May 19th, 2006 -- Team Tybee Island sailors John Casey and Kenny Pierce completed the 500 miles from Hollywood, FL to Tybee Island, GA in just 44 hours, 15 minutes and 54 seconds to win their 3rd Tybee 500 victory. Team Tybee made history by being the first team to win each individual leg in addition to the overall title. Daily event videos, pictures, and updates may be viewed at www.Tybee500.com.

Five other teams finished the race with three teams dropping out or being disqualified for receiving outside assistance. Team Tygart Racing had finished in the top 3 almost every leg, but on the last leg just miles from the finish, it was evident that something was wrong.

Just Swell! MBYC Cat Fight, San Diego, California, by Connie Brown

What is cold (51 degrees), has a sizable storm swell, rains and has sun? A great weekend of Cat racing!  On Saturday wind direction was due west at 270 degrees and blowing in the teens with swells from trough to peak from 8-10ft. Event coordinator, Carl Teyssier, noted that it was, “an educational day for skippers and crew”.

I had a different platform for this year’s Mission Bay Yacht Club Cat Fight. Usually, I would be hanging off the side of a cat catching a stiff breeze but this year I had a great ride on a 36ft Monohull Committee boat photographing the days events and the photo opts kept coming.

The swells on the first day crested one right after the other and sent several committee boats riders to the side rails more then once.  Racing was a hard and fast. With several boats capsizing and a few completely turtled, some needed chase boat assistance. By the end of the second race on Saturday, more then half the boat had heading in. The other diehard teams wanted more. The Race Committee obliged.

Spring Fever at Lake Hartwell, Georgia, (April 14-16) is a professionally run catamaran regatta that is one of the top events in the Eastern USA. Lake Hartwell, located on the border of Georgia and South Carolina is a great place for a regatta, great camping right onsite. See Spring Fever 2005 Pictures

This year it is also the Southern Area Formula-18 Championship. (See Calendar Listing) All beach catamarans are welcome and Forumula 14, H16, H18, Isotope, Mystere 4.3, NACRA 5.8, NACRA 20 fleets, as well as others, are expected.

The event is presented by Nigel Pitt, well known catamaran sailor. Since this is a large regatta, Nigel has an urgent need to have a good idea who is coming.

"Our original concept for Spring Fever was to bring together all makes of catamarans and rebuild the fun that we all used to enjoy at the large regattas. Our goal was, and is, to have 100 or more teams and their families getting together in a fun but competitive atmosphere."

So please, if you are planning to attend Spring Fever, fill out the registration form: 2006 Spring Fever Pre-Registration Form.

Hans Geissler introduces his new G-Cat F16 at the Tradewinds Regatta.

There are Catamarans and then there is the G-Cat. Designed and built by Hans Geissler, this catamaran is known as a vessel of unique, if not revolutionary design. The hulls, being its most unusual features, are symmetric and use no dagger-boards. Leeway is resisted by a its deep-V lateral surface coupled to deep rudder blades which prevents leeward drift and actually causes lift via their low profile and hydrodynamic shape below the waters surface.

And now, after nearly ten years, Hans Geissler has resurrected his legendary G-Cat Catamarans. After 2000 G-Cats he built until 1994 this is the first boat not built by himself but by Vectorworks Marine in Titusville, Fl. The new line takes the form of the Formula 16 High Tech racing version, with a 28’ mast and spinnaker, and a family and rental fleet version with 24’ boomless mast for casual sailing. In addition, the new and improved G-Cat 36 will be introduced, with the first model being a Power Cat that will sleep 5-6 comfortably, and a sailing model with similar accommodations. There will be a full line of options available for your comfort and safety. This represents the resurrection of the G-Cat Catamarans the first production in almost 10 years.

It's winter up here in NJ/NY. We're waiting for spring, and it's already itching. Some folks are fixing their boats, some are working on upgrades, some are hanging out in this site here, but we're all basically just keeping busy.

In our club (SHBCC), we just decided to make our Statue of Liberty Race this season something really special. It's our clubs' 30th anniversary. So just for the fun of it we pulled together this invitational video clip . We're hoping to see MANY of you at the start this year. Sailing New York harbor and rounding the Statue of Liberty is a "once-in-a-lifetime-must-do-can't-miss" event for every catsailor . We're inviting you early cuz we know your season will be booked up before you know it! Click here to view the clip.