F-18 Worlds Ballyholme 2014

http://2014.f18worlds.com/galleries/practice-day.html

photos from the practice day are up, couple of god ones in there including an disappearing skipper and gashby on his tipy toes trying to see over bgoodall's head.

would appear to be a lot smaller sleet than the usual f18 worlds with a lot of the big name sailors absent.

first race was abandoned due to a large shift in breeze, racing should get under way soon.

Results at the end of day one (one race sailed):

F18 Worlds results

what are conditions?

Two BFDs in the first race of the week. Ouch!

Mike

Twitter feed from the race course

F18 Worlds

USA Youts in second place after three races! Go Taylor and Matthew!!!

How is it that we only have ONE team over there? I know the northeast guys want to be in Newport this weekend, but seeing as this is one of our biggest classes, I would have expected at least a few more teams to make the effort.

Is this no longer considered a worthy training event for the Olympic teams?

Mike

Asked and answered.

Those are the standard answers (expense and difficulty/ timing in our season), but I still would think we'd have at least a few more teams.

And, that doesn't answer the question about the Olympic teams. Or, is it just about the cash for them too?

Mike

Mike, That's like asking what color is the sky is and when told blue you respond with... no that's too obvious it has to be more complicated than that.

As for the US Olympic teams... how many have a bonafied shot at making it onto the water in 2016? Two maybe three teams? So with that 30% of the teams are there. If you still want to know why they aren't there ask them. Asking here is not going to get you an answer even remotely correct.

The twitter feed is pretty good.

https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=f18worlds2014&src=typd

The logistics for us was just too much. Price of getting a boat there and staying for the time just wasn't worth it.

We may do 2 weeks in New Caledonia instead.

Well, really two easy answers:

1. Ireland was too expensive. It's that simple. I wanted to be there, I would love to visit Ireland, but I simply can't afford it.

2. For the Olympic hopefuls, Nacra 17 Europeans are this week, so if you're going to travel to Europe you would be there. Whoever decided scheduling those on top of each other is a complete fuckwit.

Gotcha. Thanks, see you in Newport!

Mike

Taylor and Matthew have slipped to third overall after the fourth race. But, they got a bullet in Race 3!

Mike

Four races in today, Taylor and Matthew hanging tough, still in third, one point behind Ashby...

Homepage says jury and repair-folk will be busy this evening...

Mike

Re Scheduling

First of all... ISAF does not give a damn what the rest of the cat sailing scene is doing... So... they take the position.. These are our gold cup events and we get our gold cup clubs to run the schedule we want... That leaves the classes to fit Class events into that schedule if they want... So.. they then have to find a club that will host on this schedule, has enough space and a large enough body of water etc etc not to mention Nacra's ability to support the N17 stand alone event and the proximity of the international fleet to get a decent turnout.. Given all the moving parts... I bet that they choose to not worry about the F18 event.

I bet a dollar that the F18 worlds were scheduled well ahead of the N17s... but the fact is that you have just a few slots in the summer season to run class championships.... and of course you want wind...

Bottom line... there is no idiot who scheduled the events on top of one another... it's just life... There are not enough summer weeks for F18 Worlds, F16 Words, Viper champs and the N17 euros to live with the ISAF Gold Cup events.

Mark This is no ISAF Gold Cup. This is the N17 Europeans run by the Nacra Class , of course Olympic Class, but no Multi class event.

Looking at the preregistration list for the N17 event, there's only one US team.
So, it remains unclear what the priority is for the US Olympic hopefuls looking to race against the best in the world. Are they running a clinic at Oakcliff this week?

Mike

There appears to be a few F 18 sailors that live outside the ISAF orbit, Gunnar Larson, for one. Taylor and Matthew are trading tacks with him just like in Sarasota last fall. USA stands in third place, as Mike reported, and Leondro is keeping his moves under the radar since the team is self grooming. JC and Sarah have been working on it for sure, and Robbie will play his cards well. There is a cost factor that is playing a role now as well. Ravi and Joseph Bello are the Oakcliff training winners among the youth.

I do not know for sure when their session is scheduled for.

One thing is golden though... There are quite a few teams in this quad's race for glory, and that is far different than the Lovell campaign. Patience and prayers for the USA as the depth will grow in 2015 and 2016.

