Are any US sailors considering shipping a boat from the US to the 2013 F18 Worlds in Italy (event dates July 5 - 12)? Taylor Reiss and Matthew Whitehead are looking for other US sailors that might be interested in sharing a container. We have good shipping contacts, but it makes little sense to ship only one boat in the container. We are still open as to departure port, but want to have boats in Italy by the end of June to allow for a week's training before the event. Anyone who may have some interest in working together to ship, please post here or private message me. Thanks!

What dates are you expecting for the container leaving and returning to the States. When I considered shipping it seemed to me that you would lose your boat for the entire summer season. I found a charter to be around $3600 US for the event, is shipping going to be cheaper?

We have inquired about chartering a boat and have only been able to find a late model Capricorn, and so have not been interested in that. Container would leave from some eastern US port (there are many options) somewhere from mid to late May and would return (presumably) 4 to 6 weeks after the conclusion of the event.

Sounds similar to my experience looking for charters- was able to find a new Infusion, but outside our price range. I don't think we are willing to give our boat up for the summer, but I will pass your inquiry along to the rest of the Eastern Area fleet and maybe someone will be interested. I know Easton/Burd were hoping to go but had trouble finding a charter as well. Is there an email where folks can contact you directly? Hope you guys get a boat sorted, would be a shame not to have American teams there.

Thanks, Jeff. Anyone who is considering going is welcome to contact me at reisshome@gmail.com (Chris Reiss aka "Taylor's Mom"). We are in contact with Mike and Tripp and hope it will work out for them to go to the event (even though they did beat the boys last year :-) We have secured a reasonably priced apartment that sleeps up to six people that is a 3 minute walk the regatta site and are hoping there will be other US sailors to share with T and M.