Alter cup?

Is this years Alter Cup boat the Blade? How well would the Blade handle 420#s - 430#s of crew weight?

What will next years boat be? When is it decided?

The Blade is this year's boat (the actual Championship will be held in early 2007). I cannot answer for how it handles the weight - I'll leave that to the F16 / Blade class to answer.

The process for a boat to become the next US SAILING Multihull Championship for the Alter Cup is a bid process where a manufacturer and a host sailing club put together a bid and submit it to the US SAILING Multihull Council to be voted on. There are bids in the works at the moment for next year but nothing has yet to be formally proposed and/or voted on.

Thanks Jake!

Can the date of the event change? It is a little cold up here in March.

See this post in the F16 Forum:


F16 Ideal Crew Weight Post

Jake,

Any chance narrowing the date down more than "the actual Championship will be held in early 2007". Trying to make plans for next year and early next year is not much more than 3 months away.
Thanks

Ken,

I understand and appologize for the delay. I can now tell you that it will very likely be nearest the end of April. We really hope to have a final date hammered in place by the end of this week.

Jake

Where and when are the area A&B qualiifers?

420 - 430 lbws = 190 - 195 kg

That is just too much. You won't be competitive with that combined weight.

Try to stay within 130 - 160 kg. Preferably withing 135-145 kg.

And learn to trim well. These are low drag boats not power boats. The crew with the best trim skills will be very favored.

Wouter

Yes. Date is flexible.

Will it be possible to compete one-up, or is the event locked down to two-up? I am obviously not qualified, but I am curious..
If one up is allowed, what is the competitive weightrange? (I guess this is more of an general F-16 question)

That there is a great question. Qualify as a team, then boot the crew:)

Or, would/could both get a slot, as in two boats? Probably not.

per Jake/John: Qualifiers for the Championship will sail the Blade 2-up. I paraphrased, of course.

yup - 2up only.

70 kg - 95 kg is competitive range with 75-85 being optimal I think. But the spinnaker handling requires so much skill that the onus of competitiveness is really very much shifted to skill rather then skipper weight. Getting that kite up and drawing or getting is down and carving a tight turn through the gate are just difficult things to execute perfectly. If you don't then you easily throw away 10's of meters or seconds. Going wide through the gate is especially hurtful.

Wouter

For the qualifier or for the Cup? It was my understanding 1-up was ok for the qualifier!

In the past 1-up sailors could qualify themselfs for the event. Kirt Simmons even did that on his Taipan 4.9 back in 2001 I believe.

Wouter

I know of several Uni sailors who have qualified solo, but had to get crew to race the Alter, which brings up the question, why can't a Uni boat be used once in a while for the Alter Cup? Is it in the "charter" of the Alter Cup that it always be sailed on a -two up- boat? I would love to see it done on 10 new Nacra 17's, or A2's or the Blade Uni. No excuses that way. Maybe every 5th year they could go solo?

Great idea, Tim - let me know as soon as you get those ten boats lined up. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Sorry - I thought he was talking about this Alter Cup itself. For qualifiers it has to be a beach cat with a non-bracketed Portsmouth handicap number. The qualifiers will be scored in one handicap fleet.

?

Bob - I think nobody knows the answer to your question. It isn't the first time it has been asked, but it seems that only the Area A and B reps can answer it, and they aren't saying for some reason. It could be that there is no qualifier planned in your Area, in which case you can either travel to another event or rely on a petition. Like Sisyphus, I got tired of pushing that rock up the hill - maybe Jake will have better luck motivating the Reps than I did. After five years, I'm more inclined to declare poorly run or incomplete qualifiers invalid than explain the basics for the umpteenth time - and now, if the event doesn't happen due to lack of interest... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> I can't understand why some Areas continue to decline while the Championship thrives.

Maybe I'm wrong... Joe? David? Got an event planned?

It would appear that none is scheduled!


NECSA schedule


So... come on down.... (a blatant attempt to build attendance at the Area C...) BESIDES... Its warmer down here! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

If it’s true, it would be a shame if there is no scheduled qualifying event for area B and/or A…. A few years back, there was active interest in hosting the qualifier in upstate NY… but the interest was largely ignored.

There’s a great event called “CMOR” hosted by Shark Fleet 1 and the Canandaigua Yacht Club. This year they had 31 boats comprising of Sharks, F18s, A’s, H14, H16, H20 and Tornado. Last year they had upwards of 50 boats on 1 large start line. Seems to me it may be a good fit if the organizers and US sailing reps were interested… just thinking out loud.

Bob M,
From what I understood the A/B qualifiers was held at the Lipton Cup in Squantum, MA. I didn't know about it until after the event but a few people told me about it, apparently Mike Easton and Tripp Burd won.
It was supposed to be in New Haven again but I think that regatta was pretty sketchy all summer... and in the end it ended up being cancelled for good a week or two ago. Joe doesn't have as much energy as he used to, he has had some health problems. He has been the area B rep for years and he loves making regattas he organizes the qualifiers. He has a lot to do with his sailing program and with his recent health problems I don't know how much longer he will even be doing that. I don't know if anyone has offered to take over the position as area rep. but it might be time to offer again.
Bob o,
I agree with you, it should be in upstate NY one of these days, as much as I hate driving up there, you guys drove down to Madison plenty of times. It's a big area especially since a/b got combined and it can't always be down in the better part of the area <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
-Todd

That can't be right.

todd, forgive my ignorance, is the NY metro area part of A, B or else,
the otehr question, still very unclear, have we had qualifier in A/B or not?

and if not, there is still time before march to get that qualifier orgainze. how?

cheers

Sandy Hook CC in Sandy Hook New Jersey is the northern most portion of Area C (and Hobie Div 11)

LICSA and Roten Point are the closest catamaran clubs to NYC that are in Area A/B.

Good Luck!

Just found this on New England Catamarans site:
AREA A ALTER CUP
July 15 -16th, 2006 - Held at the Squantum Yacht Club in Quincy, MA. A very light showing but close competition with the Nacra F-18's and Nacra -20. Saturday had beautiful winds with double trapezing conditions in flat seas. Frank Keefe showed up with his new inflatable and zoomed around the course changing marks and making sure the boats that went over were okay. Sunday had lighter winds and more difficult shifts for the race committee (PRO- David White) and the competitors but the team of Mike Easton and Tripp Burd didn't seem to have any problems. They ended up as the top team and will go on to the finals. Jim and Nora Zellmer took second and Joe Valante and Joe Berry took third. Thanks to the Squantum Yacht Club for allowing us to join their Lipton Cup event.

In case anybody's wondering, the Area G (Northern California/Nevada) Qualifier will be November 4 and 5 in Santa Cruz. The NOR and entry form can be found here

Mark, who is area C multihull rep?

Mark Santorelli is the area C rep. He was the PRO for the NA F18's a few weeks ago as well.

Rhino--Are you and some of the NV guys coming? Wind and weather should be very pleasant by that time of year.

I'll try to make it provided that I can figure out a way to be class legal. Also, that is the time of year when crossing the Sierra with a boat trailer starts to get dicey.

I doubt any of the others from Reno will make it, but maybe there'll be a boat or two from Chico. Have you talked to Bob lately?