A-CLASS NORTH AMERICANS – Days 2 and 3

Five races were sailed over the last two days at the A-Class North American Championships in Traverse City, MI. On Wednesday, only one race was sailed in a 20-22 knot southwesterly with gusts to 27 knots. Today, four races were sailed in a 10-20 knot westerly (with some higher gusts).

Pete Melvin has taken charge of this event winning every race today. He is followed by Phil Kinder in second and Peter Johnstone in third. Ben Hall is in fourth followed by Eric Marshack in fifth.

Onshore, a class meeting was held with a decision to hold the 2005 North American Championship on the Columbia River Gorge near Portland, OR. The class also elected it’s 2005 officers. Bob Hodges is the new class president and Carla Schieffer was elected the class measurement “czarina”. Jeremy Laundergan remains the class information officer and Ben Hall will continue as the secretary/treasurer.

For you gearheads, here are the top five sailor’s equipment selections:

Pete Melvin – A2 platform, Hall mast, Ullman sail
Phil Kinder – Auscat Flyer, Australian mast, Ashby sail
Peter Johnstone – Bimare XJ platform, Bimare mast, Ashby sail
Ben Hall – Flyer platform, Hall mast, Ullman sail
Eric Marsack – Auscat Flyer platform, Australian mast, Goodall sail

The forecast for tomorrow is for 5-8 knots from the northeast and east. It is hoped to have three races to get a total of ten races so there will be two dropouts for some of the sailors who had bad luck in the heavy conditions over the last three days.

Aren't the "australian mast" Saarberg masts ?

Wouter

What are you A cat guys thinking about the Nacra built A-2 now that it is out there. I rember there being some doubts about a "production cat" company building A's. It looks pretty nice in the pictures from the nationals and Pete Melvin has 7 points after 7 races using it. Is it that fast, or is it all Pete?

Or is that an A-cat that was built by M&M before Nacra agreed to produce it? Not that I think it will make any difference mind you.

There seem to be a lot of DNF's and DNS's. Looks like 9 of the 28 boats didn't start Race 7.

Also the Bay Shore Resort beach cam showed 3 or 4 boats on the beach Wed. evening without masts. The picture is a little small.

Do you have a damage report?

Thanks

Years ago we held a Hobie 17 Nationals there... well at Hood River to be exact. One of the hottest windsurfing spots in the US. Anyone know where, exactly, they are thinking of holding the event and when? That can be a knarly place with lots of current, steep tall standing waves, barge traffic and lots of wind.

Matt,

That's why I didn't go that year. Too much wind, barges and crazy waves! What are they thinking??? Buy new A cats (if they can get insurance after Ivan)!!

Bob

We would love to return to Hood River with the Hobie 17's for a North Americans. Every year it is discussed. In 1990 at Hood River in the Gorge, we had 50 H-17's and 14 H-14's. Winds were as high as 50 mph, with the light wind day over 25 mph. The waves along the Washington side were about 4 to 6 feet. It was an event that you never forget. Top finishers in H-17 Gold: Hobie Alter Jr, Alan Egusa, Jeff Alter, Wayne Mooneyham. In the H-17 Silver, Robert Crockroft was first, and my son Tom was second. I was happy to hang on for a seventh. The H-14 was won by Jannie Tukker of South Africa. Interesting, there were 10 sailors at the NA's in Monterey, CA this year that sailed at the Nationals in the Gorge, 1990.

Caleb Tarleton

Actually, not all Australian A-Cat masts are Saarbergs. The 7 new Australian Flyers we received last Thanksgiving all had masts from Applied Composites.

Mike Wallace
USA #128

Wednesday night we all ended up dropping our masts because of storm forcast for that night that could bring 60mph winds. There were some DNS and DNF over the higher wind days. Several folks decided to come in or not go out in the higher winds. On Tuesday neither Ken or I finished a race because of line problems. Ken's trapeze line broke and my traveler line split where it had been whipped together. Eric had a DNF the first day because he flipped and was separated from his boat (these things really move fast when they are on their sides). There were two broken masts that I know of, another mast had the tang ripped out and was repaired the same day. Woody Cope had a broken side stay. All the boats were back out sailing by the next day.

