After a wash-out thunderstorm 1st day, the F18 euros got started on lake como [italy] today. here is the top 10:


No
Sailno
Name
Scores
1
2
3


1
NED 7
Mischa Heemskerk, Bastiaan Tentij, Yamaha, Toplenzen.nl, Renault
6,0
1
2
3


2
AUS 8
Jean-christophe Mourniac, Franck Citeau, Nissan Hobie Cat Pro-team
7,0
3
2
2


3
GBR 756
Hugh Styles, Ryan Crawford, Downs sailing club
8,0
5
1
2


4
AUS 300
Andrew Macpherson, Jerone Van leewen, WSC
9,0
2
1
6


5
AUS 102
Greg Goodall, Brett Goodall, Port Melbourne
17,0
2
6
9


6
SUI 5
Gavin Colby, Corsin Camenisch, Perth
18,0
1
14
3


7
NED 247
Gunnar Larsen, Stephan Dubbeldam, Hwsv
19,0
4
10
5


8
GER 168
Jorg Gosche, Arne Gosche, Nissan Hobie Cat Pro team
20,0
15
4
1


9
FRA 2066
Moana Vaireaux, Romain Petit, SRBrest
22,0
8
3
11


10
NED 246
Willem Geijssen, Rico Van capelle, ZV de Roerkoning
23,0
5
3
15

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see the complete list: http://www.f18euro2007.eu/modules/news/article.php?storyid=15

I was going through the F18 Europeans picture gallery and noticed something about the AUS 8 mainsail (Sailed by Mourniac).
It doesnt look like a Hobie off-the-shelf sail and its also different than the one used at Texel:


Sail used at Texel (Bundy+Ashby):


Any thoughts?

The Texel sail looks like an SX.

The F-18 Euros sail is an STX - the head is about 23cm longer. It also doesn't have a window, which has been in every stock Hobie sail I've seen.

What did you spot that was different?

Who said Team Nissan needed to run a stock sail?

After 6 races :

1 GBR 756 Hugh Styles, Ryan Crawford, Downs sailing club 8,0 (5) 1 2 2 2 1
2 NED 7 Mischa Heemskerk, Bastiaan Tentij, Yamaha, Toplenzen.nl, Renault 9,0 1 2 (3) 2 1 3
3 AUS 8 Jean-christophe Mourniac, Franck Citeau, Nissan Hobie Cat Pro-team 14,0 3 2 2 6 1 (13)
4 NED 246 Willem Geijssen, Rico Van capelle, ZV de Roerkoning 23,0 5 3 (15) 1 10 4
5 FRA 2066 Moana Vaireaux, Romain Petit, SRBrest 25,0 8 3 (11) 5 2 7
6 NED 201 Remco Kenbeek, Thijs Visser, WS Spakenburg 27,0 9 11 (28) 1 3 3
7 SUI 5 Gavin Colby, Corsin Camenisch, Perth 28,0 1 15 3 3 (19) 6
8 AUS 102 Greg Goodall, Brett Goodall, Port Melbourne 30,0 2 6 9 (12) 8 5
9 NED 247 Gunnar Larsen, Stephan Dubbeldam, Hwsv 32,0 4 10 5 (17) 4 9
10 GER 164 Helge Sach, Christian Sac´h, Potsdamer Yacgt Club 35,0 12 5 (45) 4 8 6
11 GER 168 Jorg Gosche, Arne Gosche, Nissan Hobie Cat Pro team 38,0 (15) 4 1 7 14 12
12 NED 23 Xander Pols, Christa Van helden, Hoek van Holland 41,0 7 6 10 6 (18) 12
13 NED 123 Vincent Huntelman, Herwin Van der kamp, ZVN 43,0 11 8 7 (30) 13 4
14 SWE 11 Johan Gnosspelius, Roger Boden, KSSS 44,0 (21) 12 13 8 9 2
15 FRA 90 Thomas Sellier, Fred Moreau, sno nantes 48,0 15 9 11 (37) 3 10
16 GBR 24 Leo Farrow, Tristan Lamb, Worthing YC 49,0 17 12 (26) 4 15 1
17 ITA 717 Pierre Sicouri, Raphael Sicouri, CVD 53,0 18 18 1 11 5 (30)
18 FRA 84 François Morvan, Matthieu Vandame, SR VANNES 53,0 20 4 12 10 (dnc) 7
19 AUS 300 Andrew Macpherson, Jerone Van leewen, WSC 55,0 2 1 6 29 (30) 17
20 GBR 696 Stuart Gummer, Ellen Forshaw, Stokes Bay Sailing Club 55,0 6 11 16 7 15 (18)

VMG Junior just got back and informs me that the AUS8 sail was made by Ashby!
Why not use it himself? won't Nissan/hobie allow it?

That main looks a lot like my Glasser F16 main, same dark material and same fat head.

What is up with all the advertising on their sails? Did the IYRU change the rules to allow it? Should I go out and start soliciting advertisers to help pay for new equipment? Is advertising only banned in the Olympics now?

The AUS 8 sail was indeed made by Glenn and there was a lot of talk in the boatpark about the future of Hobie Tiger sails. Pretty interesting place to debut a different sail. right in Pablo's backyard and he was even there on the water for a few days.... wouldn't be too happy I think.

The sail looked to be fastest in the midrange conditions, we sailed past the boys in the lighter stuff with better pace but they seemed to be sorted out in the 12-16kt range. we didn't get much more wind than that so its hard to tell how it would have gone then. A week prior they used the same sail in Belgium and I thought they were not fast in the light conditions we had there, but with 6kts of tide it was hard to tell what the hell was going on!!

Going well Macca...... 7th from 128 competitors after 14 races and one above the Sach Brothers (2006 World Champs).

First regatta on the Narca and with new crew Jerone.

Well done and see you when you get back home.

Thanks Mate,

It was a top fleet too so we were really happy to pull of a good result.

I think the performance speaks volumes for a class that rewards good sailing and not big budgets so it ws nice to sail rather than spend...

The boat we used was a std Nacra with the popular in Europe "race pack" no other changes from a normal customer boat which is just awesome for a boat to be super competitive out of the box.

Jerone is a super crew (he tried to kill me on a number of occasions like any good crew does) we had great boatspeed from the one and only training session we did prior to the event so he was right on the money and I hope to do some more sailing with him in the future. We would have to be the tallest and skinniest team out there, he is 197cm tall (6'8" or something like that) and only 80kgs! and I am 6'2" and 74kg

I have to thank the Nacra team for the massive support they have given us since I arrived in Holland. Gunnar and Pete are the best owners for any sailing business anywhere and its a real pleasure working with them.

I prep now for the Archipelago Raid (sailing with Grantly) so I am busy making foot straps for paddling..... and getting the energy bars and other safety stuff together as well as working on a steering system when we are paddling (not so keen on the paddling idea...)

See you back in AUS in October.

Well done Macca at F18 Euros. Have fun in Sweden paddling. At least there isn't any tide to speak of to worry about. It was about 5cm last year at Vastervik between high and low.

Drop by in Singapore for a couple of beers on your way back from Oz.

JC

Hey JC,

Will drop in for sure, might be going to do the US F18 nats on the way home so there is plenty of water time coming up!

The paddlefest is looming large now and I am getting a bit anxious. I have been looking at the charts and its just an awesome place and a total nightmare to navigate around!