2015 A-Class Catamaran North American Championship - Day 2

by A-Cat North Americans on 21 May 2015 The 2015 A-Class Catamaran North American Championship delivered two more races today as the breeze picked up to almost 17 knots, delivering spills, thrills, and impressive recoveries for the 41 competitors in St. Andrews Bay, Panama City, Fla.

The top five leaderboard remained static after five races, although the scores tightened up. Matt Struble’s string of bullets came to an end in race two, when Bruce Mahoney and Struble came battling into the leeward gate, with Struble on port. When Struble gybed, his bows dug in and capsized. Thanks to a quick recovery and one more lap he saved a fourth place finish. Struble sits in first with eight points; Mahoney with nine.

Birthday boy Bailey White, also known as the U.S. A-Class “presidente” is in third with 18 points. Christopher Brown is one point behind in fourth overall and Tracy Oliver with 34 points rounds out the top five.

While the foiling sailors continue to refine their techniques and equipment settings, Ben Hall is on day three of the same with his new Barracuda Three design. “Right now, foiling is like having one foot on a banana peel, and the other on an oil slick,” he said. “I’m still trying to figure out that transition zone that is good for foiling or not, but how can you not be having fun out there.” Hall is currently in 10th place.

Ken Marshack in sixth place overall, is pleased his day involved no breakages today. “Yesterday on the last race my tiller broke, which made for a tough last leg as I couldn’t trapeze out,” he said. He is sailing a DNA with C-boards, and recently added winglets, which is helping steady the boat out. “I’m finding in the windier conditions like today, the closer I stay to the top foiling boats. Doing the Wild Thing downwind seems to be working for me.”

In a display of camaraderie and seamanship typical of A-Cat sailors, Patrick Burger today came to the rescue fellow sailor Nigel Pitt when Pitt capsized downwind. When he got separated from the boat, Burger immediately scooped him up and delivered Pitt back to his boat. This act comes on the heels of his frightening day yesterday when before race one he learned his wife and mother-in-law were in a car accident an hour away. Thankfully other than serious bruises, all are OK. Needless to say, he is looking forward to the remainder of the regatta drama free.

On shore, the Panama City community and St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club continues to show off their best to the sailors as well. Last night they were treated to a private wine tasting at Avenue Sea in downtown Panama City. This evening the sailors have an opportunity to explore the area, before tomorrow’s regatta banquet at the club in LowCountry Boil style.

 Overall Results:

Rank	SailNo	Club	HelmName	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total	Nett
1st	3 USA		Struble, Matt	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	4.0	8.0	8.0
2nd	311 USA		Mahoney,Bruce	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	9.0	9.0
3rd	320 USA		White, Bailey	3.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	5.0	18.0	18.0
4th	193 USA		Brown, Christopher	6.0	4.0	3.0	4.0	2.0	19.0	19.0
5th	135 USA		Oliver, Tracy	5.0	6.0	7.0	6.0	10.0	34.0	34.0
6th	192 USA	Intergalactic	Marshack, Ken	9.0	8.0	11.0	9.0	7.0	44.0	44.0
7th	17 USA		Batchelor, Chris	20.0	11.0	9.0	10.0	12.0	62.0	62.0
8th	350 USA		Cope, Woody	7.0	5.0	42.0 DNF	7.0	3.0	64.0	64.0
9th	212 USA	Intergalactic	Grice, Kevin	12.0	14.0	12.0	13.0	14.0	65.0	65.0
10th	99 USA		Hall, Ben	13.0	9.0	8.0	21.0	17.0	68.0	68.0
11th	73B USA		Bello, Joseph	42.0 DNC	7.0	5.0	8.0	8.0	70.0	70.0
13th	44 USA	Intergalactic	Leonard, Joe	16.0	16.0	18.0	11.0	11.0	72.0	72.0
12th	341 USA		Shafer, Alex	10.0	19.0	14.0	14.0	15.0	72.0	72.0
14th	294 USA		Krantz, Mike	15.0	18.0	10.0	18.0	13.0	74.0	74.0
15th	42 USA	Intergalactic	Hart, Todd	17.0	10.0	15.0	17.0	28.0	87.0	87.0
16th	994 AUS		Pitt, Nigel	11.0	15.0	6.0	16.0	42.0 DNF	90.0	90.0
17th	44 CAN		Woods, Larry	14.0	12.0	42.0 DNF	15.0	9.0	92.0	92.0
18th	230 USA		Hodges, Bob	4.0	42.0 OCS	42.0 DNF	5.0	6.0	99.0	99.0
19th	291 USA		Meyers, Jeff	19.0	22.0	13.0	12.0	42.0 DNF	108.0	108.0
20th	211 USA	Intergalactic	Goritski, David	8.0	20.0	20.0	22.0	42.0 DNF	112.0	112.0
22nd	196 USA		Carlson, David	18.0	24.0	22.0	26.0	23.0	113.0	113.0
21st	309 USA	Intergalactic	Vining, Bill	33.0	21.0	16.0	24.0	19.0	113.0	113.0
23rd	108 USA	Intergalactic	Orr, Bob	31.0	25.0	23.0	20.0	21.0	120.0	120.0
24th	293 USA		Roth, Ron	22.0	27.0	17.0	29.0	26.0	121.0	121.0
25th	231 USA		Bird, Rush	26.0	17.0	19.0	19.0	42.0 DNF	123.0	123.0
26th	74 USA	Intergalactic	Stevenson, Scott	21.0	29.0	24.0	33.0	20.0	127.0	127.0
27th	268 NZL	Intergalactic	Burdett, Andrew	28.0	23.0	25.0	30.0	25.0	131.0	131.0
28th	235 USA	Intergalactic	Sparks, Joe	24.0	26.0	28.0	27.0	29.0	134.0	134.0
29th	55 CAN		Woods, Todd	42.0 DNF	32.0	26.0	23.0	16.0	139.0	139.0
30th	57 USA	Intergalactic	Paoli,Tom	27.0	28.0	27.0	28.0	30.0	140.0	140.0
31st	73 USA		Rodgers, OH	25.0	13.0	21.0	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	143.0	143.0
32nd	290 USA	Intergalactic	Skeels, Mark	32.0	30.0	30.0	34.0	24.0	150.0	150.0
33rd	332 USA	Intergalactic	Back, Terry	35.0	34.0	29.0	32.0	22.0	152.0	152.0
34th	29 CAN		Woods, Andrew	29.0	31.0	42.0 DNF	31.0	33.0	166.0	166.0
35th	143 USA		Herendeen, Mark	36.0	33.0	31.0	37.0	31.0	168.0	168.0
37th	465 USA	Intergalactic	Batchelor, Mark	30.0	35.0	42.0 DNF	35.0	27.0	169.0	169.0
36th	318 USA	Intergalactic	Burger, Patrick	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	25.0	18.0	169.0	169.0
38th	347 USA	Intergalactic	Cerf, Emmanuel	34.0	36.0	32.0	39.0	32.0	173.0	173.0
39th	308 USA	Intergalactic	Mitchell, Warren	23.0	42.0 DNF	42.0 DNF	38.0	35.0	180.0	180.0
40th	31 CAN	Intergalactic	Lamb, Norm	42.0 DNF	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	36.0	34.0	196.0	196.0
41st	747 USA		Cerf, Nicolas	42.0 DNF	42.0 DNF	42.0 DNF	42.0 DNF	42.0 DNF	210.0	210.0