“BUILD IT and THEY WILL COME”
FORMULA 18 NORTH AMERICANS
September 18-22, 2006
Lake Carlyle, IL by John Bauldry
Hobie Tiger’s, Australian Capricorn’s and NACRA’s (both the older F18 and new Infusion) from across North America met at Carlyle, Illinois for the annual gathering to crown a new champion sailing team. After what seemed like an eternity of “Field of Dreams” corn fields and pig farms, Paul, Kim, Neil and I arrived after an 8 hour drive from the Motor City. Located out in the middle of nowhere is Lake Carlyle, a US Army Corps of Engineers project to control flooding of farmland. And out in this middle of nowhere is a rabid following of all things sail known as the Carlyle Sailing Association. Every type of sailing craft from Opti’s to 30 foot cruisers could be found. We took advantage of the lakeside cabin rentals and settled in for what would be a very competitive week of sailing. The sailing talent pool at this event was deep. Very deep. A Who’s Who of the North American catamaran sailing world. 40 teams in all would be vying for the 2006 crown.
Some competitors arrived early to partake in the weekend Whale of a Sail Regatta to hopefully get a tactical reading of the local conditions. As the week progressed, those tactical conditions would put everyone to the test. The skipper’s meeting was held on Sunday evening and racing would start promptly at 10:30 the next day. The MO for the week would be to do two races, go to the beach for lunch, then continue racing into the late afternoon. All boats and crews were weighed even to the point of some Quebec teams stripping to their choners in order to be the lightest possible without having to carry weight. Everyone was asked to bring their boat anchors. Not the water kind but the screw in the ground kind. Big storms were possible and we were responsible for any damage to other boats if yours decided to take a trip to Kansas. Auntie Em, Auntie Em!
On Monday we sailed four races in shifting 12-16 mph conditions. Top gusts were around 20. A very good day of sailing but with no throwout. We needed 5 races in the bag before that could happen. Monday night’s dinner was at the Legion in Carlyle. The organizers wanted us to sample the local cuisine…fried chicken, scalloped potatoes and CORN. It was pretty tasty. Tuesday was the real test of endurance starting an hour earlier in order to take advantage of the winds. Wednesday’s forecast was for very light to zero so the RC completed as many races as possible on Tuesday. Six races were completed in conditions similar to Monday’s. The rule was “race ‘em when we have wind and sit on the beach if we don’t”. All I can say is that I was feeling my age after that marathon sailing session. Tuesday night we were on our own for dinner due to the annual F18 AGM meeting.
The folks at CSA really know their weather. Wednesday was light, shifty and puffy. The course was filled with so many holes it looked like swiss cheese. Of course we all sailed into these black holes with no hopes of escaping. Two races with some rather large numbers were earned that would not be thrown out. This was to be our only light air day. It was becoming clear that Mischa Heemskerk and Carrie “Rockstar” Howe were untouchable. Their NACRA Infusion was so far out in front the only time you saw them was either at the start or on the beach. They were sailing in a league all their own. Wednesday night’s dinner sponsored by Performance Catamarans was catered onsite with a rockin’ great band and did I mention beer. Lots of beer. Beer from the beer trailer ala Madcatter. The crowd slowly thinned as the band played into the wee hours. Tomorrow is another day.
Thursday brought another four race day in decent wind similar to Monday and Tuesday. Mischa and Carrie continued their dominance and were quickly locking up the championship. Later that evening Layline sponsored the pizza dinner while a country band belted out radio favorites. The lead singer even changed the lyrics of one song and made it F18 championship specific. Pretty funny and it got a rousing round of applause from everyone. The band then stopped playing for the t-shirt contest. Three catagories were to be judged…oldest, farthest from Carlyle and most prestigious. The oldest…a 1978 Hobie 16 Nationals t-shirt from Bear Lake, Utah. Jeff Newsome from California won for the most prestigious for an invitation only event in Tahiti and yours truly won for distance for the 1999 Hobie 17/18 Worlds shirt from Blairgowrie, NSW, Australia. Steve Cooly from Colorado had a 2005 Sail Melbourne (Hobie 17/18 Worlds) but I beat him by only 80 kilometers.
It’s Friday now and everyone is a little tense and nervous. A cold front with big storms was on the move and Mother Nature did not fail in providing huge air. Only 27 of the 40 boats ventured off the beach in what would be the final race of the series. The wind was fairly sustained in the upper teens with gusts into the low thirties. It kind of reminded me of the 2006 Madcatter only warmer. In a show of some of the best sportsmanship I’ve ever seen, Mischa and Carrie gave up one of their daggerboards to a competitor who broke his in half. This happened within the five minute start sequence. They then raced to the beach, grabbed another board from a boat and blasted back out to the race course. They started within the five minute late rule (3 minutes, 40 seconds) and managed to finish third. Remarkable, absolutely remarkable.
The last race was not without carnage. Broken DB’s, broken rudders, broken spinnaker poles, holed sails and a mast that snapped in half. And it was all for not. During the race, the wind shifted right. A change mark was set to weather and everyone rounded it. The wind then shifted back to the left and the original marks were set. But the old change mark was not pulled. All available mark boats were assisting capsized or damaged boats. At one time about half of the fleet was upside down. The fleet sailed around the old change mark and not the new. The RC did signal but it was so windy you couldn’t hear plus things were happening too quickly on the boats. On the last downwind leg we did not deploy the spinnaker after seeing what was happening to those who did. It was a race of attrition. We finished without flipping and sailing very conservatively. But the race was later thrown out due to everyone sailing the wrong course. Ouch.
We were sent to the beach under a tornado watch and were told to secure the boats due to the approaching severe weather. Most of the competitors managed to get their boats knocked down and on the trailers before breaking for lunch. The only exception were the Californians. They had one trailer…with six boats on it. Each boat had to be broken down into individual components. They were still loading at last sight. The awards dinner was sponsored by Hobie Cat and was very good. The organizers wasted no time in getting to the awards (maybe because it was storming like crazy outside and we might need to make our way to the basement). The trophies were awarded ten deep with Mischa and Carrie winning the event. Paul and Kim finished 34th. Neil and I managed a 17th. The awards ended by everyone getting a beenie that was knitted by one of the organizer’s grandmothers. We stayed the night in Carlyle before heading back to Motown on Saturday morning. The drive home was uneventful…just the way I like them.
I would like to thank Mike Hill and the CSA, it’s volunteers and staff for hosting a truly class event, to Mark Santorelli for being the PRO and running championship races and to the competitors for the tough competition. Next year the F18 NA’s will be in Galveston, TX on the Gulf. I encourage everyone to do a national event some time soon. You learn more in one week than you do in a year. It will make you a better sailor. And one last thank you…to the US Army Corps of Engineers…you built it and they came.
For more info/results/pics check out www.naf18.com and for event video check out www.adventureonline.tv