Doc and I brought our F16 uni's to the 25th (or so...), Chico Classic Regatta here in California USA last weekend. We've become accustomed to (at very least) contending for the top spots at the Cali. events, as our F16's are brilliantly fast, doc's a great sailor and I've been pretty lucky...Not so at Chico as the wind failed to blow much and our super light and undercanvassed cat rigged Taipans became "conservation of momentum" victim's.The only memorable puff of the weekend saw a rival catamaran (caught off guard to be moving?), plow into Doc at a mark rounding !
Overall though, the Chico Cat's put on a tremendously fun regatta ( my son won the raffle grand prize!), at a magnificent venue, and we thank them MUCHO !
The most exciting part of the weekend was your son winning that brand new kayak! The camping was great too.
On reflection, the regatta conditions could not have been tougher:
Wind was 0-2 with large shifts. The course was set up so there ended up being no downwind legs--triangle course, and the wind shifted keeping it all upwind. So we could not take advantage of the spinnaker. We would have done a lot better leaving off the spinnaker and sailing with jibs. I found it extremely tough to maneuver/tack and keep sail shape with my stiff uni rig.
I ended up fourth--two N5.8 and a P19mx took the first three places with equal scores and the results of the last "race" determining the winner. The front runners did an amazing job of drifting from one zephyr to the next.
Thanks to Chico Cats for putting on a great show
Eric Poulsen A-class USA 203 Ultimate 20 Central California
