The Great Texas Catamaran Race will be the first ever off-shore beach catamaran race along the Texas Coast. Starting in South Padre Island and finishing in Galveston, the race will cover approximately 300 miles along the Texas coast over the Memorial Day weekend. The race will be conducted in four stages with each stage starting and ending on the beach!

Schedule:
Friday May 23, South Padre Island to Padre Island National Park (78 nm)
Registration 7-8:30.
White Flag at 10 am – ETA approximately 5 pm
Saturday May 24, Padre Island National Park to Matagorda Island (82 nm)
White Flag at 10 am – ETA approximately at 5:30 pm
Due to remoteness of the finish spot, sailors will camp on Matagorda Island.
Sunday May 25, Matagorda Island to Surfside (75 nm)
White Flag at 10 am – ETA approximately at 4:30 pm
Monday May 26 (Memorial Day), Surfside to Galveston (25 nm)
White Flag at 10 am – ETA approximately 1 pm
Awards at 3 pm

Boats: The race is restricted to production beach catamarans between 18-22 feet with a maximum 10 foot beam. In addition, due to the distances the boats will required to carry a spinnaker. US Sailing base rating numbers will be used for handicapping the boats. Awards will be based upon total handicapped time. Only one set of sails will be allowed during the race except for replacement due to significant damage.

Registration: Only experienced sailing teams will be allowed to participate in the race due to the potential danger of the race. (Sailors may be required to submit a sailing resume to prove experience.) Registration covers race fees only (excludes food, beverages and T-shirts). Fees as listed below:
$95 by Feb 1, 2003
$150 by March 1, 2003
$200 by April 1
$250 after May 1
Starting sequence for the first day will be determined by order of registration. (All registrations received before Feb 1 will put into a draw to determine initially starting order.) Send Registration Fee to PI Sailing at 4002 Ave C, Austin, TX 78751. (Request an e-registration form from Steve Piche at [email]steve@pisailing.com.)[/email]

Warning: This race is to be conducted on small craft on the open ocean. Severe weather, accidents or equipment failure could lead to potentially dangerous or lethal situations especially along remote ocean areas such as those encountered on this race. In addition, no support boats will be provided to aid sailors in need of help. Therefore, sailors must understand the significant risks associated with the race and only participate if they accept these risks. Safety equipment including VHF, GPS, flashlight, cell phone and safety lines will be required to participate in the event. As a condition of entry, sailors will be required to sign a release. Waiver, required safety list and race rules will be made available by March 1.

Hosted by PI Sailing. For more information see www.pisailing.com or contact Steve Piche at 512-206-0729 (steve@pisailing.com).

What is the reasoning regarding the ten foot beam limit?

thom

Agree -

Per post on old forum --use Formula race categories
-16 --18s -20s -in each class --different start times a few minutes apart if numbers are over beach area available --
they need suffecient room spacing thru surf etc . ---add an unlimited open class for all larger cats . -inc S C Arc etc
better fairer race structure that addes interest to the event .

Steve, nice job.


Todd Bouton
N6.0na+
#111

Not to beat a dead horse...... But!

I know there is a lot of SC20 guys down yander in Texas that may be a hankering ta compete - the 10' beam mighty painful there Coyboy.

Is the 10 foot beam a typo? Boats up to 22 feet are allowed. I assume that is to include an ARC22, but it has a 12 foot beam.

Need a clarification.

Thanks, Don

Length and beam rules are as stated in the announcement. Because the wind often blows straight on to the beach in Texas at that time of year, it would be difficult to safely manage larger catamarans in the surf. Therefore, we imposed the 10 foot beam limit. In addition, we wanted approximately the same speed boats, thus, we chose 18-22 foot boats. No boat restrictions are ever perfect, however, based upon our experience in sailing in the surf, in Texas, and in long distance races, we felt these were appropriate limits for this race. I thank you for your interest in this subject.

Steve,

I just figured the 22ft rule was to include an ARC21, that we all know and love, that lives at the tentative finish line. Right?

It's 8.5 ft beam.

Hope it does attract more than the usual 'Rough Rider' crowd.

I emailed Steve about the 10;beam issue and he is set on 10' so I will have to live with that but am dissapointed.I've sailed a Nacra 5.2 back in the 80's in some wild surf and have sailed my Supercat-20 in the same and in my opinion the Supercat is far more stable in rough conditions and surf. Guess I will still have to go all the way to Florida where they allow us fat boats to compete. Just for imformational purposes so that I can understand why the 10' limit is imposed, can someone explain why a 20' long 12' beam cat is unsafe in surf compared to a 20' long 8'6" beam cat? I am very interested to what you guys have to say.
Don Caldwell
Supercat-20 "VERTIGO"

Hey Don-

Everybody knows Florida waves/surf are tamer than Texas waves/surf... Just ask Bill Roberts!!! How did he get all those championships from Europe as well as USA in a 12' beam FMS SC20???

thom

***DISCLAIMER*****

I got an e-mail from Bill R., that makes me understand that I was misunderstood somehow.

ON RECORD- I don't have any problem with any boat entering this race. I wasn't asked, and if I was, I wouldn't exclude any boat certainly capable of this race, as is a 20+ x 12ft boat.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

With the arrival of my second son at the end of May, I don't think I'll be able to participate anyway.

Todd Bouton
N6.0na+
#111 (it ain't much, but it's all I got)

OK, so It looks like my crew and I won't be allowed to race my Supercat-20! How about a Nacra 18 square? I have 2, one of which is an early version that came from the factory with 10' beams so that should satisfy the "only production boats" rule and I can add a chute quite easily and take a portsmout hit lowering it from 67.4 to 65.5. Does anyone have a small flat spinnaker or hooter they want to sell cheap? I have the pole and rigging. Does anyone see any reason why this setup might not conform to "the rules"? Could a hooter be substituted for a chute for this race?
Thanks, Don Caldwell
Supercat-20 (disallowed )
Nacra 18 Square w/chute or hooter

It's possible Steve wanted to limit the race to boats of roughly equal ratings in the race's inaugural year. Or, perhaps, he simply feared having to help push Phil Buck's Stiletto off the beach were the tide to go out.