DEFENDERS AND CHALLENGERS MIX IT UP

NEWPORT, R.I. (October 2, 2003) - While the temperatures dropped on Narragansett Bay, action on the race course heated up as competition for the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (ICCT) resumed today after yesterday's planned lay day. The Challenger (Italy's Daniele Saragoni and crew Teo Di Battista, representing Club Nautico Rimini) and the Defender (John Lovell of New Orleans, La., and crew Charlie Ogletree of Houston, Texas, representing Southern Yacht Club) faced each other on a windward-leeward course (three times around) for three matches in breeze upwards of 23 knots with temperatures hovering in the low 60s. It was "rugged going," according to ICCT Trustee John Dawson of Sea Cliff Yacht Club, organizers of the event, "especially for those who went swimming."

Seventy five catamaran sailboats attended the Catfight IV catamaran regatta on the shores of Lake Michigan. Cat Sailors arriving on Thursday saw big wind during the day . This was a precursor of things to come. As usual, the beach organization was spot on. We arrived late Thursday to find most sailors already set up and catamarans lining the beach. The regatta had started without us!

Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association and Division 11, to host the 2003 Hobie North American Continental Championship September’s warm breezes will welcome the 2003 Hobie Cat North American Championship Regatta to Dewey Beach and the Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association. The event will kick off on September 26th with a three-day regatta to name the Women’s, Youth’s and Hobie 14 Champions.

The five day Hobie 16 Open event, beginning on Monday the 29th, will attract over 150 of the best catamaran sailors from the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico. Racers will compete for one of 10 slots to qualify for the 2004 Hobie 16 World Championship, to be held next May in Cancun Mexico.

Many catamaran sailors who move up to sailing catamaran sailboats after sailing dinghies will find they need to develop new techniques for tacking. Catamaran sailboats are not difficult to tack, but if you attempt to tack by just throwing the tiller over, you probably won't do well.

Dinghy sailors have refined a sailing technique called the "roll tack" which vastly improves speed coming out of the tack. A lot of catamaran sailors are not aware that you can roll tack your beachcat as well. Read more to find out how.

Note: This years race start is Saturday, Sept. 27.

The Round the Island Race is a 100 mile circumnavigation around Santa Rosa Island located in Northwest Florida. The event has a long and storied history stretching back over twenty three years. It begins in Fort Walton Beach and continues to Pensacola where the turn is made for the return trip back to Fort Walton Beach. Headquartered at the Gulf Islands National Seashore Park (known locally as Leeside Park) in Fort Walton the race site is a great arrangement of parking and white sandy beaches with clear shallow water.