I represented Area H (Pacific NW) and had a blast. I am a Hobie 16 sailor that had his eyes opened WIDE by the spinnaker boat! The Inter 20 is smooooooth. Hands down. An F18 would've had us pitchpoling more than we did! What a ride!
I was so pumped when I got home I wrote the following which Darline posted on the Alter Cup website. Hope you enjoy.
Thoughts by Peter Nelson on Hobie Alter Cup 2006 Everyone came away a winner at this year’s Alter Cup held March 18-23 in Pensacola Beach, Florida. With 18 starts, 9 full races and five consecutive days of sailing on Nacra 20s, all of the competitors walked away smiling, tired and satisfied (if not a little bit drunk)!
Even though every competitor was a winner, that trite term does little to convey what really happened. So in order to give you a better understanding of the experience, here is a list of real winners from the event.
Best Cueball – (tie) Bob Curry and John Casey. It’s Dr. Evil and Mini-me all over again!
Best Mascot – (tie) Kirk Newkirk’s “Sinbad” owns that strip of Pensacola Beach and Tom Hall’s setter “Rigby.”
Best Crash – Olli & Kelly Jason’s pitchpole rounding the weather mark. Go to Jake Kohl’s website at
www.teamseacats.com to check the video footage.
Best Foosball – I wasn’t there, but apparently Jacques Bernier has a sick wrist! Honorable Mention: Adam Borcherding.
Best Pig Boat -- #10. Just ask anyone!
Best Day of Sailing – (tie) Tues. & Wed. saw 17-20k consistent with gusts to 24. Hey, nothing drives like a rental!
Best Win – Sue Korz’s coming from behind at the leeward mark to squeak past Kirk Newkirk/Glenn Holmes at the finish by ¼ boat length and Peter Nelson/Tom Hall by a full boat length in Heat 5B.
Best Nickname – “Porkchop;” party master extraordinaire at the Pensacola Beach Yacht Club.
Best Drink – Genella’s Margarita at PBYC.
Best Mark Rounding – Nelson/Hall almost taking out the photo boat while out of control and flying a hull. John Tomko got the worst of it when he got squeezed out on the outside. Check it out in video at
www.teamseacats.com. Best Partiers – (tie) too many to list, but the usual suspects included names like Borcherding, Pitt, Korte, Winquist, Bernier and Stunzi. Kurt Korte/Brad Winquist definitely gave the best team effort!
Best Hat – Jim Sohn’s psychedelic bandana. Whew! What’s in that guy’s coffee?
Best Drunk – Kirk Newkirk. Any questions?
Cutest Babes – (tie) The buff Sue Korz and the hottie Kristen King.
Cutest PBYC “Babe” – there were several to choose from, but Jo Dee Cantrell’s flirtatious eyes win out.
Best RV Graphics – Robbie Daniel/Hunter Stunzi’s decked out, Home Depot-sponsored Olympic 5th wheel. Honorable Mention – Dave Lennard added a silhouette of an F18 onto the crest of his RV’s wave graphic.
Best Blues Brother imitation – John Tomko’s 24/7 shades. He must sleep with those things on!
Most Likely To Succeed – The youth team of Michael Siau/Sam Ingham was unfazed by the big breeze, the big boat and big kite. They performed admirably – only capsizing once.
Nicest Team – Mike Krantz/Dave Lennard. These guys would let you run over them with a steamroller, then thank you for parting their hair!
Most Likely to “Get Lucky” – Boudreaux wearing the pimp vest that he wore at the awards ceremony!
Best ride – Mike & Rebecca Krantz’s BMW 530i. Sweet ride.
Best Dressed – Alex Shafer/Nigel Pitt. They redefined the “2-for-1 Closeout Rack.” Off the water they dressed impeccably. On the water, it’s the Bobbsy twins, and not just with one set of gear – day after day after day!
I am sure others will have different choices, but that’s it from my perspective. One word of advice – don’t die without doing Alter Cup at least once!!
Peter Nelson from Area H
