STOHLQUIST bPOD Breathable DRYSUITS

New England Catamarans is offering a super discount on Stohlquist bPOD Breathable Drysuits if ordered (with a $100. deposit) by Nov 15th, 2009. List price is $625. Discount price is $399. with a further 3% off for check or cash and additional 5% off if the deposit is received by the 15th. You can check out all the features at http://www.stohlquist.com/ Relief zippers come standard. This is a one time offer from the supplier. I have to order these by the 16th and need to know sizes and whether male or female models.

Lipton Cup Photos 2009

Passing by the committee boat between races at the Lipton Cup, Squantum Yacht Club, Quincy, MA. Great wind and flat water.

Teammate Erica making me show off. The City of Boston is in the back ground. Photos taken by Scot MacKeil.

Other Lipton Cup sailing photos are welcome.

NACRA 6.0na CLASS RULE CHANGE

The factory has decided to try to catch up with the boat owners after 8-9 years and they have devised a new set of rules for the Nacra 6.0na. Class square top mains are allowed, 13' spinnaker poles max. (open to carbon or aluminum) and only factory (Nacra 20) spinnakers or used factory supplied spinnakers.

PERFORMANCE is MOVING

Performance Sports, the builder of Nacra catamarans is moving into a new building not far from where they are presently located in California. They are not moving to the Netherlands as some have tried to make everyone believe.

NACRA 20 CARBON

This is the new Nacra 20 Carbon.

F-18 and NENSA Meeting Nov 7th, 2009

There will be an F-18 meeting and a NENSA meeting at Chris Titcomb's house in Framingham, MA on Nov 7th. I haven't received the details yet but heard there's a party afterwards.

CRANNE Meeting Nov 14th, 2009

They'll be a CRANNE end of the year, event scheduling meeting and pot luck supper at Dee and John Decker's house at 11 Lakeview Dr, Nottingham, NH 03290 on Sat., Nov 14th starting at 1:00pm. Please RSVP at 603-244-2165. If it seems like you're heading into the boonies on their road, you are. Keep going but go slow because of some real nasty corners. Everyone welcome but please RSVP.

2009 Statue of Liberty Race

The shortened, Around the Statue of Liberty race was a blast. The winds were 15, gusting to 20+ from the West. A reach up and reach back. Mega gusts inside the harbor. We had choppy confused seas as we were going from the end of Sandy Hook to the Verrazano Bridge. Little worse when we returned because of the angle. Double trapped way back on the boat with the hulls jumping over the waves. Sometimes the mainsheet and traveler were both out as far as we could let them, then right back in and right back out again. SPEX Goggles made life a little easier.

About 38 boats entered the event. Mike Easton and Tripp Burd on a Nacra F-18 Infusion took the lead right off the line. Brandy Wood and I held second for the first third of the race, gave it up, took it back briefly, then gave it up again. The racers were turned back just before the Statue on orders from the Coast Guard. Most of the competitors saw the mark boat but a few didn't and got chased out from near the Statue by the CG or Marine Police.

Not as many boats flipped as I would have expected. A Hobie 20 pitchpoled in NY Harbor, yuk. A Prindle 19 lost it's skipper when his trapeze line broke. The boat flipped about 100 feet away and he swam like a madman as it was drifting diagonally across his path. He just barely managed to intercept it. We struck a log on our daggerboard while doing 15+kts. Several competitors had an exciting crossing with a big orange Manhatten ferry. The bow decks and railing on the side the catamarans were passing were packed with people. They probably couldn't believe a sailboat could move so fast.

In the end Mike and Tripp smoked the fleet with their Infusion. They took three perpetual trophies, Line Honors, 1st Elapsed and one I can't recall. They also have the new course record but for the abbreviated course. Chris Titcomb and Nate Titcomb hold the full course record.

All in all it was a good day for the Nacras and New England sailors.

Elapsed:

1st -Michael Easton & Tripp Burd - Nacra F-18 Infusion

2nd - Doug Kirby & Andy Herbic - Nacra 20

3rd - Rick Bliss & Brandy Wood - Nacra 20

4th - Nacra 20

Rick Bliss