It is official. I am happy to announce the 2009 US Multihull Championship for the Hobie Alter Cup will be hosted by Clearwater Yacht Club and the Clearwater Community Sailing Center Saturday, October 17th through Thursday, October 22nd. Saturday, the 17th will be the practice day, competition runs Sunday through Thursday. Australian High Performance Catamarans and Fun in the Sun Services Inc. is once again supplying the platform, this year it's the AHPC F-16 Viper. Fairlie Brinkley has agreed to reprise his role as PRO. For anyone interested in petitioning for a slot, there will be at least 3 spots available, this year petitions can only be filed online through the US Sailing website, the deadline is the end of February. NOR will be published soon, as well as lodging and other information. Jill Nickerson at Fun in the Sun tells me that there are still boats available for sale at the end of the regatta. Contact her at funinthesun@juno.com for information. Anyone interested in volunteering in any capacity please contact me through the US Sailing website.

Hi KEvin,
Will they be sailed one or two up?
Rick

2

What Dave said.
Kevin

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Area C Alter Cup qualifier in NJ is scheduled for the weekend of Oct 17. Doesn't this create a direct conflict with the main event? Whoever represents Area C at this year's Alter Cup will miss out on the area qualifier for next year.

sm

That does create a "problem" ..... and I do not know if we have another date avialible here in Area C. Between Open Class Events, Hobie Div11 Regatta's and HCA-NA's H16 NA's in Ontario the schedule is tight.

John W, can you send a E-Mail to Mark Schnieder and Mark Santarellie (I know I misspelled Mark's name but that is a close as I can come)

HarryMurphey

I'm not the guy driving the bus anymore - in fact I'm two-guys-ago now. I don't think it is a big issue, though, as I recall a few times in the past when an area event was on the same weekend as the final. Keep in mind that the 2009 area events will qualify a team for the 2010 championship - the 2008 area events were used to establish the fleet for the 2009 championship. Presumably, only one team from Area C will be affected - the one that goes to Alter Cup this year. In the past, a team that had that sort of conflict (I know it happened to Kieth Christensen once) already had a very strong resume, and my committee once gave extra weight to that petition due to the conflict.

Thats a fantstic location..... welcome to my backyard!

What are conditions in your backyard like around the middle of October?

Eric

85* air, 85* water, usually pretty good winds... less thunderstorms than aug/sept.

That location is just on the inside (intra costal / Clearwater bay) of Sand Key and about a 4 minute sail under the Sand Key bridge ( Pictured below) to the Gulf of Mehico...