 |
Annie Gardner and Eric Witte showing the Oracle boys how it is done! Photo from Carol Vernon.
|
The format for the event was simple- the F18 fleet would race on Saturday and Sunday morning from 10 am-12:30 pm, immediately before the AC45s took to the water, and mere feet from the spectators lining the shore at Ft. Adams. With launch facilities at Sail Newport and Jamestown Boat Yard, the Eastern Area Fleet stepped up huge with 18 boats turning up to entertain the crowd before the America’s Cup racing began for the day.
Saturday started off with a light Northwest wind making life very difficult for the volunteer race committee. Keeping with the spirit of the demonstration event, a course was set parallel to the Ft. Adams shore, making for some high intensity reaching starts and a blasting spinnaker reach in front of the spectators. As the morning progressed the legendary Newport seabreeze began to fill, creating chamber-of-commerce hull flying conditions for the sailors and spectators alike. After six races, and with floating billboards making their way onto the course, racing was called for the day and crews joined the thousands of spectators watching the AC45 racing.
Sam Adelman and Chris
Titcomb reveling in the famous Newport seabreeze. Photo from Lindsay Smith.
Sunday morning started light, but the
seabreeze began to fill early, allowing for six more races to be completed in a
growing southerly. The races were
challenging, with extremely short courses placing a huge emphasis on starting
and managing the corners of the course.
Just as the AC45s experienced during their racing, the current played a
tremendous role in decision making, and choosing how far to push into the shore
on a short windward leg was a critical moment.
As the breeze built on Sunday, the top boats were completing each
two-lap race in just under ten minutes, pushing crews to the limit!
Overall, the weekend was an event few of us
will soon forget. Six races were
completed each day, with an average length of fifteen minutes. With the leeward mark mere yards from the
shore, the sounds of screaming fans accompanied every rounding and spinnaker
douse. Packing up the boats after
racing, I received incredible feedback from people who arrived early for the AC
events and enjoyed watching us racing.
While multihull sailing might not be for everyone, I hope we showed that
the F18 Class is THE place to be for performance small boat
sailing on the US East Coast.
Last, I want to thank everyone who made our
event possible. Sail Newport and
Jamestown Boat Yard were incredibly accommodating, allowing us to launch on one
of the biggest weekends Newport has seen.
The Fort Adams Sailing Team loaned the fleet a RIB and marks for race
committee, and I cannot thank them enough.
Finally, the biggest thanks goes to the RC of Kerry Sullivan, Stephen
Reed, and my lovely wife Lianne for running twelve great races in challenging
conditions amidst a spectator fleet that grew into the hundreds.
See you all in LA!
Jeff Dusek
USF18 Eastern Area Rep
Results:
Team
|
Sail Number
|
Boat Type
|
Points (12 races, one throw-out)
|
Easton/Burd
|
11
|
Infusion MKII
|
15
|
Merrick/Burd
|
281
|
C2
|
32
|
Tartaglino/Burd
|
1563
|
Infusion MKII
|
42
|
Gardner/Witte
|
USA
|
C2
|
52
|
Reed/Dusek
|
753
|
Infusion MK1.5
|
59
|
Boueilh/Picard
|
CAN R
|
C2
|
60
|
Giuliano/Giuliano
|
94
|
Capricorn
|
86
|
Riccardi/Scanlon
|
215
|
C2
|
90
|
Adelman/Titcomb
|
1405
|
Infusion
|
92
|
Zellmer/Valante
|
685
|
Infusion MKII
|
96
|
Andrepont/Funk
|
1273
|
Infusion MK1.5
|
116
|
Denton/Denton
|
856
|
Infusion
|
129
|
Malesci/Orioli
|
122
|
Nacra F18
|
130
|
Vadasdi/Lewinstein
|
147
|
Capricorn
|
148
|
Garbero/Gerbero
|
245
|
C2
|
163
|
Helmar/Helmar
|
882
|
Infusion
|
165
|
Toland/Hurwitt
|
1586
|
Infusion MK1.5
|
166
|
Fleury/Angle
|
1713
|
C2
|
185
|
Sailing for the ACWS Demonstration event took place immediately off the America's Cup Village at Ft. Adams. Photo by Stephen Reed.
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