2015 Nacra 17 Worlds

First day of racing for the 2015 Nacra 17 Worlds is Sunday July 5th. This is a huge event for the US teams for a couple of reasons.

1. The US still needs to gain a country berth for Rio

-Ideally, we would gain one of the three berths available in Aarhus. If not, lets hope Canada, Aruba, and Puerto Rico all qualify!


2. The results of these worlds have major implications on the US selection process for Rio.

- The selection events for the US team are the 2016 Miami World Cup and 2016 Worlds in Clearwater.

- Entries for Miami will likely be limited, and the results of the 2015 Worlds determine who gets spots at Miami. No Miami, no Olympics.

From the selection document:

"2. For the 2016 ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, if limited entries are
enforced, MNAs will be awarded a certain number of spots according
to a system described in the Notice of Race. US Sailing will award
entries to its athletes using the following criteria:

The first two entries in each class will be awarded to the two highest
finishing athletes or teams at the 2015 class world championships.

If a third entry is available in a class, it will be awarded to the highest
finishing athletes or teams at the 2016 MLK Weekend Regattas at
Coconut Grove Sailing Center (470, 49er, 49er FX, Nacra 17, RS:X) and
Lauderdale Yacht Club (Finn, Laser, Laser Radial) January 16-18, 2016.

If a fourth entry is available in a class, it will be awarded to the third
highest finishing athletes or teams at the 2015 class world
championships...."

US entries:
Mark Mendelblatt United States USA027 Carolina Mendelblatt
Sarah Newberry United States USA278 Matthew Whitehead
Michael Easton United States USA 234 Katie Pettibone
Steph Hudson United States USA123 Evan Aras
John Casey United States USA204 Kristen Lane

First day of racing cancelled due to no wind.

Postponement this morning because of too much wind, but it sounds like they are racing now.

Results will be here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/438966762/Nacra17%20-%20Results.htm

It is interesting to see the number of teams that decided to stay on the beach. It's a gamble to burn your throws early. Mike and Katie are posting very consistent numbers.

I think the results are a bit misleading currently. There are two fleets- yellow and blue. Yellow fleet have finished two races (Easton is yellow), now blue is on the water (Newberry) but have only finished one race, and have a DNC for race two. It would be nice if they didn't use DNC for that purpose!

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.

Results are up for today: two races each fleet (they may do a third, not sure): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/438966762/Nacra17%20-%20Results.htm

As a reminder, the countries that are qualified: 1 FRA , 2 ARG , 3 AUS ,4 ITA, 5 NZL, 6 SUI, 7 GBR, 8 DEN, 9 AUT, 10 NED

Three spots available at 2015 worlds:
1. ARU
2. GER
3. ESP
4. GRE
5. USA (Newberry)
6. PUR (Figueroa)
7. URU
8. RUS
9. CAN (Ramsay)
10. NOR

Bad day for JC :-(

That's not fast (or cheap)...

-Captain Obvious

That's weird, a broken N17 mast...

Well, technically speaking...it could be fast depending on how anxious the rib driver is. But that does indeed have a very high suck factor.

Oh come on Mark you can do better than that? Oh sh1t Karl said that, damn marriage has made you soft, are you getting fat too?

eat what you want... sail bigger boats.

Has anyone done the statistics on which team breaks more masts (per regatta, hour of sailing, etc.)? Just from reading here, JC seems to have gone through quite a few. Could technique play a role? I've heard that reasoning used for masts breaking on other designs.

Mike

Results for the first 2.5 races from today are up. ARU and GER are going to be extremely difficult to catch, so it's really a race against Iker (and the rest of the teams on the fence) for the final spot. Talk about a daunting task!

Mike

do you get redress for an equipment failure (like the broken mast)?

I've only seen that card successfully played when the equipment was provided. That's not the case here and yikes what a can of worms if you're allowed redress for equipment issues.

Imagine the situation where you're having a bad race so you break your stick because you have another and redress gives you a better score.

Redress is never given for equipment failure in BYOB events, RRS does not allow for that (think: whose fault is it).

While redress is allowed for damage caused by other boats in BYOB events, I've seen that disallowed at a Worlds. IJ basically decided that the damage wasn't enough to make the boat unraceable.

Redress can be given for equipment failures in a BYOB event, but you have to prove that you didn't cause it (no fault of your own clause). I've seen this disallowed as well.

Mike

nope... no redress for breaking your mast.

Now ISAF can notice that mast breakage and they have decided that this should not be part of the competition and request the class under take a fix. That is how the Torando class moved to carbon sticks from alu extrusions. Marstrom designed and built the stick to be close to the alu extrusion. (bullet proof stick)

Is that an option here... oh wait. ISAF already had a hand in designing these masts to fix the nacra ones that broke all of the time..

no worries... they will get it right on the third try!

Update after 5 races:

As a reminder, the countries that are qualified: 1 FRA , 2 ARG , 3 AUS ,4 ITA, 5 NZL, 6 SUI, 7 GBR, 8 DEN, 9 AUT, 10 NED

Three spots available at 2015 worlds:
1. GER (7th)
2. ARU (11th)
3. ESP (20th)
5. PUR (Figueroa, 23rd)
6. GRE (24th)
7. USA (Newberry, 25th)
8. CAN (Ramsay, 29)
9. RUS (30)
10. URU (32)

As far as the masts, I think a lot of it comes down to skill level and time in the boat. You just don't see breakages from the top teams. If you look at the top of the fleet it is the same teams, no matter the wind and sea state.

Note: edited my post because previous comment came across poorly and I certainly mean to disrespect to anyone who broke a mast

decode please.

