Saturday, November 23, 2019

We have now completed five races and are in 18th place overall. Our finishes have been 16-11-38-12-28 where the 28 is for the around the island race which counts double. We have struggled more with the longer distance races where you need to make strategic decisions on where to sail - further offshore or along the coast. The first race today was awesome fun doing a salom course through three islands with the strongest wind so far around 14 kts. For the around the island race even though the wind was not as strong as I have seen in previous years it was still very treacherous at the top of the island in the “washing machine” nicknamed that by the sailors because the waves bounce off the cliffs and come back out making the area very difficult. We made good ground in this part of the race by reach low and fast as we passed three boats that had capsized.

The Cata Cup does an outstanding job of posting daily pictures and results so you can follow the regatta at: https://stbarthcatacup.com/en/pages/Home-Welcome/ They also have great press releases which describes more of the regatta than I can do here on my blog.

There is one final race tomorrow where the finish line will be close to the container port so we can go straight to the beach to start de-rigging our boats while eating a picnic lunch. The goat is to have the boat packed in the container by 6:00 pm Sunday evening before heading to the awards dinner at 7:30 pm.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

This morning we woke up a little earlier so that we could be at the head of the line when registration for the regatta opened at 9:00 am. We were the second team through which was nice because we could then head to our boat to prepare for our practice sail. Since we are on a different beach than previous years it is tricky to get out to the open ocean because we have to go through the surf line in an area only about 50 meters wide to avoid hitting the reef. We also are not allowed to sail along the beach because then we go sail through the flight path of the aircraft landing and taking off at St Barth. We sailed out with no issues and had a great practice session with the wind from 8 to 13 kts though very inconsistent. After about two hours of sailing we decided to sail back to the beach which was good timing because a large squall hit shortly after our landing. We are now sitting out multiple heavy rain showers which are good because they are giving the boat a fresh water wash down but we still need to do some maintenance items on the boat. At 5:30 we attend the competitor’s meeting and the opening ceremony.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

On Sunday we arrived in St Barths to pick up our rental car and then be escorted to our villa. We found out that we are not sharing a villa with the Austrian team but we each have separate villas next to each other. And then there are a group of three villas around a swimming pool just below us that are occupied by sailors so we can enjoy the fresh water pool too. And best of all the beach is only five minutes away which is where we are keeping our boat. On Sunday the container was open so we got our boat out and the hulls assembled with the trampoline before it turned dark but that was a good start.

Yesterday we finished rigging the boating so around 2:30 pm departed to sail to the other side of the island where the regatta is being held. It was the easiest sail around that I have ever done with the wind a gentle 8 knots with a few puffs along the way. We then had dinner with our Danish friends Jan and Penny at JoJoe’s Burgers one of the favorite hangouts for Cata Cup sailors. The burger bar was sold out with Cata Cup sailors and a lot of fun.

This morning our goal was to adhere all our advertising stickers to the mainsail and the boat. This year we are sponsored by Kiton so we had to remove our Boglioli stickers from last year. Kiton is another high-end clothing manufacture from Italy whose clothing is sold by the Maxwell Company - a key Cata Cup sponsor. The wind started out very light so we figured we would not sail today. We have some other boat maintenance to do. Tomorrow morning we need to register and have our crew weight measured so hopefully Max and I weigh in above the minimum of 150 kg (330 lbs). Then we plan to go sailing though it is also supposed to be lighter wind.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Max and I have spent the past two days exploring St Martin/St Maarten Island - the smallest island in the world that is shared by two countries. We had heard that there was a great natural swimming pool among rocks on the east side of the island but it took us three attempts to find it with some help from a local. Today we went on a zip line adventure through the rain forest modeled after the Costa Rica zip Lines. Besides the zip lines there were many wire bridges, wooden suspended bridges and other obstacles that we had to traverse. And of course, during the middle of the tour we had a tropical torrential rain fall so we were soaked by the end of the trail. We are making good progress in getting over jet lag and tomorrow morning we take the ferry to St Barths. We will check into our Cata Cup provided villa which we are sharing with one of the Austrian teams. The villa is close to the airport and only a twenty minute walk from the sailing beach. We are not sure if the container port will be open on Sunday for us to start rigging our boat or if we have to wait until Monday morning.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

After several months of silence on this blog, for the next ten days I will try to provide some updates of our next adventure - Cata Cup 2019. Right now I am in transit sitting at the Miami airport waiting for my flight to St Maarten. Meanwhile, Max Tjarnsved, who sailed with me this past summer is in the air flying from Sweden to St Maarten. We are teaming up for what will be my third Cata Cup and the first for Max. It was very hard to convince him to fly to the Caribbean from snowy Stockholm to sail with me. We will spend three days on St Maarten lodging on the French side of St Martin to get over our opposite jet lags and enjoying this Caribbean Island. On Sunday we will take the 50 minute ferry ride to St Barts. Our boat is already in St Barts sitting disassembled in a 40 foot shipping container along with eight other boats.

It has taken a lot of logistics to get the boat to meet us. After the North American Championships in Detroit Michigan, my wife Alida and I drove two boats on a double stacked trailer to Sarasota Florida. We took more than a week for this 1,200 mile (1,900 km) trip stopping at tourist attractions along the way. In Sarasota I disassembled my boat with the help of my ex-Navy friend and we loaded the boat in the container to be shipped to St Barts. The Cata Cup regatta provides for shipping a container from Miami to the regatta. We loaded eight American and one Canadian boat into the container. I expect there will be around 55-59 boats racing in this regatta. Next Tuesday and Wednesday are practice days and then the racing starts on Thursday for four days. There are typically two races per day except for the day when we race around the entire island.

