Tybee starts tomorrow!

Well we spent all day doing a bit more boat work, tricking the boat out for distance racing to get any edge we can.

We also got out for a quick sail in which time we tested out our brand new North spinnaker. We are very happy with how it performed and it should be a good sail choice for the week. It's interesting since it's a bit different shape than our old Performance Sails spinnaker in the it has a fuller shape which will change our sailing angles a bit. It definitely has plenty of power though as we had the hull easily out of the water while the Nacra 20 behind us did not.

The forecast for tomorrow is for low teens building to mid to high teens mid day. However, i've heard conflicting reports that it will be windier. Either way, wind from the East / Northeast will make for a fast sail which means we will get in time to go to dinner at Taverna Opa in Hollywood!

Stay tuned for another update tomorrow evening, maybe even in the morning.

We made it!

After spending the whole day working on the boat in 90 degree heat and little wind, it is a relief to be sitting down in an air conditioned room!

The scene at the Islander is very cool with a bunch of 20's and 4 F18s including 2 new designs the Hobie Wildcat being sailed by one of the top F18 sailors in the world and a AHPC C2, also being sailed by a pro sailor from Europe (though with American roots). We are certainly going to have our work cut out or us.

We didn't get out sailing today but need to tomorrow as we are using a brand new North Sails spinnaker and need to figure out how to handle it.

Rumors have it that the first two days of the race will be nuclear winds from the east... meaning jib reaching and REALLY fast sailing.

Stay tuned for another update tomorrow evening.

1 week until Tybee!

After spending the whole weekend working on the boat it's finally ready to head south for the 2010 Tybee 500!

Brendon was not able to get off work so Todd will be sailing with Trevor Burd. We will be leaving RI Thursday night to get to the Keys Friday night. Luckily we have no boat work to do and can just get down there, rig up and get some sailing in.

We got a few more practice days in, sorry I missed updating this blog. While the ocean sailing and wind conditions can match up to that of Tybee, no training will truly prepare us for the long legs of Tybee, it's not very smart to sail for that long in the conditions we still have up north.

We will update this blog daily, also read our updates on our Tybee team site www.teamseacats.com

Thanks for everyone that has shown us support in preparing for the race!

6th at the Southern Area F18 Champs / Spring Fever

It's a little hard to call this event the first of our season since we already sailed one event earlier this year in January and our weekend after weekend regatta season doesn't start for another month or so. But since the boat went into winter storage for 2 months, we went skiing in between, and spring has sprung we will call the Spring Fever Regatta the start of our 2010 season.

77 boats showed for this year's Spring Fever at Lake Hartwell in Georgia. With 16 F18s this regatta served as the Southern Area Championships for our class and the competition showed up in force.

Friday & Sunday were light 2-5 knots, very spotty conditions, typical lake sailing.

Saturday started out light but in the first race as we rounded the windward mark in 2nd the wind clocked and piped up to about 13 knots leading for an exciting spinnaker/jib reaching drag race around the course with Alex Shafer as the rest of the fleet sat struggling to get around the windward mark, but it wasn't long before regatta winner Nigel Pitt caught back up and was nipping at our heels, we managed to hold him off for the only time we would beat him the entire regatta, though we came VERY close in one other race.

It's tough to be consistent in these conditions and we were were all over the place with two 2nds, two 4ths, a 9th, 10th, and a 12th. We had great starts most of the time but sometimes didn't find that first shift / puff and in those conditions it's very hard to claw back.

After Saturday's racing Nigel Pitt was clearly in the lead with Mike Krantz, Alex Shafer, Karl Langfield, Dave Ingram, and us all somewhere in the top 6, it was anyone's guess as to where. At dinner we were all comparing what we thought our scores were and no one could figure out for sure what the order was, this built some excitement but definitely made everyone a little tense Sunday morning as we rigged our boats.

The RC informed us that they would not tell us the final scores incase we didn't get any racing in and they were the final results. However, despite the late wind the previous two days, the wind filled in just enough for 1 race.

