USACA

This is a new annual event with a brand new perptual trophy for the winning A cat.  It will be held on Huntington Lake 7000' up in the Sierras, East of Fresno, CA in concert with the annual Commodore's Classic multihull regatta.

It's a beautiful location reachable from the San Francisco Bay area, Santa Cruz. Los Angeles, and San Diego.  It's a long alpine lake with regular thermal wind that sends highly visible puffs down the length of the lake, spreading as they go.  Staying in the puffs is a key part of the game.  Because of the alpine location there is hiking, horseback riding, and camping as well as racing to entertain the whole family.  While the wind reaches 20, it feels more like 15 because of the altitude.  When you pack remember that the air is warm, but the lake is melt water fed and can feel quite brisk.  The sheltered location keeps the waves small.

We are expecting 8 or 10 boats from all over California and its open to any A-Cat that wants to come.  Racing is Saturday and Sunday, but playing on the lake and tuning together on Friday has become a tradition.

It's June 30 and July 1, but remember to plan on Friday June 29.

Not too much to report these days.

Both mold halves are complete.

General update on the 2012 Midwest A-Class Invitational held at the North Cape Yacht Club on the west end of Lake Erie, LaSalle, MI. June 22 -24, 2012.

Plans are in the works for an excellent 3 day regatta at the site of the 2010 A-Class North American Championship. June brings a nice prevailing wind to Lake Erie, making this a must stop on your regatta schedule. We have verbal confirmation from Texas, Canada, Atlanta, and the Hopatcong fleets that they will have boats on the starting line. Remember, this is "Fresh" water! And if it's not clean enough to drink, the bar will be open at the yacht club to wash down that thirst.

NOR is currently being revised; but for more information contact:

Ian Lindahl
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858-688-5450

2012 A Class Nationals – The Battle of San Jacinto

It only took General Sam Houston a total of 18 minutes to win the Battle of San Jacinto and secure the freedom of Texas from the sleeping army of Santa Anna. For the 45 boat fleet sailing at Houston Yacht Club, April 20 – 22, an 18 minute battle may have felt like a good sailing opportunity given the weather delays Santa Anna conjured up from his grave to revenge the defeat he suffered all those years ago. To add insult to injury the weather had been post card perfect the full week before the event with a number of boats arriving early to practice and enjoy our classic SE sea breeze and warm early spring temperatures. Regatta chair Bob Webbon did his best to invoke the favor of the Aztec wind god Ehecatl by sacrificing a side of beef for the kick off cocktail party on Thursday evening at his humble abode not far from the club. As a result of that party, and the rumors of late night raucous behavior by visiting sailors, there were few complaints about the scheduled start time for first race on Friday of 1300 hours. Unfortunately, Mr. Webbon must have sacrificed one of Ehecatl's favorite sides of beef. The God expressed his wrath by sending in a storm front that sucked all the wind from the area for the entire day, until the front itself came through with the bang of thunder and some horizontal rain. Fortunately, all the sailors had taken proper precautions of lowering their mast and tying down their boats to prevent any unintended sacrifices of carbon fiber.

 

Fellow US A cat sailors:

Please review the following proposed change to the IACA Championship rules regarding the number of discards allowed at international championships.  Both New Zealand and Australia are in support of the change and per the IACA procedures concerning rule changes they are seeking a 3^rd National association’s support to be able to submit the change at the next IACA WGM  at the worlds in Florida.   Note: Even if the change is approved at the IACA WGM the new rule would not apply to the this year’s Worlds.   If you are coming to HYC for the Nationals I’ll be polling sailors there as well.  Otherwise let me know if there are significant objections to the change via email.   I have included the email from the President of the New Zealand association below.  I do note with interest the line about modern A-Cat construction and infrequent gear failure with a grain or two of salt, especially with Breeze on.   However, since all of my boat failures have been more or less self inflicted or maintenance related I’ll let it slide.   Not sure if this accounts for failures caused by capsizing downwind while trapped out!  If the mast failure rate keeps up, my guess is we will all see our insurance companies start wanting separate policies for our masts!   I look forward to meeting many of you at HYC later this month.

Regards, Kevin

President USACA

The New Zealand A-Div Cat Assoc (NZADCA) intends submitting a proposal to the next IACA WGM to change the championship rules to reduce the number of discards allowed at International Championships to 1 (currently 2).

Under this proposal, IACA Championship Rules clause 6f. would be amended to read:

"The regatta shall consist of a series of 9 races of which 5 must be completed to constitute a Championship series. When 6 or more races have been completed, a participant may discard his worst result."

The phrase: "when 9 races have been completed, a participant may discard his 2 worst results" would be deleted.

The rationale behind this is to reduce the incentive for questionable tactics eg. premature starts which some competitors may feel is worth the risk if they have another discard available. Instead, sailing ability and consistency would be further rewarded. The design and construction of the modern A- Cat is such that gear failure is relatively rare so more discards for this purpose are not needed.

The Australian Assoc. have indicated their support for this proposal. Under the IACA constitution  a proposal to alter the rules requires the support of at least 3 national associations before it may be put to a vote at a WGM.

Would USACA be prepared to support this proposal?

regards

Ken Urquhart

President NZADCA

In 18 minutes it was over...........

What started in Gonzales, Texas, October, 1835 .....

 

The Texian settlers from all creeds, including many famous Latinos, told Santa Ana, who was a ruthless dictator, you want your freakin' cannon back then "Come and Take It". 

So started the Texan War for Independence.