On Monday we get access to the container so the goal for the day will be to assemble the boat which will take 4-6 hours and then sail it half way around the island to the beach with the regatta’s headquarters.

There are also previews of the this year’s fleet already posted on this web site. When looking for us in pictures we will be using sail number USA 44 - same as last year.

See my chronicle from the 2018 Cata Cup which provides background on the regatta. Both the Greek team that were second in this year’s World Championships and the Belgium team that won last year’s Cata Cup are returning this year.

Friday, August 9, 2019

Today they wind came up slowly so we were postponed for about 45 minutes before the first race started. The wind was starting to build but it was still light at about 7 to 10 kts. We were hammered at the start by NED 29 so struggled to get back into the race. We were mid fleet at the first weather mark and then sailed pretty well to finish 4th. On the second and final race we picked the left side for the first leg which was totally wrong. The right side of the course was significantly favored so we were almost last around the weather mark. We managed to catch some boats and finished 9th which became our third throw-out race. So we headed into shore knowing that we had lost first and second place but were not sure about some of the other boats scores regarding third place. Once ashore we found out that we were still on the podium in 3rd place. We also received recognition for have traveled so far to attend the event and were awarded a special prize consisting of at large 1.5 liter bottle of Italian red wine which Max will take to Stockholm with him. So this is the final regatta of my summer European tour with Max. It is late so I will write more during the next two days while we are drive to return the boat to Denmark.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

Today we sailed only three races. In the first race the wind was lighter around 8-11 kts. ITA 400 went to the far right of the course next to the shore while we played the middle. I was nervous because he is the local but he bet wrong and was deep in the fleet at the first weather mark which we rounded in fourth. We quickly passed one boat on the reach so it was a three boat race for the rest of the laps. NED 88 won the race with FRA 2030 in second place with us third. This was good for us because it gave ITA 400 many points they could not throw out. For the second race we were in a lot of traffic after the start so had to reach off to get clear wind but had good boat speed for the rest of the leg and were doing well. Downwind we were in fourth place when we were doing a jibe and Max’s trapeze line broke and he is swimming in the water. I had to quickly take down the spinnaker and go back to pick him up. We then resumed the race but ended up beating only 2 boats so this became a throw-out score. Max did a great job on rigging a temporary trapeze eye out of some spare line so that we could double trapeze for the last race since the wind was now stronger. In the final race of the day we placed 5th. We were off our pace and had some troubles with the spinnaker halyard getting tangled with the jib halyard. Surprisingly at the end of the day we are still in first place but only by one point over NED 88. FRA 2030 moved into third place now that there was a second throw-out and ITA 400 is in fourth place. Tomorrow there will be a maximum of two races with the first starting at 1:00 and no race can start after 3:00. There is one more throw-out if we sail 12 races which brings both the third and fourth place boats into play. So it will be down to the final two races. We had a nice regatta dinner at the sailing club this dinner and enjoyed sitting with the many Dutch sailors.

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

We have been experiencing severe thunderstorms since yesterday afternoon and even though there is a small gap in the storms right now they are forecast to continue this afternoon so the race committee has made a prompt decision to cancel racing for today. We still have a regatta dinner and drink party at 6:00 pm. The weather forecast for tomorrow and Friday is good so we should be able to sail 3 or 4 races tomorrow and 2 on Friday (always fewer because it is the last day).

The results have changed a little after the protest hearings so now Hungary 76 is in third place with 25 points because they were awarded redress points for the collision on Monday where their spinnaker pole was broken and they missed two races. They were awarded 4.5 points for each race (the average of their 3-6 finishes in the first two races). The second race discard will happen after race 8 and the final discard on race 12 so there are still many boats in the running to do well. Here are a few good pictures from day 2 racing.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Today the Italian race committee was uncharacteristicly prompt by starting the races exactly on time. The threat of severe thunderstorms starting around 5:00 motivated them to get the races over with before then. For the first race the wind was starting to fill in but was not yet very strong averaging 10 kts. We decided to sail to the right side of the lake figuring there would be more wind there but were very wrong. When we came into the first weather mark we were around 8th place but happy to see that NED 88 who is in second overall made the same error and was behind us. During the rest of the race we managed to pass two boats and keep NED 88 behind us so we finished 6th. During this race the wind was building so by the second race it was up to 15 kts which was great for us.

For the second race we started near the leeward end of the line and had a clean start while our two main competitors ITA 400 and FRA 2030 were fighting each other resulting in a protest from ITA 400. At the first weather mark we were in second place behind FRA 2030 and stayed there for the next two laps but we were keeping the pressure on FRA 2030 by catching up towards them. As we are coming up to the final rounding mark at the leeward gate, we prepared to take our spinnaker down and then say that FRA 2030 ran straight into the buoy hugging it between their two hulls. We had to react quickly because they were moving the buoy and we still had to round it which we did. We then had the final close reach to the finish line leaving FRA 2030 to untangle themselves from the buoy so they finished 5th. Meanwhile we easily finished that race placing 1st with no further threats.