My son is building up a N 17 on the beach at Pensacola Yacht Club today, in fact, for a non - Olympic sailor that prefers crossing the Atlantic in a large Benetau or Oceanis. He snagged the boat because he has not tried catamarans and only drives the best. You should see his car garage :-)

The N 17 is not just for hopeful Oly champions.

Nacra 17 Europeans results end of day 1.

17 European results

Nacraman,

I guess the seventy + boats at the N 17 Euros is a sign of depth and speaks a bit of the boat's design & performance.

Right.. I said that.

It comes second in the Nacra 17 pecking order of events for priority ... It's behind the gold cup events in the lets find a schedule process.

Only so many weeks left to run it.. plus Find a club with enough space to handle the size fleet and it is not trivial... (just guessing about the EU scene)..

So... the last thing the N17 schedule worries about are F18s and F16s... It's not a must do event either... This gives the sponsored teams an out to go earn their money in the other cat class events. I suspect the tough logistics of the F18 worlds helped N17 turnout this year

The Boyz in 3rd!

Maybe this is a good sign for the strength of the N17 class now. Up until the very recent past, F18 major events were all but required as critical training/competition events for our cat Olympians/hopefuls.

It does seem odd to me that the majority of our forerunning US Oly reams don't seem to be at either event. Ravi did well at the F16 worlds in Newport, Taylor is doing well at the F18s in Ireland, I guess I'm looking for others?

Looks like Stephanie and Ian had a tough day...

Mike

The N17s being kept ashore by some bastard who thinks there is too much wind.

Mmmm the Le Bastard family have lots of bretheren in France and usually were pretty highly connected to the Royalty ( before the pheasants revolted and started using the guilotine on them ) and the upper crust of yesteryears society. Go into some of the large chateaux and you often see paintings of the Bastard family.

Heard those pheasants can get nasty sometimes

Calling Mel Brooks!

I take my dog out every morning to purvey his dogdom and check on his pheasants.

HE HE...

Well... that is what you expect to happen when said "Le Bastard" only sees pictures of N17s jumping out of the water...

grin!

Never gets old, does it Mark?

...back on the Emerald Isle, scores are up for two races so far today. Taylor and Matthew had two more good ones, moving into second overall.

Ashby has a RET and a DNC for the first two today. Lots of other letter scores added to yesterday's results, showing that the jury had to earn their keep.

Mike

Nah... you hit the pigeons when they step up and ask to be hit.

Dina K and Enrique F just need to lead and let the technical committee find the political will to let NACRA fix the boat..

Since "we" are under AP...

Does anyone here know Stephanie or Ian? They both have interesting sailing backgrounds on their website, but has anyone seen them race beach cats before this year (or even met them during this year)?

Mike

Stephanie skippered for my brother in law at Nacra North Americans and OCRs. I believe that was her first cat experience. They were the number 4 US boat after those events. She was a top skipper at BC, and has experience in other olympic classes.

Ian has done a lot of skiff stuff on the West Coast, the Youth AC, and some other larger multihull stuff.

Today's results are now posted. Taylor/Matthew now leading after Gunnar took an OCS. Good day for the young yanks!

Wow, the kids had a great day! Hopefully they keep it up, especially if they get to 12 races (second throwout comes into play). They've beaten Gunnar more often, but have eaten more points in the races when they've finished behind him.

Mike

Thanks Jeff. Got most of that online, figured someone knew more of the story. Any idea why she picked the cat over the other Olympic classes this time?

Mike

That throw is likely going to help Gunnar more. (assuming his next results are also good) he has a 16 in R2 that would get dropped. The 'mericans lowest was a 9.

That's what I was trying to say... Gunnar is ahead with two throwouts. Staying in front of Gunnar isn't going to be enough, they need more boats between them.

Mike

Anyone seen a forecast for the next two days? Gunnar and Taylor excel in big breeze. Gurvan seems to do better in light air which is impressive for a Cirrus but is he still on a Cirrus? Not sure if with all the flying phantom stuff if he's on a phantom now?

Doesn't look great, if this is accurate: http://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=47791

Mike

Woot woot! It ain't over yet.

http://2014.f18worlds.com/results-practice-race.html

One race so far today, Taylor and Matthew still lead, and got two fewer points than Gunnar. Keep it up, boys!

At the N17s, Stephanie and Ian are in silver fleet.

