2009 F18 Worlds

I thought it would be interesting to see how many boats are represented at the 2009 F18 Worlds in Belgium and what their numbers are:

45 Nacra Infusion
38 Capricorn
30 Hobie Cat Tiger
28 Hobie Cat Wildcat
10 Cirrus B1
5 Cirrus F18
5 Shockwave F18
4 Alado F18
3 Diam 3
3 Nacra F18
3 TBD
2 eXploder F18
2 Mattia F18
1 Bimare X4
1 Nacra Inter 18 (turns out to an Infusion)


180 total

14 different boats

Later,
Dan

I'll put money on there being at least 4 different designs in the top 10.

I'll take that bet. You have to look at who's sailing them. ;-)

Shockwave : Wilson and Lynch
Capricorn : lots of talent, best bet for a top ten Goodall.
Hobie (either or both) : To much talent to justify a list.
Nacra : See above but don't count out Catsailor's very own Macca.
and thats without mentioning the best crews on each of the 9 designs.

Dan,

That inter 18 is actually an infusion, the boys fouled up the entry form somehow!

Paul

The Inter 18 would have made it an incredible story.

The talent is indeed deep. I still think that there will only be three boats in the top ten finishers.

For the US (those who wish to wave the flag), we have sometime-seppo John Casey on his new Wildcat. The boat's been seriously tricked out - a benefit of working at Hobie. We also have Robbie Daniel on a new out-of-the-box Capricorn. In the warm-up regatta, JC was top ten for the weekend until he got hit by the black flag. Robbie made the top ten with three 10s, a 3 and a 2. He's getting over an infected cut on his leg, but he happens to be sailing with Gary Chu, who can write perscriptions - how handy is that?

This is going to be a hell of a week.

And then there's this...

Only if he can coral Taylor from chasing skirts. For that matter if he refrains from chasing too much himself.

They could have a serious sailing campaign, but I would bet on a serious partying campaign.

Good luck either way you choose it guys!

Later,
Dan

My bets for top crews by design:
Styles - Infusion
Heemskerk - Wildcat
Wilson - Shockwave
Daniels - Capricorn

First three in that order title contenders (obvious selections those two... ) And wonder how Asbhy will do without Bundy
I know... 'solo' he is the best, that´s why I want to see him as an F18 skipper.

This is no Infusion if registered to race:

Does anyone know what Gashby is sailing, from memory the web site says "TBA". Gashby will do fine on his own, IIRC he won an Aussie Titles without Bundy.

the one in the foreground is a nacra F18, the one behind looks like a diam

Yes, just noting there was an old Nacra, but the Inter is older right?

Race started

Seems the one pointed as partying is really focused (provisional)

1 - FRA97150 Villion Julien
Viat Louis 1h08'44'' (+00'') (+00'')
2 - FRA8 Lamotte Benjamin
Amiot Benjamin 1h08'46'' (+02'') (+02'')
3 - FRA111 Morvan Fran?ois
Vandame Mathieu 1h08'57'' (+10'') (+13'')
4 - AUS1 Booth Taylor
Bernier Jacques 1h09'00'' (+02'') (+16'')

Looks like very current news from the course.

http://www.f18worlds2009.com/153

Race 2 canceled due to lack of wind. Boats are on their way back to the beach.

http://www.f18worlds2009.com/155

Looks like boats are off the beach...

John

How can they manage not to join the top players all in the same fleet? as in this 1st race in the blue fleet.
I imagine they'll change fleets every day?

In the past, I think it has been random draw... not sure about that at all. I expect that they try not to make one fleet harder than the next because that would be unfair - the bullets count the same if your sailing all the hotshots or a fleet of marshmallows.

Exactly my concern.

De Koning, Styles, Heemskerk, Goodall, Mourniac, Ashby, Daniel, McPherson, both Larsen in the same fleet/1st race
To me this fleet right now is way more competitive than the other. Hope they split soon.

There are in fact 4 groups of 45, every time 2 groups will start together, at the end of the qualifiers every competitor will have sailed against each other.

Also see the NoR:
6.2.1. Qualifying Series: The fleet will be split into 4 groups which will be selected by a seeding committee. The 4 groups will form 2 rotating starting groups. Each group will sail a minimum of 6 qualifying races. The qualifying races are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. If at the end of any day 6 qualifying races have not been completed, the qualifying series will continue the following day.
6.2.2. Final Series: Once the qualifying series is over boats will be split into the Gold Fleet and the Silver Fleet. The top half of the fleet will race in the Gold Fleet and the bottom half of the fleet will race in the Silver Fleet. In the event of an uneven number of boats there will be one extra boat in the Gold Fleet.

That's fantastic! Go Guys!