NACRA 17 makes news down under

Bundock scores ISAF World Cup N 17 win in Australia; next stop - Miami... Coral Reef Yacht Club. courtesy of Sailworld news

OOPS!!! I'll try again... somewhat older news than I presumed http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2013/12/06/bundock-curtis-power-ahead-melbourne/

For video see http://www.sailing.org/worldcup

btw - there are no medal winners from the USA to date, so the showdown in Miami will test our spirit.

Registration list for the ISAF Miami World Cup: http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubm...?regatta_id=7500&custom_report_id=41

Currently 25 Nacra 17s registered, and I know there will be a few more from the USA. Lots of talent in the fleet, with the three Australian teams, the Austrians, a fast Argentinean team, Iker Martinex (multiple 49er medalist) from Spain, Olivier Backes (F18 WC) with his wife Ingrid Petijean (top 470 helm), Enrique, the British squad....

The level of talent that has moved into the Nacra 17 is just awesome! Sailed the boat last week in Miami- lots of fun, especially double trapping downwind. I found the boat to be very predictable and enjoyable, but it wasn't all that windy.

Where did they move from? other beachcat fleets, monos, skiffs, ???

Most are from other cat classes - Tornado & F18s.

An interesting one is Mark Mendelblatt - who is most accomplished in the Star class. That's a serious paradigm change.

Also interesting are Lucy Macgregor (match racing) and Pippa Wilson (470). But they've both been sailing the N17 for a while.

Nina Curtis (Bundy's crew) is a silver medalist in the elliot 6m also. will be very interesting to see if they make it to rio in 2016, still a fair ways off yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Curtis how rude is wikipedia, it lists her weight! lol

How long has Iker Martinez been sailing cats? I remember his name from the Volvo Ocean Race, as well as his Olympic success in the 49er. It's also amazing that he moved from the 49er (still in the Games) to the cats.

I'm less surprised about the women coming from other classes, since they sort of had to, unless they were cat sailors the whole time and had no Olympic experience.

Say what you want about the boat or mixed discipline, but it certainly creates new interest and discussion points.

Mike

If you go to the competitors link that Bert posted, click on any name, and it will take you to their ISAF sailor profile. Click on the "Results" tab and you can see what how they've placed in major ISAF events. Iker's been sailing the N17 about a year.

Nina Curtis Mother,Eve crews for Anthony Dutchatel.They are the current Grand Masters Hobie 16 World Champs.She was crewing here in Fort Walton Beach for the 2011 Hobie 16 NA,s
The Canadian kids made the jump from Laser Sailing.

That's a great feature, even if it's incomplete (lists "only" the major ISAF events). Thanks Matt.

I think the next year or two will be very exciting, and we'll see some interesting changes in the rankings as teams are coached and learn the boat.

Mike

Some footage from sail Melbourne. the boats looks like a handful in a blow!

Very Cool! Let's wait and see how the race track in Miami sets the stage for these athletes. Perhaps we will enjoy some thrills and drama from Biscayne Bay.

The N 17s have earned a start in the Medal Racing for Saturday (Finals). That will be worth watching.

My guess is that 30+ competitors will have registered by tomorrow evening. Some teams I have seen in Panama City have not registered to date, but I bet they will.

Looking at that entry list, I really wish I could be there!

Very cool video, except the slow-motion to enhance the near capsizes was a bit much. Watching that, I think they need to work up the mixed crew thing for spectators. They should make the women wear a bright pink bib (or the men wear a bright blue one), or even have different colored jibs or a panel on the sails, just to help us visualize which teams have women skippers (and how they are doing vs. the male-driven boats) as we watch, without having to refer back to an entry sheet.



What does this mean, Bert? How does a class "earn" a medal race format for the Olympics? I'm reasonably sure the lead-in events simply attempt to match the planned Olympic format as test events, and the overall Olympic format may evolve between the quads. And I know that there are several different formats for the different classes. But how does a class "earn" a medal race at the Olympics in the first place?

Mike

In order to be in the medal racing the class must have a credible number of entries and be exciting to watch. Sometimes, near the end of a quad, USA sailors can up their financial worth, such as the two USA Laser sailors match racing one another in 2011 for the larger portion of available sponsorship money. That is how Janet Baxter explained it. The two sailors just battled it out during the medal racing where a race scores double points.

The medal races are a part of the ISAF World Cup Series.

Last year the N 17 class was not invited.

Nacra 17s definitely had a medal race last year, the results are here: http://mocrresults.ussailing.org/2013/Nacra17/Nacra17.html

If you look at the NOR for the MOCR all of the Olympic classes are scheduled to have a medal race, it doesn't appear any of the classes are trying a different format.

It's not the slow motion that bothers me so much (although there was a bit too much of it), the sped up video between those drives me NUTS.

These boats and sailors were handling some serious breeze. That was pretty cool.

These two, at this point of the video, are clearly quite comfortable on the boat:
http://youtu.be/pehYM0RfyyU?t=1m5s http://youtu.be/pehYM0RfyyU?t=1m5s

Thanks Jeff, I was not aware they were allowed to race last year since the fleet was rather small. I hope we can at least see one USA team in the race on Saturday. Watching the boards, 49ers, and cats take their turns will be worth the trip.