For the final race the wind came up a little stronger which was to our pleasing. In this wind our boat speed both upwind and downwind is awesome. At the first weather mark we rounded in fourth place having to duck one boat coming in on starboard tack. We passed one of the boats fairly quickly on the downwind leg but then were battling with ITA 400 and FRA 2030 on the final lap. On the final downwind we were able to out maneuver both boats and with superior boat speed arrive at the final turning mark at the gate in first place. It was potentially possible to carry the spinnaker to the finish which we tried for about a minute and then took it down to head straight for the finish. ITA 400 tried to fly their spinnaker to catch us but could not sail high enough and lost ground so we crossed this finish line with another 1st.

At the end of today still with protests pending we are in the lead with 11 points with one race discard applied (our 6th place finish). NED 88 is still in 2nd place with 16 points so we have opened the gap. Third place FRA 8is fairly far behind with 26 points. Even though ITA 400 is currently deep in the standings if we sail more than 12 races and their other two bad races (DSQ, DNF) are discarded then all their other races are first and seconds. So we still have eight more races to go. Tomorrow is supposed to be similar to today with threat of thunderstorms so we we will have to see what happens.

There are a lot of pictures of the racing on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/nacraracing/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2341784132609879

Monday. August 5, 2019 (Revised after Protest Hearing Results)

Today was the type of day that we sailors live for. You have many days of light wind, no wind, too much wind, thunderstorms, etc that make it frustrating to be a competitive sailor and then a day like today comes along that makes all the effort worthwhile. Here we are on beautiful Lake Como with 70 other racing boats and the wind comes up right on schedule. After Italian lack of adherence to a scheduled competitor’s meeting for 10:00 that is held after 11:00, we head out to the water for a scheduled 1:00 start for the first race. At the competitor’s meeting they announced that we would sail four races today because they are expecting poor weather tomorrow. The wind is starting to build as we sail out and the race committee postpones for a while to allow the wind to build to around 14 kts and then start the first race. The highest ranked Italian boat at the Spain Worlds who placed 16th decided to enter the regatta with a borrowed Nacra Infusion Mk II since he normally sails a C2 from another manufacturer which is not allowed in this regatta. He is a local sailor so will know the race course very well. In the first race the Italian boat (ITA 400) and a French boat (FRA 2030) did a port tack start at the leeward end of the line and crossed the whole fleet which was pretty impressive. We were right there on starboard tack and headed out to the left. Later when we tacked we crossed in front of Italy 400 but then they and the French boat lead around the first weather mark. We had dropped back and rounded around 6th. We had a great down wind leg and ended finishing this race in 3rd. Then later ashore we found out that Italy 400 and FRA 2030 both had been over the line early and were disqualified so we were first!

The wind kept building which we loved. Also for these races they ran a trapezoid course which meant that we had a very long blast reach along the top that was awesome fun. The second race went similar to the first and we finished in 4th place. For the third race the wind was the strongest around 18-20 kts and lots of fun. Italy 400 and a Hungarian boat had a bad collision at the weather mark and both boats broke their spinnaker poles so were out of the race. ITA400 was disqualified after a protest hearing for being at fault. FRA 2030 capsized in this race and another contender from Netherlands skipper fell in the water from a slipped trapeze hook knot. He fell in the water just in front of us and we had to avoid hitting him along with several other boats behind us. I don’t understand the people doing this sport who do not wear helmets and the brighter the color helmet the better when you are in this situation - right Matt Morris? So a results of all this chaos we finished first by a good margin and two contending boats were eliminated from sailing the last race of the day. For the final race the wind was declining a little but still good. We were battling it out in the top three positions but ended up third. All in all a great day with finishes or 1-4-1-3 and we are first overall with 9 points but tied with NED88 which also had 10 points but no first place finishes. NED88 was the boat that was second at last year’s European Championships here where Matt Morris and I placed first but the trophy was awarded to NED88 since we were not from Europe. There could be up to three throw-out scores for this regatta so it is still very open with even the ITA400 team having a chance to get back into the game.

Sunday, August 4, 2019

We have been in Gravedona four days now and had three days of sailing. The first day was a very nice wind in the mid teen range and we had a good practice session. On Thursday we had severe thunderstorms during the day and by the time they cleared it was too late to go out. On Saturday almost everyone was here so there were many boats on the water practicing but the wind was very light. It was good to practice in light wind because there is a good chance that many of the days this coming week will have light wind. Today we had a practice race set for 2:00 but it was about 2:30 before we had the start. The main purpose for the practice race at these events is for the race committee to practice executing a good race with a large fleet. At this Nacra championship all boats are required to be Nacras and use Nacra’s brand of sails call Performance Sails. There are four fleets: F18s with about 15 boats, Nacra Carbon 20’s with 8 boats, Nacra-15’s primarily sailed by juniors in their teens with about 40 boats and then an open class consisting of F16, Nacra Inter-20 and Nacra 17. In all there are about 70 boats from 13 countries represented. Today during the opening ceremony they played a portion of the national anthem for each country represents so played the Swedish anthem for Max and the “Stars Spangled Banner” for me. This regatta is different from all the others that we have sailed in that all the sailors have very similar or identical boats and similar sails so it is much more one-design racing.

A strong thermal wind came up right before the practice race so it was a great and fun race. There are only two starts: the Nacra 15’s with the youth sailors start second and all the other boats start at the same time even though we get scored in three classes. This makes the starts interesting. We did very well in the practice race but it was only the practice race and we have 14 races scheduled over the next five days. If we have good wind like today it will be awesome racing.