The NA regatta for next year is planned for Cascade Locks. This is a wider, milder spot than Hood River. It is my favorite spot to go sailing. Several National and World events have been held there for small boats. You can check it out by going to www.cgra.org (CGRA stands for Columbia Gorge Racing Association). I think there are links to photos of our A-Cats racing there during the One-Design regatta in August.

I've heard stories about the H-17 regatta in Hood River. I used to own one of the white Gorge sails (much smaller). Sounds like an epic event.

Mike Wallace
USA #128
Vancouver, WA

Regarding the mast on the Bimare XJ, I talked to Peter Johnstone on Friday morning about his equipment and he is using a Hall mast. In expediting his boat from Italy, the original Bimare mast was destoyed.

Les,

How are you finding the NACRA A2? And what weight are they shipping the boats at, or do they come with correctors?

All the best

Rex

Rex,

I get my first sail on the A2 this weekend. This boat weighed in at North Americans at 166#. It is the boat sailed by Pete Melvin.

Here are some answers to some of the questions on this post:

1. Wouter - The Australian Applied Composite, Saarberg, and Anderson masts look identical in terms of section and in most cases the way they are rigged but in terms of bend charecteristics, they are different. They are all produced by separate companies.

2. Dan/Jake - The A2 hulls, foils, and beams are built by Melvin and Morelli. The masts supplied with a complete package are by Hall Spars. Performance Catamaran is assembling the components and marketing the boat through its dealer network. I believe the success of the boat will be based upon how well PC assembles the boat and the final cost of the package. I've heard rumor of a substantial markup since the first price that was advertised last year but have not confirmed it yet. The dollar is getting strong again and this makes it attractive to still purchase the Boyer product if you get a group purchase together.

A2 Performance - I believe the boat is at least the equal to the current generation of Flyers, Auscats, and Bims. It is definetly a stiffer platform that looks very well made. The fact that an Egner Flyer, Auscat Flyer, Auscat Mk. V, and Bim XJ also won races at this event indicate that these boats are also still very competitive.

2005 NA's - The location of the 2005 NA's at Cascade Locks near Portland is where our newest A-Cat fleet regularly sails. They claim the conditions in August when we anticipate the event will be held are typically 15-18 knots of wind which should be fantastic sailing.

On the heavy air at this event - We had three mast failures at this event. Two were caused by violent capsizes and one was a tang failure that was repaired on the beach. Race 1 was held in 15-19 knots of wind with some gusts in the low 20's. Race 2 was in the same but there were a couple of gust waves that were even higher. Race 3 was the windiest of the series. 12 boats finished that race and the rest of the fleet either retired or did not start. Pete Melvin finished 4th in this race and told me he was just trying to get his boat around the course without incident. This race was probably above our wind maximum. Races 4-7 were in 12-20 knots of wind and were quite manageable. Races 8-11 were a welcome break at 6-12 knots, perfect A-boatin!

Bob Hodges
USA 147

What is the stated price of the A2?

David Mosley
NACRA F18 351

I heard a rumor that the A2 was $21k US.

The XJ is 13k Euros or 9k Euros for the platform only. If the dollar gains against the Euro, this could be quite a deal.

Peter Cogan is organizing a container for Bimare XJ's for delivery in December to NJ/NY.

Contact info.
Maurizio Giuggioli at: mauriziogiuggioli@virgilio.it
Peter Cogan at: bimarexj@mindspring.com

Bill Vining

Bob,

Thanks for clearing that up. I was under the impression that Performance was going to be molding the hulls as well.

whats the American view on the hydrofoil discussion on the forum on the IACA web site?

http://home.planet.nl/~dwars000/

I responded to the European A-forum on this topic.

I saw an AD for the A2 in this months Sailing World Mag...listed at 18k USD. No price shown on the Performance website.

Mike.