Congratulations Laura!

The Multihull championship has arranged for the Alter cup to run in proximity with the Red Bull portion of the America's Cup in San Fransico. Many thanks to the Sausilito YC and the Hobie Sailors on the west coast who committed to supporting the event.

The committee continued the new direction of championships and will use the Hobie 16 this year representing the sloop portion of the catamaran world.

September 4 -7, 2013
Sausalito Yacht Club
Sauslalito, CA
Hobie 16

Look here US Sailing Championships for details as they come available.


(FYI, I am no longer on this comittee)

Cool! Two suggestions:

1) start thinking about a limit for the total number of entries.

2) offer a trophy for the oldest boat that completes the regatta.

If there was a "B" fleet I'd probably do it.

Bravo! Tying it in with Red Bull and the AC is the real winner here.

It is an awesome venue and great bay sailing. Yacht Club is very nice to cat sailors and runs a good regatta.

Bummed they didn't go with the F18 idea. Hope it turns out to be a really great event!

Next year?

Stereotypes run really deep on this site.

Just because there are a lot of old Hobie 16s out there doesn't mean they're racing competitively. At the Hobie 16 North Americans last year (at this same venue), there was 1 boat older than a 2007, and they didn't do very well. The vast majority of boats were less than 3 years old.

Particularly yours.

This announcement should come as neither a surprise nor disappointment to any cat sailor who values the future of the championship as a continued benefit of US Sailing.

As cat sailors, you are represented by the Multihull Racing Committee (formerly the Multihull Council). As you may recall, the Council held an open survey last year on the future of this event (post-provided boats). While most items resulted in statistical ties, two jumped off the page as priorities:

(1) Rotate through our primary disciplines (Singlehanded Unirig, Doublehanded Sloop, Doublehanded Spinnaker)
(2) Move the event around the country more than in the past.

The Council formally voted to recommended these items to the Alter committee, who in turn voted to accept and adopt this recommendation.

So, we are working with US Sailing to deliver exactly what our sailors want.

Bert helped secure Sausalito as the site, and Laura has worked closely with HCA and HCC to select the Hobie 16 as the boat (as you know, the event has been held on DH Spins every year since 2005).

I would personally like to thank Bert, Laura, and the members of both committees over the past year for helping us move this forward. In addition, Jack, Liz, Shannon and others have been great resources on the US Sailing side of the equation. As for the America's Cup side, Liz has taken a lead to help us integrate, and I've had some discussions with John Craig (US Sailing board member and AC PRO), and he is very happy to work with us. More details will follow as this is finalized.

My suggestion would be to immediately join US Sailing, start to save some pennies and vacation time, and get a Hobie 16 ready to race, so you don't miss out on what will likely be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

The Alter committee is already working hard to plan for 2014 and beyond, as it is a shared goal to have a long-term plan in place and announced so that we can get back to being able to plan on attending this event several years out.

Please join me in thanking all of these folks. None of this work is easy, and we know that no decisions will please everyone. But, we're all volunteers, who truly try to balance the desires of a wide variety of members, and get paid only by your appreciation of our service.

Hope this helps.

Mike

As I said before, "cool"!

There's a beach in Sausalito?

They added a sand area at one of the spits so we could race and launch off there. Has been used several times for local and national Hobie races.

Which spit?

Dunphy Park

Good location. You'll get great coverage from Latitude 38.

Hmm, I have family in Sausalito so a place to stay, but have never been on a Hobie 16. Any idea on availability of charter boats? I know it is early, but could be a fun event to sail with the wife.

Faster than you might think on a reach, dw, not so much.

Its gonna blow 20 every day... Speed will not be your issue! Skill to race in those conditions is needed!

Hi Jeff,

There will be charter boats available. Details are still being ironed out, this initial announcement was made so people can start planning for the date and logistics.

Lots of good competition in the H16 fleet in the northeast. I know you'll probably be racing with the F18s at Madcatter, but if not, they have been known to find boats for people. Lots of good Hobie regattas in NJ, with enough notice I'm sure you could arrange to borrow a boat.

If all else fails and you just want to sail around for practice, the local fleet in RI has lots of fun days, and boat swapping is very common.

I currently have a Wave and no 16, but will probably rectify that problem in the spring, and would be willing to help you out over the summer.

Mike

Jeff - try Tom Korz. His posse can hang with the Puerto Ricans, and they put on great parties.

The jib halyard system controls the rake and balance of the boat. I remember that from my days with Billy Whitehurst.

The turnout will be famous! Some of the Olympic hopefuls might use this for a vacation. Johnny Lovell and I recommended a forty boat cap in 2012, and we only had six. I bet they raise the cap for 2013.