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

We have arrived at Lake Como in Italy for the second time this summer but this time we are staying and launching our boats from the West side of the lake at Gravedona. On the trip south Max and I spent one day of R&R in Munich and two days of driving. Unfortunately the air conditioning has failed in my car so it was a hot final drive into Italy today. We have checked into our apartment which is a short 8 minute walk to the sailing club and we even have a balcony view over the lake. We have four days of training before the regatta starts on Monday, August 5th. We were happy to see some other F18’s already here so hopefully we can sail with them some the next two days to test our boat speed.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

We were surprised when we arrived at the sailing club that a lot of boats were already rigged and ready to go since they day before we had been one of the first teams to show up. Then someone told us they had moved the first start to 10:00 one hour earlier in order to sail one extra race. So we quickly got our boat rigged and headed out in about 15 knots of wind. The first race was our best for the day placing 5th after sailing a very good first windward leg rounding in fourth. The wind kept building until in the final race it was around 20 knots which made for very fun surfing downwind in the waves. We finished 8th out of 16 boats. Though disappointed with the results we sailed in high wind strengths together very well and feel we are even more prepared for the next regatta - the Nacra Championships at Lake Como, Italy.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

The forecast for today was accurate that we would have a lot of wind and it turned out to be even more windy than expected. We had our boat rigged and already to go but there was a lot of debate by the competitors on whether it was safe to go and several boats made their own decisions not to sail. A major concern was with the easterly wind it is very hard to bring the boats back into the ramp at the club due to wave size and wind direction. The race committee put a hold on us going into the water until they could check the course area for wind strength. The said they would not race us if the wind was consistently over 25 kts for 10 minutes. By 10:30 they made the decision to cancel racing for F18’s for the day which was probably a good decision. Many of the other monohulls did race because they do not reach the speeds of F18’s and have less chance for damage. There was a fleet of monohull 10 foot sloop boats called Teeny’s being sailed by children with two people to a boat. They went out and raced several races before coming back around 1:00 pm. It was amazing to watch the recovery effort by all the parents to get these boats safely onto the boat ramp and it was amazing that these youngsters were out sailing in these condition. When you looked out over the Travemunde bay you saw hundreds of boats all racing. In my opinion Travemunde Race week has grown significantly since I first sailed it in 2014 and is starting to match Kiel Week.

Tomorrow we are forecast to have good sailing conditions with winds in the teens. We are scheduled to have three races starting at 11:00 but maybe we will be able to sail four final races in this 130th Travemunde Race Week.

You can view full results at: http://manage2sail.com/en-US/event/300fbf46-4f0f-4616-9e52-e218ad8c9f28#!/results?classId=6d3c04f3-66eb-48cd-b3cf-6e25cc2c6f1c

Friday, July 26, 2019

We were expecting lighter wind today but when we arrived at the club the wind was already blowing good. The first race was in about 15-18 kts of wind and then we expected it to build stronger but instead it died so in the second race it was around 10-12 kts. For the final two races it did build again to about 15 kts. Tomorrow the forecast is for more wind in the 15 to 22 kts range and we have four races scheduled. We need to head out to dinner with the German and Danish teams.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

First day of racing for Travemunde week went well for us. We have 15 F18s racing including two new Windrush Edges just purchased after the Spain Worlds. The forecast for the first day was for lighter wind which ended up being very wrong. The wind was about 12 kts for the first race and then came in strong at around 18 kts for the final three races. The first race was probably the most fun of the whole summer. The lead was changing on every leg of the course in this very close fleet. We were second around the first weather mark and at one point were in the lead downwind but jibed toward the shore too soon. We finished third only about two seconds behind the second place boat. The other three races saw many capsizes including one boat whose mast almost hit our boat while capsizing. We are in 5th place now but we have another 11 races to go over the next three days and there should be two race discards for the worst races.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Italian Regatta, Dervio, Lake Como

 Though we sailed for four days on Lake Como only the first day (Tuesday) was the classic strong Lake Como wind from the south in the afternoon.  The other days the wind was lighter or came up later in the day and we had to watch out for thunderstorms.  Unfortunately there were no other F18s to practice with.

 Max and I had viewed videos of the Worlds and noticed that some of the crews were going underneath the decksweeper mainsail during tack and jibe maneuvers.  Realize that there is virtually no gap between the sail and trampoline so this means the crew butts his head against the sail to “open the door” to get to the other side of the boat.  We decided to practice this on Friday and found it strange but doable.  We decided to keep with our normal strategy of Max going in front of the mast but leaving this as an option in an emergency.

 This regatta was for three classes of catamarans – F18’s with 20 boats, Darts with about 25 boats and Tornados with 8 boats.  This was a good use of regatta organizing resources to have a combined regatta and having three separate 5-minute starts kept the fleets separated.  On Sunday they started the slower Darts first which worked very well.

 Lake Como is an extremely deep lake with a max depth of 400 meters (1200 feet) so it is impossible to anchor in the middle of the lake.  Therefore, the race committee uses disposable cinder blocks as anchors with very cheap line that they cut when they are done.  Because of this they generally do not change marks including the leeward end of the start line once they have set the mark.  Therefore typically the start line is not very square to the wind which means it is very favored for starting on one end.

 On Saturday we waited for a long time to go onto the water due to light wind and did not start the first race until 3:00.  We did manage to finish three races in the light wind.  It was typical lake sailing going for where the wind was strongest.  We struggled with boat speed and going to the right side of the course so finished 11-15-15 and finished the day in 15th place. 

 On Sunday the wind was also slow coming up but the race committee was patient wanting to hold three good quality races.  The wind finally came in strong about 15 knots around 2:00 so we started the first race.  We worked against a 5:00 pm time limit for racing but managed to sail three races in very good wind.  We were doing much better in these conditions with reasonably good boat speed.  We managed to move up with finishes of 12-9-9 to finish the regatta in 13th place.