Brendon and I were ready to race and just like our competitors knew that we could end up anywhere from 2-6 depending on how we did in this race. We had a mediocre start but felt a bit slow running with the pack to the left. Really wanting to tack out right with a few boats but pinned in by a couple windward boats, we suffered as the pack in front of us tacked away, we wanted to lead them back but the boats to windward didn't tack until it was way too late. The race just went downhill from there as we struggled to get through the parade of boats but it seemed like there was a speedbump everywhere we went. Rounding the leeward mark in 10th to find ourselves with 9 boats directly in front of us we tacked off and then made the decision to tack back on the inside into the middle of the course. As if we hadn't enough go wrong in this race, we really felt like we shot ourselves in the foot on this one. By the finish we lost two more boats and overall ended up loosing to David Ingram in 5th place by 1 point! To make matters worse loosing to the Ingrams meant we had lost a bet that Dave had with Jake Kohl, sorry Jake!

Krantz and Langfield sailed really well the last race with Krantz winning by a large margin to set them into 2nd, Langfield into a tie with Alex Shafer for 2nd with Shafer winning the tiebreaker, Dave Ingram in 5th and then us in 6th. As mentioned before, Nigel Pitt ran away with the regatta for the win.

I can't remember the scores past that but i'm sure them and pictures will be up on Twinhulls.com and Waltercooperphoto.com soon.

While we were a bit dissapointed to be shot out of the back of the lead group we learned a lot as we almost never get to sail in light shifty conditions making the trip totally worth it, not to mention the awesome food, parties, and the amazing Southern hospitality shown to us by Nigel & Tammy, and everyone else. The RC, led by Wick Smith did an excellent job of getting races off in challenging conditions. I asked Wick on the water on Friday if he missed racing and he said yea but then we both agreed that in those conditions the pontoon boat's engine was much more enjoyable.

We look forward to going back next year!

Brendon and I will be on the water Sunday with our new North Sails jib and spinnaker. Trevor Burd and I will be getting some practice in for our next event, the Tybee in May.

Spring Training Day 1 & 2

Despite having sailed in FL just 2 months ago, we quickly got a bit antsy to get back out on the water.

We need to thank our friend Malcolm for allowing us to store our boat in his basement for the harshest winter months and thanks to our friend Ernie for doing some amazing boat work at an amazing rate.

We had a 2 hour shake-down sail this past Thursday which was highlighted by me going for a swim when I went out the trap without being hooked in! Floating the 38 degree water while Brendon circled around to get me was not very enjoyable.

Today we met Tyler Burd & Garth Fasano, another F18 team for us to train with. Winds were a gusty 15-20, perfect sailing except that the thought of flipping when the air and water are only at 40 degrees is not a happy thought. We agreed on a plan to head upwind out the East passage into the ocean and around the R2 Buoy off Brenton Reef. Blasting through 3-4 foot waves we settled into a nice groove, working hard to keep the hull and our butt's out of the water. Brendon was working hard at the mainsheet while I steered around the waves despite that neither of us could feel much of our fingers. We got to R2 and luffed up to discuss the beat with Tyler & Garth. We then headed downwind into Narragansett Bay through Newport up to the south end of Prudence Island. At the south end of Prudence we turned around and battled it out upwind. During this beat Brendon and I started to get REALLY cold so we put the throttle down to get in as fast as possible. As we neared the Newport Bridge I told Brendon to be prepared for a wind shadow from the support column. I've never been able to figure out exactly how the wind shadows come off these things and as soon as we neared the column, powering up in a puff the breeze immediately shut off sending us into the water and off the back of the boat. The boat nearly flipped over on top of us and as I fell I pulled the tiller to turn the boat onto a beam reach and headed right at the next bridge column. I did all I could to steer the boat to keep it from flipping but as Brendon had dropped the mainsheet we needed to get back to the boat asap. Luckily we found the strength to get back on the boat and get it straightened out. Garth later told us they were very worried for us as the witnessed this. As if the cold hadn't gotten to us enough this put us over the edge, luckily it was a quick upwind sprint through the harbor to Sail Newport. Overall we sailed for about 3.5 hours and covered 29 nautical miles, a pretty amazing training day.

The boat is now packed up and ready to head to Georgia for the Southern Area F18 Championships / Spring Fever Regatta. Expect updates from this over the weekend or early next week.