26 A-Class catamarans raced over the weekend in beautiful Bokeelia, Florida off the local beach of Ben and Nan Hall's new Florida second home. The fleet quality was high with Hall, Smyth, Cope, Moon, and Daniels racing. There was also several new A-Class sailors racing their first major class event including Bill Goggins, the CEO of Harken who was there with a brand new EVO HT. The fleet also included former J-22 North American champion Peter Merrifield and current ISAF team racing world champion Peter Levesque. We got to meet Wes Wilcox who came down to Bokeelia to pick up a boat he purchased from one of the competitors. Wes recently switched jobs from Trek Bicycles to Harken. Wes was in charge of the carbon R&D that produced the bikes that Lance Armstrong and his US Postal/Discovery racing teams used in the years they dominated the Tour De France. I told Wes he needs to call Lance in a couple of years to see if we can get him out on an A-Class, seems that would be a fun thing for him to retire in to!

We did not get to race today because the breeze was hovering in the low to mid 20's all morning but we did get two fantastic days of sailing and racing Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the fleet participated in a day long tuning and racing clinic with 4-time North American Champ and 2007 WC runner-up Lars Guck. After a two hour onshore session covering boat setup and boat handling, we spent four hours on the water doing short 2 lap windward-leeward races. I think we did at least 13-14 races. Most of the races were in 8-10 knots but the seabreeze kicked in good for the last 3 races at 15-18 knots. The tight courses in the windier races made it feel like you were doing "wind sprints"!

Four races were sailed on Saturday in 10-20 knots of breeze. The conditions were tough as in each race there were 10-30 degree oscillations with 5-10 knot changes in wind velocity. You had to keep your head out of the boat and shift gears smoothly. I felt pretty good for the day with a 2-3-9-3 but was disappointed to find out I was OCS in the first race. Ben Moon had the best day on the water with a 2-2-1-1. He was followed by Woody Cope and Randy Smyth in 2nd and 3rd with Ben Hall right behind. Unfortunately that's the way the regatta scoring ended with the cancellation of today's racing due to the high winds.

The next event in the southeast is the A-Class/F-16 Invitational at Gulfport Yacht Club next month followed by the North American Championship at Fort Walton Yacht Club May 11-15.

Sail light, sail fast.

Bob Hodges
A-Class USA 230

Bob summed it up well, now here's my take. This was my first A cat regatta and I had an absolute blast. The race committee did an unsurpassable job , so a huge THANKS to Steve and his youth sailors from the Edison (I hope I got that right) sailing center. They were top notch.
The clinic beforehand was very beneficial, since I was basically starting with a blank sheet, but the help from the fellow racers was the biggest help for me. Any question that I asked of anyone was answered in detail, especially Ben Moon, he always had time for my elementary questions. I'm still not sure why he finds the need to talk like Crocodile Dundee all the time, but he sails super fast and will tell you anything you want to know.
There was a post awhile back about A-catters being snobby. If they'll take a Hillbilly like me into their fold how snobby could they be. This is a fun crowd alot like the distance crowd I race with.
As an A-cat doubter for the last few years, I didn't see anyway those little boats with NO spinnaker could posibly go as fast as a spin boat. I proved myself wrong in spades this weekend. Downwind when the breeze piped up I felt like I was on my Nacra 20. Same surfing, same carving bear aways, it is awesome.
If anybody is on the fence about an A-cat ,I'd say do it. There's alot of affordable used ones on the market now.
I still love my N-20, but now there is another tool in the toolbox and the A is the right tool for me for marks racing.
Todd Hart
USA 42

ANYBODY GOT ANY PICTURES OF US out there in the Bay????

Cary, when did you get an A cat? How's that working out?

Tim,
You know I'll always be in a boat . . .
Bought a Woody Last year, Love the boat, Restored it last summer, it's in fantastic shape, Currently for sale on Craig's list and thebeachcats.com
After the weekend in Bokeelia, I got the required wifely approval (U know all about that) and I'm buying a 2001 Mark IV.
Can't stand racing against my Bud's Marstrom and him smoking me every time there is a puff. Can stay with him most of the time on speed, but the puffs give him a boatlength or two, I just can't stand it!!
CARY

2000 and comes with a trailer

2000 huh??
AH Say, now FOGHORN Ah Say
I din know you had that many fingers and toes. I only thought you could count to 21 (20 when it's cold)
General Electric

And Since it's Todd's birthday this weekend, We gonna get heem all likkered up on Girly drinks and steal his pants
He DID say something about Gay Rum for his birthday, It could be ugly
Pictures to follow.

Cary's never heard of Mount Gay Rum. Go figger.
He said he was a sailor, but it's kinda hard to tell sometimes.

Thanks for the presents from you and the Moser, and letting me beat you the past two weekends was nice of you too.

it was your birthday, you dont think we would invite you down here and then beat you did you? Well, enjoy your B-day present, cause its on at Spring fever!

No Todd, I just said I didn't understand why you wanted to mount anything that was gay, Clean the wax out of your ears.
The General