 During the fifth race we needed to do a very rapid jibe due to a starboard tack boat (that had right of way).  I had to jibe immediately and Max went right under the decksweeper sail as we had practiced.  The jibe was successful and we ended beating this close competitor and Max had a lot of fun going “through the sail”.

 This was the second time I have competed in Dervio the previous time being with Matt Morris in 2016 for the Nacra Worlds.  The Dervio club was super accommodating letting us practice all week and welcoming.  In recognition of our appreciation I presented the club with a Mission Bay Yacht Club burgee to hang in their club house and they gave us their burgee in return.  As we were leaving the President of the Italian F18 association stated that I race with them so often that I am an honorary member of the Italian association.  The Italian F18 association is the fourth largest in the world after Germany, the US and Australia.

 Early Monday morning we hit the road for a two day drive to northern Germany for the Travemunde Week regatta which is four days starting on Thursday.  We will have one day to setup the boat and practice.  We – especially Max - will also enjoy being in cooler weather after the heat in Spain and Italy.

 Next update from Travemunde!

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

We arrived in Dervio on Lake Como Monday evening during a rain storm after dropping Isabell off at the Milan airport. We found that our apartment is a very old two story cottage that has been totally remodeled inside to be a great apartment for our stay and it is only a ten minute walk to the host sailing club. On Tuesday we rigged the boat in the morning and left for a three hour sail around 2:00 as the wind was nice and strong. We had a most awesome sail in 14 - 18 kts of wind covering a good portion of the lake and sailing in the same area where the Nacra Championships will be held in August which will be our final regatta for the summer in Europe. There were hundreds of kite boarders out enjoying the good wind. We hope this wind continues to hold so that our races on Saturday and Sunday are in the same breeze. On Friday we should have at least one other F18 to train with. The staff at the sailing club remembered me from when I sailed here three years ago with Matt Morris. Max has set up his bike to get some extra exercise in the mornings and took a 30 km (19 mile) ride this morning.

Friday, July 12, 2019

We are currently in Riva del Garda having some R&R (rest and recreation) after the Worlds. We also took the opportunity to have a small boat fiberglass repair made here since there is a good craftsman at the local club. Max’s girlfriend, Isabell and Max’s parents and brother are visiting Riva so they are catching up on family activities. My friend Andreas Hammer from Germany is also here in Lake Garda taking catamaran sailing lessons this week and I will introduce him to sailing the F18 on Saturday. There is very good wind here so Max and I are getting in a few heavy wind training sessions. On Monday we leave for Lake Como where the next regatta - an Italian weekend event will be held. We will have four practice days before the racing on the weekend of July 20-21. Some of the top Italian sailors that were at the Worlds will be here. At the Worlds they did very well so we hope to work on matching their boat speed.

Max is generating the most interest in this blog with Sweden having the most visits this past month with 116. The US is following with 62 visits and Germany is third with 17 visits.

Thursday, July 4, 2019

This being our national holiday - Fourth of July - I felt had to be a good omen for the US teams. Wind was very similar was the previous days but did not come up as strongly. For the first race everyone was edgy and we had two general recalls because too many boats were over the starting line. For the third start the race committee raised the “Black Flag” which meant anyone over the line (and caught) we not be able to race even if there is a general recall. That did the trick and we were off to a good start. Max liked having general recalls because that gave us more starting practice in big fleets. In general we were having good starts most of the time with clear wind but it was not so clear on which way to go. In this first race we were doing better but on the last down wind leg we overstood the leeward gate by a lot so rounded last and finished 62nd. The second race we played much better so had our best race of the Gold Fleet finals placing 36th. In the final race the wind lightened a little which is not our best for upwind speed so placed 57th to finish 58th overall out of 123 boats that raced. It was a real battle at the top of the fleet between Darren Bundock from Australia and Danny Paschalidis from Greece. The lead kept changing each race but Darren ended up wining by two point. Darren is a two time Olympic Silver Medalist in the Tornado class.

Full race results are posted at: http://www.f18-international.org/f18-worlds-2018-usa/ On the results page boats in 66th place and lower are in the Silver Fleet. There are also good articles, pictures and videos at: http://www.f18-international.org/

Max and I had a great time sailing together and feel we have improved our sailing from this tough event and are ready from three more regattas together. On Friday we head to Marseille, France and then on to Lake Garda for some R&R and sailing before the Italian regatta on Lake Como.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Yesterday’s races start right on time but in a lighter wind of 7-10 kts. The Gold fleet consists of 65 boats with the remainder in the Silver fleet. We are definitely struggling with upwind boat speed in the light wind so finished 61st in the race. Then the sea breeze started filling in strongly so by the time the second race started we had good double trapezing conditions with 11-14 kts. The Gold fleet is very competitive and in the leeward gate roundings you can easily loose 10 boats. We played the downwinds well and always gained boats so in the second race we finished 52nd. The final race was similar with a little stronger wind and we finished 51st. There is a duel going on at the top of the fleet between the Greek defending World Champions and Darren Bullock from Australia. Argentina is doing very well with three boats in the top five. In the Silver fleet our house mates, Max Linder and Nicholas won the final race of the day so they are very happy.

