2016 Chronicle #1 - The Schedule and Team

Last year for my sailing campaign in Europe I was not very successful in writing chronicle’s and only completed one. Lets see if I do better this year but I know that many people are interested in hearing about our sailing adventures.

Matt Morris (my teammate) and I had been talking about competing in the 2015 F-18 World Championships since we left Italy after the 2013 Worlds where we placed 39th out of 161 boats. But as most of you know Matt suffered a brain seizure in May 2015 which prevented him from competing last summer. In October 2015 he had brain surgery to remove a pineal cysts which was successful through with many trials and tribulations until he was cleared by his doctor to resume competitive sailing. Since Matt was cleared in late March we have done a fair amount of training and competed in two events (Cat Fight II and ABYC Memorial Day Regatta) where we placed 1st in both events. Matt clearly is back up to where he was a year ago and has not forgotten how to make an F-18 go fast!

So to make up for the events he was prevented from sailing last year we have developed a rigorous sailing campaign for the next four months that will be primarily in Europe. Our final event will be the US National Championships to be held in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey starting on Sept 17.

Because our final event in Europe is the weekend of Sept 10-11 there was not enough time to return to San Diego and then drive the boat to New Jersey so I needed to drive the boat out in June to pre-position it for the regatta. Matt’s father volunteered to help me drive the boat out since Matt had final exams at UCSD. We had a very successful four day trip and the boat arrived at the venue at Sandy Hook to be placed into storage until September. The venue for the Nationals looks great with sheltered, flat water and the highlight of the event will be a race to the Statue of Liberty and back.

Steve & Matt at 2012 F-18 World Championships

The Schedule

Our plan is to sail in ten regattas over four months which will consist of 33 racing days and an estimated 110 races (typically 3-4 races per race day). Following is the schedule of events shown on the map of Europe. Point 0 is the starting and ending point in Germany (Zweibrucken) where Steve’s family is from and the car is stored.

1) Kiel Week, Kiel, Germany

June 18 – 21
Largest regatta in the world
First Kiel week in 1882
4 race days (3-4 races per day)
25 – 30 boats
1 boat from USA
4 countries represented
3 million visitors to Kiel Week

Our arrival in Kiel on June 15 with our boat!

2) Surendorf Cup, Eckernford, Germany

June 25 – 26
Local regatta in small town NW of Kiel
Expect 10-20 F-18’s racing

3) F-18 European Championships, Brest, France

July 5 - 13
5 race days (3-4 races per day)
Expect 50 - 70 F-18’s racing
15 countries represented

4) Nacra World Championships, Como Lake, Italy

July 24 – 28
Only Nacra brand F-18’s will compete
Expect 20 – 30 Nacra F-18 plus other classes of Nacra boats including Nacra 20 Carbon’s
5 race days (3-4 races per day)
1st day is a long distance race

5) Nordic Cup, Tallinn, Estonia

Aug 5 - 7
3 race days (3-4 races per day)
Expect about 15-25 F-18’s from Scandanvian countries
Already 6 countries entered

6) Movenstein Regatta, Lubeck, Germany

Aug 13 -14
2 race days (3-4 races per day)
Local regatta on Baltic Sea
Expect 15 – 20 F-18’s

7) German & Italian National Championships, Garda Lake, Italy

Aug 26 29
Has reputation as best place to race F-18’s in all of Europe
3 race days (3-4 races per day)
Expect 30 - 50 F-18’s

8) Nordichtpokal Regatta, Lubeck, Germany

Aug 13 -14
2 race days
Local regatta on Baltic Sea
Expect 10 – 20 F-18’s

9) Danish Championships, Sonderborg, Denmark

Sep 10 -11
Expect 10 – 20 F-18’s
Same town where Steve stores the boat over the winter – how convenient

10) US National Championships, Sandy Hook, New Jersey

Sep 19 – 24
Expect 25 – 40 F-18’s

Results Postings On-Line

While the racing is going on it will be difficult for us to keep you all posted but you can look up results daily at the following links:

Kiel Week: http://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/3d6e4588-3363-4d3d-afad-8e656da38cba/#!/results?classId=3459cfc2-29bf-46de-a20b-b3e2986f9c1c
European Championships: http://www.f18europeen.com/en/
NACRA World Championships: http://www.nacrasailing.com/2016-nacra-championships-italy-lago-di-como/
Italian & German Championships: http://www.circolovelaarco.it/regate/15-german-italian-national-f18
Nordic Championships: http://f18nordic.org/

If any of these links do not work then Google the name of the event.

The Boat

We will be using a Nacra Infusion Mk II 2012 model which I purchased used from the Nacra headquarters in Netherland in March 2015. The boat is identical to the boat I race in California.

Access to the Cat Box by tilting the boat

The boat has been in storage in Sonderborg, Denmark since last summer in a barn on the farm of one of our former exchange students (Henrik). The farm dates to the 1700’s.

The Car

To get us around Europe I acquired a 2001 VW Jetta Diesel station wagen from my uncle. No this is not one of the “cheater” emission vehicles but predates that problem.

So it’s off to the races for us….

Thanks to all our supporters in this endeavor – especially my wife, Alida who is supporting my retirement hobby! And a special thanks to Matt’s father (also Matt) for helping to drive the boat to New Jersey.

And to Henrik Kuseler’s family for storing my boat in Denmark. And to Matt Morris’ family (Matt and Kim) for their strong support of Matt for doing the racing during his summer vacation from UCSD. And Matt’s girl friend Stephanie who supported Matt throughout his recovery. And my German cousin Frank Reidelhuber. Without his help navigating the German bureaucracy to register and insure the car and trailer this adventure would not have been feasible.

We hope this newsletter is a suitable means to keep everyone informed.

Stay tuned for the next Chronicle!

Steve and Matt