Bruce,
Alas, I was on Race committee for Catfight, therefore, I cannot say. The A2 that was there did not correct out or even beat the best of the F17s. Keith is new to the A Class, as am I, and though he was fast to weather, the F17s in those conditions were faster downwind and faster around the courses set (windward - leeward with start line below leeward mark and finish line half way between windward and leeward mark). Interestingly, at this year's CRAM Regattas, the 2005 F17s seem almost as fast as the F18, the top F17 finishing within the top 2 or 3 F18s when they start together. I can feel that the 2005 is lighter than my 2000 when I move boats around on the beach, and it seems to be faster than the earlier boats. The skippers are better than I was, so that may be a big part of the reason for the improvement.
As for the A2 that was at Catfight, he did not "wild thing" in those conditions, and only raced in 4 of the 11 races. It sure got alot of attention on the beach from the other sailors!
Conditions on the race course on Friday were quite lumpy. I was standing up in a 23 foot Four Winns and often I could not see over the tops of the waves when we were in a trough. I estimate 6 to 8 feet from bottom of trough to top of wave on Friday morning. The waves on Lake Michigan are very close together, so it is unlike the waves I experienced in the Carribean. I heard someone saying that you could really fly downwind on Port tack, but couldn't generate the same speed on Starboard Tack. The waves and wind direction were not coordinated. On Saturday, the waves and wind were down compared to Friday, with Sunday bringing more wind and waves back. The lowest wind reading I heard from Race Committee was between 9 and 10 knots late on Saturday. Our boat (setting marks and helping with overturned boats) had radio problems so I didn't hear all the wind readings. The highest I heard was 18 knots on Friday. There were lots of boats over this weekend, and in one race on Saturday, the 3rd place F18 and 5th place F18 flipped just as they rounded or approached the leeward mark for the last time! At the same time we were at the leeward mark to offer assistance, the other chase boat was helping a turtled Tornado. After that we offered assistance to a Hobie Tiger, all in one race on the last downwind leg of that race. A couple of times, both chase/mark boats were helping or standing by flipped boats in different parts of the race course. I saw five boats turtle in these condidtions (the most I have ever seen in one regatta). We helped one Tiger get upright (water filled the mast) and watched a Tornado self right from being turtled. While we stood by, a Nacra F18 got the mast back to the surface from being turtled, and eventually got it back upright.
Less than 1/3 of the boats registered were on the water for the first 2 races Friday and the last 2 races on Sunday!
Bruce, I was hoping that you might find your way to one of our regattas while in the Midwest and we could meet. I hope you had a good time! Hurricane season approaches in your neck of the woods! Take care!