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

We had a great day of racing on Monday. Three races in 11 - 15 knots of wind under blue skies on warm water. This was the type of day that sailors live for. The race committee executed three good races and we were happy to improve in each race. We had three good starts with clear air so could work on our boat speed. The left side of the upwind course was favored but we did have some shifts to the right which favored people heading in that direction but there was more wind to the left. In the first race we had one close port starboard encounter with a Spanish boat when we were on port tack. Since they yelled protest we decided to do a 360 degree penalty turn to avoid a protest hearing and disqualification. It did not set us back too much. We finished the first race with a 33. Then in the final two races we had good boat speed and played the course nicely so finished 19th and 15th. This put us in 53rd overall and qualified us for the Gold fleet which will consist of 62 boats. Gold fleet racing starts today (Tuesday) at 1:00 pm and the wind is forecast to be the similar to yesterday which we will like.

An update on the collision yesterday resulting in the injury. Luckily the injuries were only muscle bruising and it was the skipper that was injured. He was able to sail yesterday. Turns out the crew is a friend of Max’s who have competed previously in F16’s in the UK. After the protest hearing Lars Linder from Sweden was disqualified for altering course into a boat even though he was on starboard tack round the weather mark. Lars was heading down for hoisting the spinnaker and did not see the port tack boat there.

Monday, July 1, 2019

The first day of racing was in light wind from 8 to 12 knotts. We had a shore postponement to let the wind build more so the first race started at 2:00. We were assigned to the blue course which is more to the north in the Bay of Roses. In the first race we did not have a clean wind start so struggled to get clear wind to focus on boat speed. At the first weather mark we were in the bottom half of the fleet but got ourselves a clear lane for the downwind leg. Our downwind boat speed is very good and we passed a lot of boats. For the second upwind leg our boat speed is not up to par but then we did well again on the the downwind. We finished 29th out of 62 boats so in the top half to help qualify for the Gold fleet. On the second race we were better positioned for a good start but at the last minute a boat reached down on top of us to take our wind going upwind. In this race though we caught a lot of boats downwind I did not play the approach to the leeward gate well so we lost a number of boats during the rounding. We finished this race 43rd. In the final race of the day we had an excellent start towards the leeward end of the line and were heading left with the leaders. It was nice to see what they were doing. On this course the left side was favored due to more wind pressure and it was best to go to the port tack lay line though this can be a risky strategy coming into the weather mark while boats are coming very fast downwind. We rounded in good position and had another good downwind leg. On the second upwind leg the wind was not as strong and our boat speed suffered. Coming into the last gate rounding we were ahead of a group of five boats and we managed to play the finish perfectly beating all the boats to finish 29th again though it was disappointing that even with a great start that we could not finish better. So after day one we are in 69th place with 101 points but only 5 points out of qualifying for Gold Fleet. There will be one race throw out in the qualifying series so it is a new day and we need to focus on finishing in the top half for each race. For today we are assigned to the Yellow course with a different group of boats. At the end of today they will split the fleet into Gold and Silver.

Unfortunately our Swedish friends had several issues. Our house mates Max Linder and Nikolas disasted in the last race when their shroud attachment came loose because it had not been secured properly. Thankfully nothing was hurt so they are ready to race today. Lars Linder was also in a collision right after rounding the weather mark with a boat coming upwind on port tack taking the risky strategy of coming in high of the port tack layline. Unfortunately instead of the boats hitting, Lars’ bow hit the crew’s body as he was trapezed out. He was hurt (probably in the ribs) and had to be medically evacuated to a hospital. We have not yet heard about his condition today. Lars was the right-of-way boat but feels bad about hurting someone. Since he did not finish the race because he was rendering assistance to the hurt person, he will get redress points since he was not at fault.

The reigning World Champion Greek team had a great day with three firsts on the yellow fleet course.

Sunday, June 30, 2019

We are getting ready for the first race of this very competitive Worlds which will start at 1:00 today. The fleet has been divided into two and we are assigned to the “Blue” course for the first three races today. Today and tomorrow’s three races will determine the split between the gold and silver fleets. Tomorrow there will be a different split of the fleet. We had a good practice race yesterday in the strongest wind (15-17 kts) that we have seen so far. We also did some tuning with the Nacra Infusion Mark III team on Friday that was very helpful. We received good feedback on our decksweeper and new jib set up from Peter Vink who is the head of technical development, manufacturing and sail making at Nacra.

The wind has been very variable this past week so we are likely to see an assortment of conditions over the next five days. There is one other American team here, Guy Selsmeyer and his daugher Alyx from Wisconsin sailing a chartered brand new C2. Matthieu Marfaing who lives in Long Beach, California is here crewing for Emmanuel Bologne on a Cirrus R2 who did very well in the practice race yesterday. We have been adopted by the Swedish contingent of six boats here for socializing and helping each other out.

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Training at Lake Garda

 On Monday we arrived mid-afternoon at Campione del Garda, called by one of our German friends, Dieter, the “Alcatraz” of Lake Garda.  It is a little further south on the lake than where the F18’s typically sail but has a very nice facility dedicated to sailing.  There are very tall cliffs towering over the facility and there is not much recreation there except for sailing, kite boarding and wind surfing.  Our hostel is right next to the boat ramp so it is five minutes from our beds to the boat.   Lake Garda has a morning wind from the north and an afternoon wind from the south so you can train twice a day with a two hour break for lunch while the wind shifts.

 We arrived early enough so that we were able to rig our boat and go out for an afternoon sail on Monday.  It was nice to be in a location with windier conditions. The Italian Nacra-17 Olympic sailing team arrived the same day we did for a week of training.  One of their sailors won the Nacra-17 Worlds and another sailor won the most recent F18 major regatta the Hempel World Cup Series Final in Marseille, France so they have good contenders for Olympic medals in Japan.