Good points, guys. Thanks.

Mike

This morning is dentist free, so let me revisit the medal racing...

In 2011 we were on Tom Duggan's Laser course with approx. 150 competitors in full - rig and Radials. The Medal Racing was on Saturday and the selected classes took turns sailing one final race for double points. Classes included Laser, Laser Radial, Mens Boards, women's boards, and 49ers. The course was shorter than the days prior, but the spectator fleet was huge. The Greeks and Israelis had both chartered 60 - 70 footers for their entourages. There were some other cool vessels outside the picket, but I remember the Greek flag was larger than the Israeli flag by a few square feet.

I believe last year's medal racing for the N 17s was just an additional Race 11 on Friday.

I suspect that Mr. Duggan's Race Comm will be managing the race track, with all the dignitaries, from the deck of the Epstein's trawler, Tonto's Reward. N 17s will be participating, for the first time, for this crowd. Actually this is great exposure for the catamaran culture. As I find out more, I will be glad to share the news.

Up to ten US teams registered for the Miami OCR: http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubm...?regatta_id=7500&custom_report_id=41

Nice! Where's Easton???

Mike

Addendum - the top ten boats as of race #10 usually race on Saturday. Maybe we will have two or three USA teams on the stage Saturday morning.

Not currently sailing 17s.

Interesting, guess I'll get the story from the horses mouth next weekend...

Too bad about Easton.

Looks like registration closed two days ago, so unless there are late updates, this should be the final lineup.

I took a look at the NOR (thanks for the reminder Jeff), and it is interesting that some of the fleets have 10 races plus the medal race, while others have 15 plus the medal race. I'm sure that has more to do with logistics (the larger fleets seem to have the fewer races), but the medal race would weigh differently for the 10-race series fleets.

Also interesting that winning a race results in zero points instead of one (I believe that's not really new, just interesting).

Mike

It is logistics, but not because of larger fleets - its because of different target times. Higher-performance classes tend to have shorter target times.

The dinghies have 50 minute targets - 2 races/day
Skiffs and catamarans have 30 minutes - 3 races/day
Boards have 20 - 25 minutes - 3 races/day (longer rest periods btw races)

(those came from the SIs for the ISAF World Cup - Melbourne)

I am unfamiliar with this regatta sight. Where would you be able to watch the N17s from shore?

The racing takes place in Biscayne Bay - out of reach for shore spectating, except one might enjoy a brief panoramic view of all the courses in action.

Perhaps there might be powerboats for charter, for spectating, somewhere in the Coral Reef Yacht Club (Coconut Grove) area.

On the water spectating is doable - just remain outside the picket for the coach boats (moving around the course) and shoot as much video or take as many photos as you like.

I believe the Nacra 17 course will be pretty close to Hobie Beach and the Rickenbacker Causeway- might be able to snag a view from there. Boats are launching from the Miami Rowing Club.

Any ideas why the target time is so short for the cats? PU used to go for 50 minutes for all of our major events, presumably from his Olympic experiences.

Mike

Easy, our generation has the attention span of a gnat. But seriously, I think it's spectator/tv driven...which I still think is silly.

Yeah And whats up with 3 races a day?????? I think they should start at 9am and sail til at least 4 maybe 5pm. After all they are professional/Elite level sailors for the most part.

Keep e'm on the water til their arms fall off!!!

Said the dude who sails a two string boat with no loads.

Since I don't have to do it I'm all for it!

I doubt that's it, because there are other classes with longer races.

I've probably spent as much (or more) time working on RC with PU as anyone, and while I can't explain everything he did, I do recall quite a few conversations about target times. 50 minutes seemed to be the Olympic consensus (at least for Tornados) of what it took to have a fair race, where if a top team got a bad start, they could get back into it, etc. I can't see the Nacra 17 boat and/or competition being that much different to change this by 40%...

And Tommy, we still get 50% more per day than the America's Cup (on their good days)...

Mike

I remember the 50 min target times when PU was PRO, I also remember doing up to 5 races a day if the wind was good. As I recall at least one NA event we had over 20 races for the 5 day event. People were popping Aleve like it was candy.

It's a truly thankless job, that's for sure. The entire goal is to run a good number of fair races. Sometimes, weather does not cooperate, and you get boxed into corners that involve sunrise and sunset. People very often take things out of context, and make up some very strange conspiracy theories of what drives the RC. Sad, because all you need to do is ask, or better yet, volunteer and see for yourself that there is no evil empire on the signal and mark boats.

Mike

Mike,
The thing to keep in mind is that unlike the independent Tornado Class... the N17 class is wholely owned by ISAF and Nacra. The T class Sailors had a set of Seperate Championship Rules which allowed for two races per day with 10 in the series (If memory serves). The length of the race was guaged to the number of starters with the goal of spreading the sailors out on the course so that sailing skill determined the order. The number of races per day were set at two for worlds type events and were set to minimize the impact of a breakdown. (aka bad luck) eg you could eat a throwout and still do well. The story was that it was tougher to win the worlds then the Olympic Gold.

