Stars and Stripes Races Again

Stars and Stripes the ULTIMATE in beach cats is back in action.

Check out this article in Southwinds Page 49 in the PDF Southwinds Magazine

What a great read!

Oh Yeah... it just did Ft Laurderdale to Key West in 8.5 hours!

Anyone know who the lucky crew is? We must know some of these guys!

Great article.....no wonder the publication is free is 50% advertising.!!

That boat is what got me thinking about cats. I saw a picture of it when I was ten of it launching off the back of a wave! I have loved cats ever since.

Yes, but what happened to that composite wing/sail with which it actually raced NZ for the Cup? That was the amazing thing to me...that the tall, thin, SOLID, "thing" would out-perform an actual sail.

I presume it broke and the subsequent owners couldn't afford to replace it, hence the traditional sloop rig.

I think this is the OTHER Stars & Stripes, the sister ship boat they used for training and practice racing, and it had a soft sail. I think the one that raced in the America's Cup is still out on the West Coast. It was being stored in San Diego, wasn't it, along with the wing sail?

Of course!...I'd forgotten about the 2nd boat.

From XSRacing.com

Jan 11 2007 - 1052 PST - Lauderdale to Key West Race Update - After all these years Stars and Stripes, the 60 foot catamaran once owned by Dennis Conner and steeped in yacht racing history is still setting speed records. The 30 foot wide racer smashed the previously held multihull record of 13 hours 22 mins held by Brad Hallock in Surfing Safari in the 31th annual Fort Lauderdale to Key West Invitational Yacht Race by almost five hours. Stars and Stripes made the 160 mile trip in 8 hours and 31 mins. While co-skippers Steve and Scott Liebel waxed the fleet on elapsed time, they came in third on corrected behind Green Flash (Crowther/Calvert) and the winning boat Lightspeed (Lightspeed 32). Lightspeed which was skippered/owned by Hunt Stookey with famed sailor Randy Smythe riding along for good luck.

160 miles / 8 hours 31 minutes (approx 8.5 hours) = almost 19 mph...not bad at all. Didn't the huge French cat (Orange?) that set the new Atlantic crossing mark average something well into the 20 mph range?

Orange 2 averaged 27 knots (31 mph) during 4 days 8 hours when they shattered the atlantic record. They lost 6 to 8 hours due to a collision with an object that damaged the rudder so the record could have been even better.

/håkan

The Stars and stripes with the solid wing is probably one of the fastest course racer ever seen. It is really sad that the solid wing version is in pieces.

It would be interesting too se how it would sail against the latest orma tris, short course race in sheltered waters...

/håkan

Hey Alive

Were you Aussies pissed when Conners used the cat against the maxi boat of Fay ...

Were you a cat sailor back then???

I don't think it had much of an impact on the cat sailing world in the USA. Certainly no difference in the public's perception of catamarans.

Uh, Mark - Michael Fay was from New Zealand.

Michael Fay

One year later, the Kiwis and Michael Fay surprised the Cup world again by challenging the San Diego Yacht Club with their immense monohull nicknamed the Big Boat KZ 1. This 'rogue challenge' relied on a literal interpretation of the Deed of Gift. The American response was swift and decisive: they built a small catamaran fitted with a hard wing sail, Stars and Stripes, that easily won the races on the water. However the result of the 1988 America's Cup would be determined in court. After a legal imbroglio New Zealand was awarded by the America's Cup, but it would be a short-lived victory. The Americans were finally awarded the Cup on appeal, but the whole affair was a difficult one for the event.

On the positive side, the 1988 mismatch allowed the emergence of a new class of boat, the International America's Cup Class. Michael Fay came back to San Diego in 1992 with the surprising New Zealand NZL-20, fitted with no rudder but with a tandem keel and a special bowsprit. The way the Kiwis used the bowsprit became the subject of a protest that changed the course of the Louis Vuitton Cup finals, allowing the Italian Il Moro di Venezia ITA-25 to snatch the momentum from the Kiwis and claim the series.

Not as pissed as the crowd down in New Zealand <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Aaagh, Matt beat me to it <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Quote on the SA forum - "Raced against them when fossett had it on a formula 40 tri-maran "running with scissors" they were a speck on the horizon after a couple of hours and we were doing low 20's."

That, of course, was the soft rig version. Agree it would be cool to see either of the S&S go up against the newer 60's. Although I'm guessing the one in Mexico may not fair so well...

Oops...

My excuse:
My brain is mush from reading the monster thread about NOTHING!... I can't believe I have read every stinking message!

The truth... clueless in Annapolis. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Mark, I think Stars and Stripes victory by such huge margins, over the Fay boat, did have an effect in the states. Up until then, I never considered a catamaran as anything other than a toy for reaching fast but nothing more. My total exposure to cats at that time was limited to watching a few Hobie 16's poorly sailed in light air.

After I saw what a state of the art cat could do to a state of the art mono, twice it's size, I had to find out more about cats, which eventually led me out of racing mono's and onto cats. I hope it had the same effect on many other sailors who thought the same about cats.