Looking at the comments, two interesting themes:

Two of the top boats mentioned competing at past F18 worlds, and the press release brags about Besson being the current title holder, but I saw no mention of the fact that the current F18 worlds is being contested simultaneously.

Lots of discussion about a major wind change (pressure drop and 50-degree shift after the first lap), but the RC let it ride. There was mention of a potential protest (more likely a request for redress), but I don't see a list of hearings or results.

Mike

If you go ahead an count the second throw out, Gunnar/Ferdinand have a 1 point lead over Taylor/Matthew. 3 races to go.

Taylor/Matthew are the only team with every race finish being in the top 10.

So was there only one race today?

Looks like it was scheduled that way. Ashby/Goodall picked a bad day to tear the boat up, if it had been today, they would still be in it.

Why do the organizers plan the number of races per day the way they do? It seems if they want a rest day, they would have 0 races on that day.

What they have on the results page (for planned races) doesn't match the SIs...

Mike

Second race is up now. We're up a few more points, would hold the lead with two throw outs now!!!

Mike

Anyone know what's going on in France? No results up for today, no news updates. Should be gold/silver fleet racing...

Mike

My bad ... it looks like they change the date at the top of each column when they post it. Nevermind.

Twitter feed from the N17 course: https://twitter.com/ChptEuropeNacra
Too much wind today apparently.

Oh no!!! Third race results are up. Gunnar got a bullet, Taylor and Matthew sailed a new throwout (literally and figuratively). They now sit two points out of first place.

That should be the last race of the day as they are back on schedule.

Mike

Thanks for the link, Tony.

Mike

If they do get the three scheduled races in tomorrow, it could be a three-way race for the whole enchilada.

If there were no throw outs (as some folks actually advocate for major regattas), Taylor and Matthew would be winning handily.

Mike

Yuck. 4 points out.

I jinxed them with the top 10 comment.

I feel the same way, but it's hard not to root for them!

Mike

Mike, You and Tom have not jinxed them...Ashby is back in the game now. from my post on the GYA Facebook page...

Ballyholme, Northern Ireland: With only the final race to go tomorrow and following the application of the double discard, Team Intrepid stands in second place, four points from a tie for first, which I would believe they would win, based on the RRS. So, let's all pray for a four point gain tomorrow against Gunnar. Matthew and Taylor have earned their keep for sure, and I will put Matthew's name first now, because, in normal circumstances, the Crew finishes first.

Correction due: Ashby and Goodall were involved in the unfortunate affection with debris, but they are back on the water to redeem themselves as best they can; with a result of first in one race today. What cards will they play in tomorrow's final?

FWIW- According to Tom Whitehurst, we will have three N 17s training at PYC this Blue Angel weekend.

Mark, N 17s are going to filter down and into the hands of some fast car drivers...

Y'all are better with numbers than my literary background has allowed me to be, so please correct any math errors I will make :-) I have been in and out of med tests today and have only glanced at actual points.

There are supposed to be three races scheduled each day, with a cutoff time to start a race on Friday. So, if the conditions are favorable, this could be far from decided...

Mike

Ugh, the boys sailed yet a newer throwout. Sitting in third now, hope they can get more races to turn it around.

If you can decipher French tweets, there appears to be racing on the N17s, with great breeze. No official updated scores yet, although Besson appears tobe dominant once again.

Mike

Another throwout, not looking like it's within reach anymore

Gunnar Larsen and Ferdinand van West 2014 F18 World Champions.......pending any protests

Yikes. Too bad, they looked so good all week. Great sailing right to the end.

Mike

They had a great week no doubt, I am sure they would want today back though. I wonder what was different? Conditions? Boat tuning (wouldn't think so - why change anything?)? Sailed with their beach wheels still attached?

Great acomplishment, nonetheless.

Ashby and Goodall with 3 bullets today ...

Much lighter yesterday and today, not the preferred conditions for Matt and Taylor. They are at their best in breeze. Still an awesome result, best finish by a US boat at Worlds (previous was Mike and Tripp 10th in 2012).

Wow, wow, wow... BIG changes today also in the N17s. Iker Martinez now holds the lead, Besson dropped all the way down to fourth overall!

In the 31-boat silver fleet, fewer than 20 boats sailed, and Stephanie and Ian got two 8s, moving up slightly in the standings.

Mike