The Olympic rules were always set by ISAF who limit the regatta to 18 slots and ISAF changed the championship rules as they wanted... eg for china... there were no wind mimimums which the class used instead of weight mins to maintain a fair playing field.. Today, ISAF has taken control of the world regatta circuit and created the world cup (gold cup... whatever) circuit with the stated goal of restricting the fleet and trying to focus on fewer athletes for the sports marketing. They also control the N17 class. So.. they run the show. They argue that more races of shorter duration give you more finishes and supposedly more media interest as the final race which is scored double points makes the winner very much in doubt. It's just a different game. In my opinion... they have increased the Luck factor in getting a winner.... and from their perspective.. that is OK because it will sell.

What is different for the N17s is that ISAF calls the shots.. not the sailors.... and PRO's now answer to ISAF. PU would not fit will in this brave new world.

And back in the day, PU's favorite way to end a Regatta, was double #7's.

TK and all,

I have never been to the rudder club, but I can vouch for the scattered and diverse launching arenas in Coconut Grove - not much land/parking space along the shoreline. On the other side of the yacht club there are barrier islands with narrow, shallow, channels. This shallow bottom extends well out into Biscayne Bay. I remember it was quite a hike from the slip to the Laser Course and the houses still remaining, on posts, in the middle of the bay, south of Fowley Rock.

The days are shorter, the distance to the designated race tracks is long, and the traffic is immense, considering all the coach boats. Set up and return to the harbor take a bit more bite out of the sunshine. Equipment care also drains the time.

Now, maybe the women match racers should be on cats - they race from sunup until sundown in their little corner of Biscayne Bay. One lady I met in the elevator, told me they had been doing that for over a month. I guarantee you, she knew where the laundry center was in the Marriott.

The womens match racers sail in a round robin, their round is assigned to a part of the day they will sail during. During the final rounds they will be around more of the day as they advance through the finals. They also rotate in and out of boats. So they aren't sailing all day.
Some of the women's teams will be at Sandbar pretty late if they aren't sailing in the morning.
That and there is no womens match racing anymore.

soooooo....waddaya sayin'?

...just returned from the Gulf Yachting Association's AGM, and there, I learned of the reorganization committee and read their survey with emphasis on the Mallory and the Adams. I believe one of them is being modified or deep - sixed, so I am not surprised about the loss of WMR.

I know a TV minded audience will not enjoy the hours of a match racing format. Now a N 17 doing a wheelie or auto-gybing would create colorful drama that sells the sport to the action-oriented audience. A three boat pile up at the leeward gate in force five could attract a NASCAR audience.

Viewing a sailboat race has a rather recent history in the technological wonderworld. Modern devices and software have enhanced the opportunity to share the excitement of sailing to the public.

I told a couple past yc commodores that we may not have the history and traditions of the past, but we sure have an exciting future.

Multihulls will prosper, not just because of the AC on home screens, but more and more talent is pushing out the performance envelope or enjoying a competitive class association. Inter disciplinary sailing is more popular now than ever in the middle - age range of sincere athletes.

I will try and submit some video and photos from the weather mark. I am sure the regatta media coverage will be quite up to speed. The special Medal Racing event on Saturday will include the N 17, and if I am asked to serve on safety patrol, I'll try and share that as well.

Unless the coverage is equal to that of the America's Cup it's still like watching paint dry, and difficult to follow what is going on to the average person. jmo

It's a shame they got rid of WMR, it was an awesome format to watch on tv/streaming. The finals of the WMR worlds that Anna won was one of the best sailing events I have watched, truly awesome sailing.

As for the venues for OCR, the rowing club is actually a pretty great spot. Not much in the way of facilities, but launching wise it is ideal. Kind of a bummer being so far away from the regatta headquarters, but that is the reality of hosting such a big event in Miami.

really nice article in sail world today interviewing nina and bundy. damn those guys put some work into their sailing.

link to article

I would like to add a Bundy quote from the really informative piece in Sail-World.

"Bundock puts a dampener on this notion. 'We have had the Nacra 17 fully foiling. In fact we did it downwind, on the first weekend we had here for training. We were completely out of the water for about five seconds, with about 30cms of rudder in the water. But this Olympics, the Nacra won’t fully foil, unless you put some lifting rudders on the boat."

I thought that was a well-known limitation (and necessary required to make foiling happen in a practical sense)?

The real question: Other than from the fans and (some of?) the sailors, is there a desire to have a foiling boat in the Olympics?

Mike

It's downright PALPABLE

J.C. and Sarah looking good

Interestingly I spoke to Nacra just before christmas about wether the upcoming F20 foiling kit would be adaptable to suit the 17. The response was "could be".......!!

The N 17s will be racing on course, "Charlie," the outer most race track. Long haul for the teams...and very difficult to view from shore.

Find a friend with a power boat and cheer your favorites on.

John Craig is giving a presentation on the AC as we speak.

Fairlie and I are headed to CRYC in the AM. Meanwhile, Matt, best to ya in the land down under, and may the Hobie Worlds enjoy warmer weather than we expect in Miami.