Sorry Bret,
HE WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE DEPTH OF THIS TALENT POOL
No I don't and I will show you why.
A counter example :
Number 6 at the 30 boat A-cat nationals 2006 finished 4th in his 21 boat fleet qualifier. At double the points then the team at place 3.
This guy was the highest ranking A-cat sailor (nationals 2006) to have participated in his qualifier.
Another counter example :
Lars Guck won all 14 races during the 2006 nationals ending up at 12 points overall (2 strike-outs)
Phill Kinder had a subscription to 2nd place here and ended up at 31 points overall
And Bob Hodges (3rd) was never much danger to #1 and #2 as he ended up at 58 points overall
Number 4, Ben Hall, his high scores were a single 2nd, a single 3rd and a single 4th bringing him to 72 overall.
Pete Melvin, number 5, ended up at 82 points in total. Guess it was not his event as he also scored a 29th, 27th, 26th and a 24th (Is this the reigning A-cat world champion ? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> ). With such wipe-outs in a 30 boat fleet he shouldn't be in 5th overall if the other sailors knew a thing or two about sailing fast (depth ?).
This was not a particulary hotly contested event was it now ? The first indication that a class may not have much depth.
Counter example number 3 :
Number 6th (out of 30) at the A's also raced in the F18 north Americans and got 14th (out of 40). So I guess the F18 fleet was just a tad more challenging.
At least number 7 at the F18 nationals (40 boats) won his qualifier after a hot battle with number 2 of that same F18 event. With number 14 and 16 ending up at 4th and 5th in the same qualifier. All raced in a 21 boat qualifier.
So I call BS to any "special depth" claim to the A-cat class. It is just like any other class and as such it is nothing special.
Now it is time the A-catters themself learn this. Just as they have to learn that the racing doesn't stop at the first A-mark. (sorry I couldn't resist that)
If your claim is however that I'm a little arguative know-it all then I'm afraid that you are 100 % correct.
Wouter