Gold/Silver fleet splits are posted. Sarah and Mike in Gold, all other US teams in Silver. Tough break for Steph/Evan.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/438966762/Nacra17%20-%20Flight_assignments.htm

Mid to back of pack?

Besson has really been the guy to beat all along. Showing no mercy here as well.

Mike

somebody tell JC he's got to fill out his sailor profile on the ISAF website:
JC's Bio Page

Steph & Evan missed gold fleet by a tie break!? While that's tough to take, I'd say they have a lot to be proud of, seeing as they're new to the boat and started late in the cycle.

Mike

You can tell him, I'm sure there's nothing lower on his priority list right now. Let us know how that works out...

Mike

You bet...

Edited previous post

If I was to guess I'd say he's getting more speed out of the rig by sailing it in a fashion that is less/not forgiving of error, or possibly just not forgiving ...period. Such as lot's of downhaul and rotated back, downwind. Just a guess with no info to validate it, except personal experience.
How's that for a fvckin' PC disclaimer?
They're Hall spars now, not exactly a piece of crap.Everything has it's limits and JC isn't exactly the "throttle back" type.

Does anyone have a link to results from today?

Mike

It doesn't look like the results are posted yet. You can get to the host site here: http://www.sailing-aarhus.dk/oc2015/nacra-17/

Silver fleet cancelled for today

Gold fleet no start before 6pm local

Some good race updates here. The news banner updates frequently.
http://www.nacra17class.com/

Gold fleet heading out for a 7pm start (twitter)

Update after 3 gold races:

As a reminder, the countries that are qualified: 1 FRA , 2 ARG , 3 AUS ,4 ITA, 5 NZL, 6 SUI, 7 GBR, 8 DEN, 9 AUT, 10 NED

Three spots available at 2015 worlds:
1. GER (3rd)
2. ARU (6th)
3. ESP (10th)
4. USA (Newberry, 19th)
5. GRE (23rd)
6. PUR (Figueroa, 26th)
7. CAN (Ramsay, 29)
8. RUS (30)
9. URU (33)

Three night races, and we're moving up! Awesome! How many medal races do we need to win to clinch this thing?

Mike

http://sailjuice.podbean.com/

http://www.nacra17class.com/evening-sailing-in-aarhus-on-the-4th-day-of-the-nacra17-worlds/

This link still works and is being updated. No results for today yet.

Mike

I am gaining weight at an alarming rate... I blame it on not sailing anymore, and eating on a schedule.

Results for two silver fleet races are up. Not great for USA today. Steph/Evan ate an OCS, and plummeted to 11th. Mark M and JC stayed ashore.

Mike

Medal race results are posted, it's all over for USA until the next qualifier...

Mike

But based on Jeff's initial post for this thread if the US didn't get a spot in Miami there is no Rio for the US N17. So, if Miami has limited entries the US won't get a slot and therefore aren't going to Rio. Am I understanding that correctly?

Jeff, can you also explain that if CAN, PUR, and ARU get that allows for the opportunity for US team to qualify?

The US has one more chance to qualify the country for Rio, and that will be at the 2016 Miami OCR. The Miami event will be the continental qualifier for both North and South America. ARU got their country spot at the Worlds that just finished, so in Miami it will be a three way fight between USA, CAN, and PUR for one available North American spot.

The Miami regatta is also the first qualifying event for the US selection, so the dynamics between sailing for the country qualification and sailing for the US selection could be interesting.

I assumed Miami will have limited entries, but talking to some folks yesterday that may no be the case. If it is limited, the US slots will be allocated as follows from the selection document:

"2. For the 2016 ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, if limited entries are
enforced, MNAs will be awarded a certain number of spots according
to a system described in the Notice of Race. US Sailing will award
entries to its athletes using the following criteria:

The first two entries in each class will be awarded to the two highest
finishing athletes or teams at the 2015 class world championships. (Newberry and Easton)

If a third entry is available in a class, it will be awarded to the highest
finishing athletes or teams at the 2016 MLK Weekend Regattas at
Coconut Grove Sailing Center (470, 49er, 49er FX, Nacra 17, RS:X) and
Lauderdale Yacht Club (Finn, Laser, Laser Radial) January 16-18, 2016.

If a fourth entry is available in a class, it will be awarded to the third
highest finishing athletes or teams at the 2015 class world
championships...." (Hudson)

Definitely not over for the US, but only one of US, CAN, or PUR will be in Rio

Well, the good news is that Sarah and Matthew finished ahead of PUR and CAN in this regatta, hopefully they continue that streak into Miami!

Mike

Thank you Jeff.

No problem... all I have been doing lately is sitting at a desk writing my thesis!

Get your a$$ to Newport....

Mike

Well.... what do you know... the emperor's birthday suit is looking a bit shabby to the sailors in the game.

Facebook threads by Howden illustrate the issues I raised two years ago..... but all that he offers is... well... sailors will adapt.

It has gotten so bad... that they are forming an ALTERNATIVE class association to address the issues.

Now the rank and file finally speak up... including Sarah N. who is arguing for wind limits.

Andrew McPherson notes the following.



The crime is that even hackers like myself could see the problems years ago and the apologists poo poo d the obvious issues postponing the pressure on ISAF and NACRA

The MHC met with the US rep on the technical committee in Annapolis about the selection process... We asked about and we were assured that ISAF would regulate the monopoly they were giving to NACRA... FAIL

It is NOT like they haven't done this before... the 49ner was selected in part BECAUSE of the multiple builders providing quality control and price competition. Bethwaite FIXED the 49ner in the first quad so that they had a reasonable race boat... They improved the boat further in subsequent quads. Again. ISAF played a role.

So... at the very least... Can we finally stop the BS... that the top sailors can manage the boat... everything is perfect!