A-Class Midwinter Race Week/Pre-Worlds Regattas January 22-26
This would be a special event for A-class sailors this year not only being our favorite winter vacation but also a dress rehearsal for the November world championship to be held in November.
The venue is the Islander Resort in Islamorada, FL, as perfect as they come with back door access to your boat, pool, hot tub, bar, and restaurant. To make it even better, an enthusiastic and gracious host makes the sailors feel right at home.
Most sailors arrive on Saturday even though the Swedish and California trailers have been onsite for two days. Saturday and Sunday provide fantastic tune-up conditions in 15-20 knots of wind and partly cloudy skies. 55 sailors are ready to go with US, Canada, Sweden, Argentina, and Italy represented. The forecast is for 15-20 knots of breeze again on Monday.
Regatta One - Coconut Grove Classic
Day 1 - Fantastic 15-18 knots of easterly breeze with lots of chop and waves provides fun and challenging conditions for the sailors. 55 boats race today and are dominated by 2006 North American champion Lars Guck sailing his custom assembled A3. The surprise of the day are the Swedes making it difficult for the other top US contenders to break into the top ten. Competitors meet after racing for a post-race de-brief moderated by Jay Glaser, dinner, and a US class meeting to discuss allocation of US slots for the November WC.
Day 2 - Calm on the water greets the sailors with no sign of any upper gradient flow so at a competitors meeting, a popular vote postpones racing until Wednesday when breeze is forecast to return. It's a good call as only whispers of breeze are on the water for most of the day before a 5-6 knot seabreeze fills around 4:00 PM allowing some competitors to get on the water for a late afternoon sail.
Day 3 - The breeze returns with 8-12 knots of easterly wind for the day. The competitor count increases to 57 sailors as two Brazilians join the fleet. Three races are completed and Pete Melvin finally breaks Lar's string of firsts by catching him downwind in the first race of the day. The RC has to use the I flag to calm the fleet down after two general recalls but the rest of the starts get off on the first try. The day ends with a competitors party at the Islamorada Fish House. The top five in the Coconut Grove Classic are:
1. Lars Guck (A3/Glaser/Fiberfoam)
2. Pete Melvin (A3/Glaser/Hall)
3. Kristian Mattson (Sweden-Marstrom/Marstrom/Landenberger)
4. Eric Andersson (Sweden-Marstrom/Marstrom/Landenberger)
5. Woody Cope (XJ/Bim/Riba)
Way to go Woody Cope, excellent sailing! Many feel today that Woody is the fastest sailor upwind on his Bim XJ, Glaser sail, and Riba mast.
Regatta Two - A-Class Midwinter Championship
Day 4 - The first day of the A-Class Midwinter regatta starts off beautiful, warm, and breezy but a check of local radar shows a cold front scheduled to move in mid-day, right about the time racing starts. Sailors begin monitoring laptops and reports are coming in of 25-30 knots of wind with the frontal passage. The race committee postpones the start at 12:00 PM as squall lines begin to move through. At 3:00 PM, an attempt is made to start a race but as the committee goes on the water, the breeze picks up to over 20 knots. With the possibility of only one race, strong offshore winds, and darkness, the PRO makes the decision to cancel racing for the day. Some competitors wish we could have raced earlier in the morning but all look forward to getting on the water an hour earlier on Friday to sail as many races as possible.
Day 5 - Sailors wake up to a cool but very windy morning. Winds are north-northeast at 26-29 knots 3 miles offshore. A 9:00 AM competitors meeting postpones racing to 12:00 PM in the hopes of some moderation. A 10:00 AM check by the organizers shows 21-26 knots so the hope is the conditions will continue to moderate. Most of the competitors decide to pack up to start their trip home but 18 sailors choose to go on the water for the 12:00 PM start and the breeze has settled down to the 15-18 knot range. Five 35 minute races are run with the wind moderating down to 12 knots by the last start. The sailors are tired but all smiles as the day ends with pizza and beer on the beach.
The top five are:
1. Lars Guck (A3/Glaser/Fiberfoam)
2. Pete Melvin (A3/Glaser/Hall)
3. Woody Cope (XJ/Glaser/Riba)
4. Roberto Casadei (XJ/Bim/Riba)
5. BRA (Flyer II/Fiberfoam/Landenberger)
The Houston Yacht Club RC team and PRO Billy Rich did an excellent job, they will be the team for the November WC. Thanks again to John and Carla Schieffer and Bob Webbon for all the hard work in organizing this event and getting the US ready to host the best A-Class world championship ever in November!
Lastly, thanks to all of the US A-Class sailors for their enthusiasm and support of this event. The next major national regatta for the class will be the North American Championship in May in Annapolis.
For more pictures and detailed results, visit
www.usaca.info and click on US A-Class Blog.
Bob Hodges
USACA
USA 230
