Formula 18 Worlds France reports

Day one:

Well after much drama and nearly missed flights and lost bags on Air Chance (France) we actually made it onto the water. I tell you - between Greg almost not making it - then all my gear going missing with the airline.. there was bound to be something else go wrong.

Of course this morning as we tried to leave the boat park - we put a hole in the side of the boat. (Smacked a trailer on the beach)
This meant we had to find some tape - and find it quick.... Luckily for us Alberto from Italy was still around and had some for us.

Our results I think we OK - we improved as the day wore on - our top finish is a third. Tomorrows races will finish the qualifying and we'll begin racing head to head with the top 80+ teams out of over 160 - they split the field into two groups - gold and silver and we're obviously hoping to be in the top group (I think that's a definite at this point)

So for tomorrow hopefully more of the same conditions.. So far the weather has been nice - really hot with good winds....and the bread is good.

No Internet at the site - so I'm writing this on the neighbor's computer until I can find a spot to hook up.

Follow the action at the web site for the event:

http://f18worlds2006.com/


Thanks to our sponsors:

Hobie Cat Co.
Hobie Polarized
Kokatat

update - just checked the results and we're in 9th at the moment.
One guy had a bad accident with a port boat as they were just turning and flying the spi downwind - he was hit in the face - broken jaw - huge slice - concussion and broken shoulder... he's pretty bad. Our roommates from Australia rescued the guy from the water - it happen just in front of us however we didn't see it or notice the crew in the water...
We will all be pulling for him...he's in local hospital in Toulon.


Jacques Bernier

Way to go JB & Greg.

Wish we were there!!!!!

Can you give us an idea of who's on what make of boat, besides the obvious:-p

Go fast and take chances, uh not too many chances!

Tom & Susan!!!!!!!!!!

Kick Nacracorn A!@#$%!

Great job guys! Keep it up.

Keep the holes to the minimum - I've tried it and it doesn't reduce weight as much as you might think.

Yeah, if you can... we are all interested in hearing who is sailing what type of boat. I'm assuming Mischa is the top Nacracorn team currently?

Go USA!

Hi Tom - Oli.... I can try - but I don't have a result sheet here.. maybe post who you're interested in and I'll try to remember.

The Nacracorns are a couple up the front.. Misch of course... Helge and CHristian are doing well on the Capri

Other than those... not sure who you're not sure of.. there are like 6 or 7 Tigers in the top ten after day one... but now I don't know.. pretty much all even-steven.. some boats are better in light air it seems.. but it's all so close.. that's why they call it a formula..I think its working.

Sorry I didn't write last night... couldn't find any Internet connection.

Yesterday we had two challenging races in very little wind....it was just like home in San Diego..... We had another good result of a second place - placing us among the leaders... We are just a few points from the top five at the moment.

Since today there was no racing (though we did sail out twice to the course but only to be sent back due to dying wind) we are still trying to complete the qualifying... we need one more race to equal things up to split into two separate fleets.

Some news on the German crew who was injured - he's had an operation to wire shut his jaw and fix the cut to his face... as well some pins to his shoulder. He is still in local hospital and we're all relieved to know he's going to recover.

A few teams were randomly checked for measurement after the days races yesterday and weighed. All boats were light making for some interesting protests... Today we started our day building a paddle to comply with another rule which was challenged by the Dutch team who had earlier been disqualified due to being under weight. SO the organizers had the scales calibrated and all teams were re-measured and I think they have all been disqualified from their last race (Lucky for Darren Bundock it was his worst race)

So... now we wait to see what the decision is for the final qualifying races so that we can get into the finals and challenge for a top spot.

I have heard the weather is expected to be more of the same... really hot, and little wind. (though some people claim tomorrow is expected allot of wind... we'll see) Hopefully there is at least enough to sail - we like it when there are mild conditions. Looking forward to more competition tomorrow.

Tonight a bunch of the teams are making a new race at the local go-karting track... this is something I know a little about - so hopefully we can spank these Euros on the track too! ha-ha.

Follow the racing at: http://f18worlds2006.com/

More tomorrow..

Greg and Jacques

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Well, what can I say... there isn't much wind in the south of France in July.... we've become experts at launching... we get sent out... then we bob around for a while, only to be sent back to the beach... then we head back out and bob around and wait...

