. It is one of the things that I always liked about racing beach catamarans! I remember talking to Jon Lindahl when I was first sailing my 18 Square, and Jon said he wanted the whole fleet to get faster, to push each other to make everyone faster. Jon dominated our 18 Sq. fleet back in the 80s and I will never forget the Nationals in Traverse City when Wild Turkey came (Wing Boat that Stars and Stipes catamaran was modelled after) and Jon won the event in head-to-head racing against Craig Riley. It was really exciting to see the soft rig beat the hard wing rig! The point is that we had a strong fleet and we all worked to keep getting faster. In the end, Jon beat Craig, and I think the fleet working together (as opposed to against each other) made all of us faster.