2014 US F18 Championship

Lots of pictures and timely updates on the F182014 Facebook page.

Press release and results

Living vicariously this year. Sure wish I was in Corpus Christi!

They may run up to 7 races today to get back on schedule. Wow! That's a press release that will wake you up!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Mike

It's in the SI's no more than four. I will straight up shoot someone if they do seven. Might be myself....

My skinny, weak, scrawny butt, ain't built for F18 sailing.

You just need to drink more beer, and eat more pizza!

It's in the NOR only 4. I know SI's can be changed is the same rule true for the NOR?

Not happy about 6 races either, but I'm old so...

Yes. Technically, SIs are changed and NORs are amended, but the process is essentially the same.

Mike

If they do run more than four, would they use the shorter race format?

Like a course 2 rather than 7?

Or is there some rule about how long the courses need to be?

I'm not there, so I can't say. Typically, there is a minimum race length (duration) that provides a "fair" race. This varies by class, and size/ strength of the fleet.

Nice report from Tues: http://usf18.com/zhik-us-f18-nationals-2014-on-fire/

I don't see a report from Wed yet.

Results link: http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=8448&show_crew=1

Mike

Race 1's all week (twice around) the races are about 38 minutes long and the whole fleet finishes within 7 minutes of the first boat. Pretty text book race management and it's been a great week so far and we get the same IRO for next year.

Corpus Christi chop is something quite special and there are those that manage it really well and then the rest of us.

Are Mike/Tripp's North Sails sails the standard for the Falcon? or have they built their own thru North Sails?

Some great pictures on the Facebook page (link is on the bottom of the daily recap link from two posts above).

I believe they are working with Mike Marshall of North Sails Newport.

Mike is an excellent young J24 sailor, who has bought an Infusion.

Interesting that the pecking order changed up a bit in the lighter air. Some guys are still fast no matter what though
http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=8448&show_crew=1

I don't think anyone is handling it particularly well. There was some rage out there today.

Wow, Mike and Tripp sailed a new throwout. Yikes...

Mike

And held on to the top spot with 3 points to spare!

Congrats to two of the nicest guys on and off the water!

Excellent. I hope you're making them mind their bullet shots. I know Trip's good for it.

Mike

Great event, thanks to the Corpus Christi Yacht Club, Martha Avery, Steve Piche, The Emerald Beach Hotel, and all the volunteers that made the week memorable. We saw a wide range of conditions, and like always the best boats were fast no matter what. Huge congratulations to Mike and Tripp for taking another title, and to the Argies and Dutchies for traveling so far and sailing so well.

For Brooks and I it was an interesting event. Having not sailed together since early July, and coming off a hand surgery, we really weren't sure where we would end up. We had some upwind speed issues in the breeze and chop early in the week, but started figuring it out by the end of Wednesday. We found that slightly less depower and a little main ease was actually faster in the chop upwind, and downwind you had to be extremely active with weight, trim, and driving. When the wind went light we had some good races, which was satisfying. Overall, glad we were there, always great to see so many great friends from all over the country/world.

And don't worry about the bullet shots... there were a lot of Bear Fights on Friday night....

Nice job, Jeff!

Mike

Thanks to the entire team that organized this event. It's amazing that these events continue to set the bar year after year. Particularly I would like to thank Steve Piche for the amazing amount of passion and enthusiasm he showed before, during, and after the event. Also, Martha Avery, Regatta Chair, who also obviously loves catamarans and whom this event could not have happened without! Jasper, thanks for the amazing press and media coverage. Finally, thanks to Mike Easton for working with the regatta committee and spendimg late nights at the bar during the event to aid Jasper in social media. Mike has been instruemental in the success of the F18 class over the last few years, he's going to be a tough act to follow.

Personally, we felt good in the breeze but with only 4 days sailing together before and a crew who has only sailed F18s for those 4 days with me 2 years ago in the last 5, we definitely had some catching up to do. I felt that the top end of this fleet was much harder to get into than last year. Whenever we got into the top 10 it was a game of inches. Every time we missed out on 4 or 5 boats right at the finish, really tight racing! This was also a result of relatively short, fast paced racing. It was nice to bang races out so quickly. PRO Mark Foster did a terrific job.

Our downfall was Thursday in the light air and chop. I blame the 3 weeks of non-stop business travel leading up to the event, it had nothing to do with the rum drinks on Wednesday night (Thanks JC!).

I wish I could take back Thursday but I was very happy with 11th, I'd be lying if I said I was happy to miss out on the top ten to a tie-breaker, I really wanted top ten! But it was nice to see fellow fleet members Brooks and Jeff grab it from us.

Comment on above post from Tom Korz, Mike Marshall who designed Mike and Tripp's sails purchased a C2 earlier this year and will be racing with us next season. Additionally there were two other North Sails at this event on an Infusion and a Hobie Tiger.

Friday night got quite exciting as what felt like half the fleet poured into a local bar after the awards dinner. The locals were confused but were very welcoming. I lost count of drinks ordered after about 30 bear fights and at least 50 Coronas.

I am looking forwards to Charlotte Harbor next year!

I'm starting to warm up to the new Todd, but dude you have to stop calling me in the middle of the night.

his mind is slipping... Get reservations for that padded room

Happy to see such a great result for the only US built F18. Falcon did a great job in under 2 years bringing a new design to the top, thanks to the support of many sailors.

A big thanks as well to Corpus Christi as it was awesome to follow the event from my couch in Belgium!