 We established a daily routine that consisted of:

 6:15 wake up

6:45 – 7:30  start rigging boat

7:30 – 8:00  breakfast in the hostel

8:00 – 8:45  finish rigging

8:45 – 10:30  sailing while wind was strong

11:00 – 1:00  lunch break

1:30 – 4:00 sailing in afternoon breeze

 So over the five days at Campione we had eight training sessions on the water.  We were working out a lot of our procedures for tacking and jibing.  We also did a lot of fine tuning of the boat and fixing a few problems.  The biggest change was needing to establish a different sheeting arrangement for the new jib since its shape was so different from my previous jibs.  Net result is that our boat maneuvers are very good and we got good practice in stronger winds with no problems so we are ready for the Worlds in Spain.  In the evenings we ate very well so that we maintain or increase our weight a little for the Worlds since that should be a windy regatta. Currently we are weighing in at 2 - 3 kgs over the minimum combined weight of 150 kg.

 On Saturday we left Lake Garda taking two days to drive to Spain.  We have one overnight stop at Cannes, France and enjoyed a good french meal at the yacht harbor where we were looking a many mega-yachts.

 We will have five days for more practice in Spain and it will be nice because there will be other boats there for us to train with.

 Next update from Spain!

Sunday, June 16, 2019

We arrived at our vacation house near Lindau after a long 880 km (550 mile) drive from Lubeck.  The house is in the country so we made quite an entrance with our F18.  Everyone came out to help us park the boat and were very friendly and helpful.  On Friday we took the boat to the club to have a practice sail.  We were surprised to find drift wood everywhere in piles on the land and still a lot in the water.  This was wood that came down from the Alps with the heavy snow run-off this year.  We went out for a short sail but there was very little wind so we stayed out for only an hour. 

This was the first time we sailed with our new decksweeper mainsail and jib.  We like the way the mainsail looks and the jib is quite different with a lot more sail area down low to get a better slot effect with the main.

 On Saturday when we arrived for the first day of racing the forecast was also for light wind.  On shore before the races we were interviewed for a TV show they are making for the local TV about the regatta.  Luckily enough wind came in so we could get three races completed but the wind was very variable both in direction and speed from 2 to 6 knots. 

For the first race we got a good start.  The start was so good that we were afraid we might have been over the line since there was an individual recall but we went for it.  Shortly after the start we tacked to the right to head towards more wind coming off the shore.  Our boat speed was good going up wind and we tried to stay where the wind was stronger.  We were in third most of the race but lost two boats right at the finish to finish 5th but then we found that one of the boats in front of us was over the line early so finished 4th out of 18 boats racing.  The second race was more difficult with very light patches of wind and we lost two boats right at the finish when we finished 11th.  The final race of the day was a repeat of wind conditions and we were finding that you either needed to sail to the hard left or hard right side of the course to do well but not sail up the middle.  In the final race we finished 7th to place 8th overall for the day but only four points out of 3rd place because the racing was very tight.  On the water we frequently give nick names to other boats and we called this regatta’s winners the “Wonder Brothers”. Manuel and Fabian Wunderle won with finishes of 1-2-4 and I first raced against them in Kiel in 2015.

 We were looking forward to Sunday to apply our lessons learned to move up in the standings.  On Saturday evening there were huge thunderstorms with high winds that stirred up all the drift wood still along the shorelines so on Sunday when we arrived at the club they were saying that all the logs in the water could make it too dangerous to sail.  Naturally around noon the wind came up but with the greater wind strength the risk of major damage to the boats was too great so they called off sailing for the day.   At the awards ceremony we received a bottle of German pear schnapps for having traveled the furthest to the regatta.

Monday, June 10, 2019

Today was a cold Baltic Sea day with the wind shifting around to the northeast varying from 10 to 18 knots.  We had two terrible starts in the first two races with the line not square to the wind with the leeward end very favored which made the starts difficult.  Also figuring which side of the course was favored was difficult so we finished 13th and 15th.  In the third race we finally put a good race together with a great start and went with the leading pack up the right side of the course.  We rounded the first weather mark in 5th place and then headed downwind surfing the waves.  We passed two boats so were at 3rd at the leeward gate.  We held that position for the next two laps to have our best finish of the series.  The last race was another poor result with us finishing 13th again.  There were several capsizes in this race and one serious collision resulting in a broken mast and split bow. 

 We are now planning to do some individual training in the area Tuesday and Wednesday but the wind forecast is potentially poor for doing so.  On Thursday we depart to drive through Germany to Lindau on Lake Constance across from Switzerland.  We have a two day regatta there on Saturday and Sunday. 

 Our next update will be from Lindau.

Sunday, June 9, 2019

Scharbeutz Race Day #1

 Our first day of racing together was a lot of fun but challenging.  There are twenty F18’s racing starting in 12-14 knots of wind but with the wind decreasing significantly as the day went along.  We discovered a tear in our jib right below the lower batten about six inches (15 cm) long just before the first race was due to start we decided to race with and watch to see if the tear would grow but it did not so we raced all day.  We will use a different jib tomorrow. 