We did actually get in one race today. For some of the front guys there were some problems. Bundy went hard right in the first fleet, however the wind filled from the left and he was out of luck. He's now keeping a 19. Next was Mischa - taking a drop race... and then Mark Laruffa from OZ fell back too.

We're now sitting nicely in 8th, only some points out of a top five (which I thought would never be possible.. but here we are anyway!)

There are quite allot of protest on right now.. so I have no firm idea of what exactly will turn out for the a.m.

This place has had it all - and the committee is doing the best they can, but when the winds are only 6 knots and then the fleet has three generals - its hard to get races off.

Tomorrow will be the last day... there is suppose to be a Gold and Silver split - but I still have't figured out who's in or who's out.
The other USA team of Nigel Pitt and Alex Schaffer pulled out today - citing poor results and much work at home as the reasons... just passing that along to those who might not know they bailed.
OK - so tomorrow it's all on!

See ya-

JB

Results after 6 races:

1 FRA 11
MOURNIAC Jean Christoph (M1970)
CITEAU Franck (M1969)
12.00 17.00 2 1 2 4 5 3 C N STE MAXIME - France
Y C GRANDE MOTTE

2 GER 143
SACH Helge (M1956)
SACH Christian (M1958)
13.00 26.00 5 2 1 13 3 2 Germany

3 FRA 555
BESSON Billy (M1981)
JARLEGAN Arnaud (M1976)
15.00 21.00 6 5 4 4 1 1 S N O NANTES - France
S N O NANTES

4 NED 76
VAN DER MEULEN Reindert Jan (F1965)
KNOL Carina (F1976)
19.00 36.00 17 1 1 6 10 1 The Netherlands

5 NED 1
KENBEEK Remco (M1972)
BROUWER Paul (M1962)
26.00 54.00 3 28 5 8 8 2 The Netherlands

6 AUS 7
BUNDOCK Darren (M1971)
ASHBY Glenn (M1977)
27.00 64.00 1 3 2 2 37 19 Australia

7 ESP 21
ECHAVARRI Fernando (M1972)
PAZ Anton (M1976)
28.00 64.00 1 2 4 36 16 5 Spain

8 USA 2136
THOMAS Greg (M1969)
BERNIER Jacques (M1970)
32.00 43.00 11 10 3 11 2 6 United States Of America

9 AUS 2137
LARUFFA Mark (M1960)
WILSON Bradley (M1973)
32.00 54.00 4 3 9 7 9 22 Australia

10 NED 11
BOOTH Mitch (M1963)
DERCKSEN Herbert (M1985)
34.00 46.00 4 12 7 7 6 10 The Netherlands

The worst possible last day possible... that's what happen yesterday (late report - had to pack boats last night)

We fell (allot) in the overall in the last day - Finishing 19th I think... pending outcome of some protests...we had a good result of a fourth in the second race - however both other races were horrible. It wasn't only us going backwards - there were many top teams going backwards - difficult sailing it was for sure. All three starts were under the black flag - in the first one a group of boats were OCS (starting prematurely) just above us... this caused our start to be really bad, when we starting trying to make a comeback - there was just no lanes... little wind - what else can you say... a total screw up. And the other bad result came after another starting error - we were rolled by the Spanish (who ended up even further back than us - go figure) Once you get pushed back in this much wind and competitive fleet you have little to no chance of a good result.

All week we had killer starts and decent speed - but these two bad starts cost us big time. So after 9 races - over 5 days - lots of sitting around under the umbrella... its finally done. Now we can put it behind us and head to our next regatta.

So, now we take a break and drive to Cangas for the next race to be held one week from now. Until then we'll try and heal ourselves and maybe take in some sites.

Thanks for all the supportive e mails - sorry we punted it in the end...

We were thrilled that our old friends from Germany won in the end - disappointed that Darren had a couple of bad breaks that cost him to... and Landy coming from deep to third - it was all up in the air -the last day and the format meant there would be no throwout score because of the lack of time and wind... so everything you earned you had to keep - this would have been a great opportunity for us to get on the podium but we couldn't pull it off.

OK - so... I'll start to report from Spain in a week.

Later,

JB

Good job man. Tough to lose spots on the last day, but in those conditions and huge fleet anything goes and luck plays a big role. You can tell it was fluky from all the position changes.

Good luck in Spain - I think it's your year.