And all those tri's setting records across the Atlantic back in the 80's helped push me in this direction too! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

During one of the post race press conferences one of Connor's crew was asked, "It looked like you could have beaten New Zealand with a Hobie 17." The crew guy said no way but the look on his face was the real answer.

I believe there were three Stars and Stripes built for the trials and race. They had both the hard and soft sails. One ended up in West Maui, and was parked at Buzz's Warf. Think it was about 1995, and in much need of repair.

On another note, Hobie Cat, who helped out with the design and development, had a special addition H-17 and H-18 in 1989 that had the same colors, plus "Stars and Stripes" on the hull. My son Tom still his Stars and Stripes H-17 sail 144.

Caleb Tarleton

I saw a Hobie 17 advertised that was the Stars and Stripes edition. At the time I was really looking into buying a 17 and almost bought it. But I didn't and looking back I am kinda glad.

Pissed they ditched cats from the AC....... Finaly saw potential for the AC to be interesting. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

PRE-XACTLY!

If I'm not mistaken theres also a S&S edition H21SE.

Maugan, you are correct. Hobie did the 17, 18 & 21 with the S&S blue hulls (trophy blue), white hull caps, black mesh tramp and R/W/B sail configuration. Some had variations in the color panel placement, large block USA on the sails and a special numbering sequence.

Tom G

that whole A.C. episode was strange. imagine putting up a planning monohull to beat all other designs. they must not have thought conner would use a multihull. i heard conners could have won with the formula 40 that they used to teach him how to sail a cat on. that boat was on maui, but i wonder if it got destroyed in a kona storm. actually there were 2 40's sent here from that project. one was french and one a morrelli. they were going to give rides, but i think the wind is alittle strong for that considreing the limited level of cat knowledge the captain had.
in 1976 the hobie 16 had a stars and stripes addition.
cheers, dr

Does anyone know how many models of each were made? I saw a S&S TheMightyHobie18 on ebay a couple months ago.

From Scuttlebutt 2259
NEW RECORD
KEY WEST, FLA. (January 12, 2007) – Stars & Stripes, the Custom 60
multihull owned by Steve and Scott Liebel (Bradenton, Fla.), broke the
multihull race record in the 2007 Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race.
Reporting maximum boat speed at 32 knots during the race, Stars &
Stripes crossed the finish line with an elapsed time of 8 hours, 31
minutes, 4 seconds to take line honors, smashing the old record of 10
hours, 11 minutes established in 2005 by Zephyr. This year’s running of
the 160-nautical mile race, which began on January 10, was one of the
fastest, with consistent wind of 20-plus-knots the entire night, giving
the fleet “a fast and fun experience,” as one crew member characterized
it. In fact, this is the third time in the past five years that a race
record has been broken. Four boats retired early from the race due to
damage.

The overall IRC fleet winner, on corrected time, was Decision, the R/P
52 owned by Stephen Murray Jr. (New Orleans, La.), which also won the
seven-boat IRC A class. The overall winner in the PHRF fleet,
Dreadnought, was one of two entries from the U.S. Naval Academy and
skippered by Midshipman Burchett (Annapolis, Md.). – Media Pro Int’l,
Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race results are online at:
http://www.yachtscoring.com

BTW, each Hobie dealer was allocated one Stars and Stripes of each model. Hobie Cats Northwest had two local shops. My Son Tom bought H-17 #144, Bob Whistler bought the other H-17. Tom's H-17 is in our picture, still racing with the original sail.

Caleb Tarleton

its too bad they lost the cup for violating the cups gift of deeds because of advertising

In the Key West race, what was the elapsed time for the fastest Monohull? I just want to see a side by side comparison: fast mono vs. fast cat. Also, do they start the Monos first, then the multihulls?

And the look could best be described ... ??

GARY

My S+S TheMightyHobie18 had a white tramp that matched the decks.

GARY

Lack of conviction?

...as looking like the dog when she gets caught trying to snag some food off the kitchen counter.

Of course he could have beat him with a Hobie 17, with enough wind, say 40MPH?

Hey H1616, back on your side of the pond for three weeks. Maybe we can do Hula Grill again. Will send you a PM.

The Kiwi boat wasn't all that fast. A H17 would have beat them in any conditions.

Instead of the Hula Grill we can try either Pacific'O or the Lahaina YC. Pacific'O is an excellent place for lunch.

Unless the Kiwi boat got to windward of the H17. Hellofa wind shadow that would be for a small boat to overcome...

Keith, that is a common problem I have at Anthony's, our Friday night series. Multihulls start last, so we have to pick our way thru the big mono's. It always works to tack clear to their windward, than come down to pass.

Yep. The fun starts when you're in a big mono fleet spread out wide and converging on a turning mark. Last year's Oxford/Hammond Memorial races were a great exercise in wind shadow/collision avoidance sailing! On some points of sail the larger racing monos aren't that slow - trying to reel in some of the PHRF A0 boats upwind is an eye opener, as would be trying to catch some of them downwind without a chute.

Bottom line - based on performance alone I'm not sure it's a slam dunk that a stock Hobie-17 would beat the Kiwi big boat in a windward-leeward race. Makes for a fun daydream though...