Mike, I just find it very hard to credit a N17 making the particularly long trek back to the catamaran boat park would be dumb enough to interfere with another fleet's race. Both protests were filed by the RC - I'm sure you learned, as I did, that the RC's job is to provide a level playing field and ONLY file against a competitor in the event no OTHER competitor was in a position to see a rule infraction. Granted, I don't know all the facts found, but certainly the first penalty seems (from witness accounts) to have been uncalled for. There seems a potential of a PRO on another course with an over-inflated sense of importance. It would take a serious infraction that affected sailors on my course for me to reach into another fleet's standings.

I'm thinking water baloons...

Launched by the 'offenders' at the RC with the stick up his butt.

;^)

So, are you saying that the second penalty is for breaking the same rule?

Without being there, it's hard to take sides, but I've seen this before, and was able to talk the PRO off the cliff just enough to avoid a protest or worse. You don't want to know what the other judges were saying before I spoke up and shut it down...

Mike

Nacra 17 Race 7 Preliminary Top 3: 1.Ramsay/Girke (CAN) 2.Figueroa/Malatrasi (PUR) 3.Newberry/Casey (USA)

Wow...

Results refreshed...

Results through Race 8 are up... Streater/Whitehead put up two DFLs today... still in 2nd by 4, but Reiss/Lihan can now see Silver...

What's really important here is that the top three positions are held by Sarah.

Kristin's already agreed that when she changes her name (as part of her divorce agreement) to her family name, she'll also change her first name .... to ...

Sarah

Sarah Fullerton

More pix in this gallery: http://sailingpix.photoshelter.com/...orld-Cup-Miami-Nacra-17/G00002BRyBVhiJb0

Appears that the capsize shown early wasn't intentional...not sure if they were turning down at the time, it almost looks like they flipped going upwind??

Nice job Newberry/Casey!

Easy to capsize upwind, when it pulls a wheelie coming up off a wave, and then nose dives on the landing.

That was the issue we were talking about when the Nacra 20 came out, remember? It seemed it would be a whole lot more difficult to find the right balance point going upwind and down, with the middle of the boat trying to lift up.

You are now riding a teeter-totter.

JC's Sarah mentioned it in one of the early interviews.

It was Matt and one of the Sarahs that flipped - photo boat was trolling them and they said they stuck it in coming off the wake and turning down to get out of the prop wash. They were on the way to the course for the first race and were really worried they'd break something - can you imagine the potential heartbreak?

Sometimes you worry too much about breakages, other times not enough. They are lucky they didn't damage the spin pole!

What is the next step after this event? More U.S based Nacra 17 events or do the top 2,3? teams qualify for a foreign event? How many 17's are in North America?

I think we are looking at the only N17s in NA, would love to be proven otherwise.

What we'll see, these teams, hopefully most will keep training N17s, maybe racing F18s and F16s when they can (bigger events, hopefulyy the NAs at least) while they start looking for bigger events in Europe / elsewhere... Wait... maybe I'm just repeating what I remember from the last T cycles....

also, Whitehead is on the us ac45 team.. so I'm sure he'll be doing that alot, taylor, jc and sandra are all very very active f16 and f18 racers... not sure about the others. The cannucks come from 470 / boards, not sure what they plan on doing (maybe team up with a US team for training)... would be nice to see them join a couple F18 races for practice (we'll find you a boat...).

just my random thoughts / guesses

I'm told it has very flat bottoms from the bow back, and it's really hard to keep the nose in to keep it from hobby horsing in waves. Just one more thing the sailors will have to learn how to use is all, and true of any boat.

I think Mark Mandelbrots boat is the only one not at the OCR.

Oakcliff is supposed to get their boats by May.

I suspect these privately owned US boats will now be shipped to the EU for the ISAF circuit there and the N17 worlds in Holland. The Tornado Fleet would occasionally pit stop in the Gran Canarias between now and the EU circuit for training camps. Since there is no development cycle with these boats... I would imagine there are lots of two boat training camps planned with your coach of choice.

I think these sailors will not be showing up at regional events on other boats.... It's pricey to keep a stable of boats in different classes in race ready shape.... They can't afford to show up a regional event and half butt their performance either. Money is also limited.... So.... I think they would love to collect some contributions in the form of paid clinics, talks etc... Otherwise, their time is best spent in training camps.

The next opportunity for NA regatta events is probably November. (Texas to Florida on the Gulf coast)and that would depend on the selection process and marketing campaign set out by the US Olympic.

I am looking forward to hearing Leandro Spina's take on how he will run the Oaklcliff program! That would be an interesting interview!

OK, so do we know WHY Sarah and Matt had such a bad day yesterday?

Mike

Matt Whitehead, Mike Easton and I think a couple others have yet to pick up their boats as well. Some are picking up in Europe some are picking up here. I think Mark Mendelblatt already picekd up his boat but not sure of this.

How can you say Sarah and Matt had a bad day? Sarah is very new to multihulls and was a pretty good youth Laser Radial sailor but not amazing, in this fleet the performance they've had so far is outstanding so slipping a bit shouldn't be a surprise.

Apparently speeds are similar upwind but downwind is where a lot of the changes are made, apparently it was also apparent that the teams with heavy crews off the back (JC, Matt) were paying off in the breeze but lost that advantage in the ligther stuff.

I hear from a little bird that light air isn't Sarah's favorite condition - add to that a new platform, and it is understandable they might struggle. How long does it take to learn to keep flow attached on such a high-aspect rig in 4 knots of breeze? More than a couple days in mid-teens, I suspect...

One of the Euro teams today decided to end their N17 campaign, turns out it is really hard to be competitive without a male crew:
http://translate.google.com/transla...-17-duo-de-koningjongens-trekt-conclusie