 We got a reasonable start but had to tack to onto port shortly after the start to keep clear air.  Due to the shifty conditions we had to do more tacking than normal for a catamaran race.  We found ourselves rounding the first weather mark in 4th place but some mistakes on the downwind and at the leeward gate dropped us back.  The course was three laps and we finished 7th.  In the second race we had a better start but went to the wrong side of the course for the first beat so were about 13th around the first mark.  The rest of the race we were more in phase with the shifts and had good downwind strategies.  Right at the finish line we were very close with two other boats with us leading them across the finish line only by seconds to finish in 5th place.  They started a third race but ended up canceling it after one lap because of a large wind shift and the wind was dying.  After a little while they sent us back to shore due to a lack of wind.  Currently we are in 7th place but only 1 point behind 5th and 3 points behind 3rd place.

Tomorrow we start at 10:00 am and will try to have four or five races so it is still very much an open series.  The wind is supposed to be much stronger which we will like.

 It is a lot of fun seeing so many people that I have raced with over the years in Europe and some of these teams will be in Spain for the Worlds and almost all will be a Travemunde Week which we will sail in July.

Saturday, June 8, 2019

After resting for a few days with my cousin, Frank in Zweibrucken I drove to the Nacra factory in Scheveningen, Netherlands to pick up a new decksweeper mainsail and jib.  I also obtained new rigging for the boat to help prevent rigging failures this summer.

On Monday evening I picked up Max punctually at the Sonderborg train station.  On Tuesday we started right away working on the boat and installing new diamond wires on the mast.  We took the boat to the Sonderborg Yacht Club for final rigging and a test sail which we accomplished hitting the water around 6:00 pm.  Thank goodness for the late light at this northern latitude so we were able to sail for an 1.5 hours in a light 8 knot wind.  We came back to shore with a punch list of items to fix on the boat.  Wednesday and Thursday we had both tires on the trailer replaced to prevent another tire blow-out like last year, worked on the boat more and sailed again. Unfortunately the wind was on the lighter side each day but I did appreciate that the Denmark weather was warm. 

On Friday we thanked the Kueslers for their hospitality and hit the road for Scharbeutz, Germany.  It was only a 3 hour drive to this coastal resort town north of Lubeck.  We were the first F18 to arrive at the club and commenced setting up the boat.  By 5:00 pm we were able go sailing in a nice 12-14 knot breeze under sunny skies.  Our team work is going very well and we are having a lot of fun sailing the boat together.  This was the first day of sailing in stronger winds and Max was having a great time trimming the spinnaker from the trapeze using the foot strap in the back of the boat.

 As more boats arrived, we heard that the forecast for Saturday’s long distance race was heavy winds and that the race committee was concerned about boat safety.  On Friday evening there were severe thunderstorms and rain and when we arrived at the club Saturday morning the wind was in the low 20 knots with gusts to 32 knots.  The wind was much stronger out in the bay where the long distance race was due to go.  Ultimately the racing for the day was cancelled.  For the top two trophies they did a raffle and we won the top prize which is two nights in a hotel in Hamburg good through the end of this year. 

 Now the weather forecast for the next two days of buoy racing is for light winds so we will be able to race. 

 Stay tuned for our next update on our first races together.

June 1, 2019

I arrived in Germany on May 29th to embark on my fifth year of F18 racing in Europe. See 2019 Chronicle #1 in the Chronicle section for more information about this new season. Below is a map of our travel plans.

F18’s at San Diego NOOD Regatta

Eight F18s from Southern California competed in the San Diego NOOD Regatta the weekend of March 16-17, 2019.  Under the warm sun after many weeks of intermittent rain it was a nice change for the locals.  All the F18s launched from the US Navy’s Fiddler’s Cove Marina with an easy ten minute sail to the race course on the best place to sail in San Diego – South Bay.   This year the NOOD regatta divided the classes assigned to South Bay onto two different courses which was wonderful.  The F18 were racing with only two other classes (I14 and 29er) on the same course so there was minimal waiting for starts (other than waiting for wind) and we maximized the number of races.

Due to the early start at 11:30 on Saturday there was light wind 7-8 kts for the first two races.  The fleet was extremely competitive with boats arriving at all the marks close together with tight mark roundings.  There were many changes of positions within the fleet as the teams tried to figure out the best strategies for the lighter wind.  It quickly became evident that the left side of the course up wind was to place to go and you wanted to go far right downwind to be in stronger breeze.  Out of the gate the team of James Orkins and Michael Risoer was dominating the fleet with superior boat speed and good strategy.  Right at the end of the second race there was a 50 degree wind shift to the right as the standard sea breeze filled in.  The final two races on Saturday saw ideal 12-15 kts of wind kick in.  These were awesome races with very tight competition between the four boats with deck sweeper mainsails.  Once we were in double trapping conditions the conventional mainsail boats could not keep up.  At the end of Saturday James/Michael were clearly ahead with 1-1-4-1 finishes and 5 points.  They were followed by Jeff Newsome/Matthieu Marfaing with 9 points.  Then came Scott Miller/Hailey Miller and Steve Stroebel/Ben Brown both with 16 points.

Sunday brought a new day with forecast of light winds.  There was a one hour postponement for the wind to fill in which happened at 12:30. The fleet was surprised that when the wind filled in it was a strong 12-14 kts out of the WSW.  We had three more very competitive races in good breeze with the wind starting to slacken in the third race.  James/Michael continued their dominance with three bullets and Jeff/Matthieu held onto second place.  Brandon Wallace/Marc Umemoto had a good Sunday to move into third place. 

South San Diego Bay once again showed that it is the premier location for racing in San Diego and why it has been selected as the venue for the 2020 F18 Americas Championship.

Final Results: