From Sailing Anarchy

 

AUS 66 - Balmain Tiger is leading the Super 30 Sport Boat fleet in Sydney while entering the next race of the SASC Sports Boat Short Series on November 15^th. Flying Tigers are already a fixture of the Sydney Harbor scene with the 15 boats strong Fleet #3, New South Wales. Enjoy a few pictures of FT10s taken from s/v Youngstar that is currently second in the Super 30 Short Series.

In the meanwhile AUS74 - Sabre took his first bullet in 7th race of the parallel Super 30 Main Series.

Series Scores updated on :  03/11/2008  10:21:26

SERIES RESULTS

The name “Tigers” is almost synonymous with Balmain and on Sunday Oct 26 with the 156th Anniversary of the first Balmain Regatta, in conjunction with the Back to Balmain festivities, a new team of Tigers will be coming . This time the Tigers, well Flying Tigers, will be coming across the water.

The 2008 Balmain Regatta will be hosting sailing boat classes ranging from Historic Skiffs to the most modern Sports Yachts. The Regatta committee has invited the Flying Tiger “FT10” Class Association to participate with its own One Design start at 11.00 am for a race from Balmain to Shark Island in the main harbour and return. Look out for the Tigers when they return to Balmain around 1.30 with their large Red Spinnakers flying before the NE breeze and showing off their Tiger Logos.

The Flying Tigers are a 10 Metre Sports Yacht, including many of the features of the smaller fast sports skiffs and sports boats that are regularly seen around Balmain, including a rather large bright red spinnaker which is carried from a 2 Metre protruding Bow Sprit. The big difference is that the FT10 is a yacht and so has many creature features including room for 10 crew up top and a basic level of accommodation down stairs. The FT10 is the fastest growing class of Yacht in Sydney with the Fleet growing from 1 boat in October 2007 to 15 Boats either sailing or on the way in October 2008. There are already 3 FT10’s sailing in the Drummoyne /Balmain racing fleets and look out for another 3 over the next few months.

If you are interested in boats ranging from historic to modern , and who isn’t, why not make your way to Balmain Sailing club or White Horse Point at Elkington Park to join in the Back to Balmain festivities and enjoy what should be a great spectacle.

A short video of an FT10 surfing in the mid teens in the waters of Toronto, Canada.

From Sailing Anarchy Forum

The China Club Challenge Match (CCCM) elimination series was held during the Chinese National Day Holiday in Xiamen. Ten teams attended the event which was the first part of the process to select a challenger to meet current holders, Hansheng.

On the China Cup website they claim that their event is like the America’s Cup- wrong! Theirs is only fleet racing. The CCCM however consists of 2 fleet racing ‘Acts’ which whittled the 10 teams to 6 and then 3. The three finalists will be back in November for a round robin match racing ‘Act’ followed by the final against Hansheng.

Sailing for non-vocational sailors is relatively young in China and in big boats even younger but the racing in Flying Tiger 10’s lent by local owners (Xiamen has a fleet of 10) was fiercely competitive with the on the water umpires having some busy days with the red flag much in evidence but with a strong pre-race briefing by the PRO and umpire about avoiding contact meant there was only few minor actual contacts that were more in the touch category than actual collisions.

For those who haven’t sailed in Xiamen, and I would imagine that is most of Anarchy’s readers, the area usually delivers up champagne sailing, bright skies, good breeze with a big sea breeze effect almost guaranteed, no heavy sailing jackets and a good strong, but not crazy, tide for good measure.

During the week this tide was to catch many out resulting in frequent late tacks when approaching the weather mark and more than one or two 360’s with two teams attempting to sail off with the mark when they hooked the mooring line with their rudder. The FT10’s lifting rudder however meant they didn’t become a permanent fixing.

The teams were split into 2 flights of 5 with the top 3 from each after 7 races progressing to a second series of 6 races. This meant, including a practice race for each flight, that over the 5 days of competition that the race committee got 22 races off.

The PRO was Olympic experienced, and umpires followed the fleet through every race avoiding what could have been long evenings in the ‘room’.

On day one I raised the red flag 10 times which although out of 6 races wasn’t excessive. Day 2 briefing involved a ‘talking to’ about the rules especially around the committee boat end of the start line and the umpires had much less trade for the next couple of days of ‘Act 1’.

The first flight appeared to be more competitive with, at times, photos of the fleet approaching the finish line being mistaken for those of them approaching the start line and time differences of under 2 minutes from first to last boat not being uncommon.

So this was proved when in Act 2, the top three boats in the competition ALL came from that first flight.

The wind was very soft in the first race of the second act resulting in 3 boats scoring a fleet +1 for being outside the time limit. This left the fancied team from Shanghai Boat & Yacht Club (SBYC) with it all to do. Their neighbours, Shanghai Saimeng Water Sports Club (SSWSC) sailed consistently well, especially in a straight line and were only let down by the corners. Local team, Xiamen Wu Yuan Wan SC (XWYWSC) generally did both the straight line bit and the corners well.

They did have one aberration though. At one top mark they tacked far too close to SSWSC causing a large course alteration by the later to avoid contact. They spun into their penalty right after the mark, resulting in boats having to go this way and that to avoid them turning their 720 into a 1440 – you don’t see them very often.

Halfway through the act SBYC seemed to change gear – or tactician or something and finished the series with 2 bullets pulling them right through the fleet to finish just behind the local team.

Final scores were ;
Xiamen Wu Yuan Wan Sailing Club 8
Shanghai Boat & Yacht Club 10
Shanghai Saimeng Water Sports Club 18

That means these three teams will be back in November to do battle for the right to challenge Hansheng Yachts, the works team if you like, for the 2008 China Club Challenge Match. e premiers instead

ShanghaiSailor

'4th China Club Challenge Match - reach out and touch, close downwind action'    Alistair Skinner   

USA 62  "Jelani" and 2008 PCC Champion USA 33 "Mile High Klub" took 1st and 2nd overall on corrected time in the 93-boats 2008 San Diego to Ensenada International Yacht Race hosted by Southwestern Yacht Club. Four FT10s got the first four spots in the 33-boats PHRF-3 division that saw 8 FT10s on the starting line. Another FT10, USA 19 "Occam's Razor" was the first boat to finish in 8:33 but was OCSd and penalized one hour. Well done Tigers!  

 RESULTS FOR CLASS PHRF-3
START DATE: 10/03/2008 START TIME: 11:40:00 DISTANCE: 62.00
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLC HCAP SAIL# BOAT SKIPPER TYPE CLUB FINISH ELAPSED CORRECTED MARGIN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 42.00 62 JELANI CLIVE DAEM FT10 SGYC 03/20:21:47 8:41:47 7:58:23 LEAD
2 42.00 33 MILE HIGH CLUB P & P INFELISE FT10 ABYC 03/20:27:53 8:47:53 8:04:29 0:06:06
3 42.00 11 ANARCHY TEMPESTA/RICKARD FT10 SDYC 03/20:34:09 8:54:09 8:10:45 0:12:22
4 42.00 10 HARBOR SAILBOATS TOM HIRSH FT10 SWYC 03/20:34:31 8:54:31 8:11:07 0:12:44
5 9.00 7447 BIEN ROULEE GLENN HIGHLAND CUSTOM BYC 03/20:02:19 8:22:19 8:13:01 0:14:38
6 45.00 46830 SUPER FLY ERIC ROGERS CHE30 SDYC 03/20:39:51 8:59:51 8:13:21 0:14:58
7 84.00 631 STRAIGHT EDGE MARK MITCHELL J-105 SWYC 03/21:21:22 9:41:22 8:14:34 0:16:11
8 42.00 24 ELUSIVE JOHN PAQUIN FT10 CYC 03/20:40:14 9:00:14 8:16:50 0:18:27
9 42.00 8 ABACUS TIMOTHY CHIN FT10 SGYC 03/20:42:22 9:02:22 8:18:58 0:20:35
10 18.00 104 NEMESIS GEOFF LONGENECKER MEL30M SWYC 03/20:20:07 8:40:07 8:21:31 0:23:08
35 POINTS AWARDED FOR DNC, DND, DNS, PMS, DSQ, DNF, RET. OCS - 60 MINUTE PENALTY ADDED TO CORRECTED TIME
=========================================================================================================================
 

Start of PHRF Class 3, with 8 FT10s on the line Photo Credit: Jack Ferguson

 

Two years after the launch of the FT10 her little sister, the Flying Tiger 7.5 Meter, was launched today in China. Designed with the characteristic look of Bob Perry's Flying Tiger Family, the FT 7.5 sports an aggressive after chine at the waterline, unstayed carbon mast and boom, carbon rudder and a square top high tech main. The huge asymmetrical spinnaker has a size of about 800 square feet.

Photo Credit: Sailing Anarchy Forum

Tigers have continued their dominance of the Australian Sports Boat Racing on Sydney Harbour. After a 1st, 2nd and 4th in the CYCA Winter Series, they have picked up where they left off... AUS 66 "Balmain Tiger" was 1st across the line and 1st on handicap in the first of the SASC Sports Boat Short Series. And that was 1st across the line by 6 mins to the next boat, an M30. Congratulations to the crew of Balmain Tiger for a great race. Fleet #3, New South Wales, has already 12 Tigers in the area around Sydney, with two more boats on their way before the end of the year. 

The Sydney Amateur Sailing Club club is one of the oldest in Sydney and was called The Amateurs as at the time (turn of the 19th to 20th century) racing on Sydney harbour was professional... 18 footers paid crew (usually out of season rugby players) to race. Pretty wild events apparently, given there were basically no rules… So the Amateurs was established to provide a club for… amateurs.

Race 1   [20/09/2008]   updated on :  22/09/2008  13:10:26

USA 8 - "Abacus" won the Spinnaker Division PHRF<149 of the popular doublehanded 2008 Crew of Two Around the Coronados hosted by Point Loma Yacht Club. Here is the report from owner Tim Chin:

"After some OTW testing and careful setup, Nam & I had rigged up 008 to do double-hand races. The one key mod we did was to add an ATN spin sock to help the bow guy tame the beast. We used clip-on blocks for the sock control lines to allow the freedom of port or stbd hoists/douses.

The setup was put into use this past weekend in 8-12 kts TWS (PLYC "Crew of 2" Round the Island Doublehanded Race). Nam had more important things to do (G/F in town) so Marc stepped up to take his place. Normally, a reachy race turned into a W/L affair, thanks to winds staying from the South all day. We had a pretty comfortable 15NM beat in light chop. Must have tacked like 20 times as the wind oscillated between 180 and 220. However, we still got waterlined by the bigger boats in the class (40.7, S35) rounding North Island a distant 3rd out of 11 boats in the (faster rating) spinnaker class.

Marc had no issues hoisting the kite and popping it on strb gybe (the others in front waited until after their gybe before they popped their chute to avoid gybes). We held stbd gybe for a while to clear the lee of the island and then gybed to go after the boats ahead. That first gybe was not pretty due to a foot cleat but gave us confidence.

We worked the puffs and gradually pulled back the Schock 35 and then set them up for a pass below them. We then sailed our target speed and then hauled in the 40.7.

We must have gybed another 8 times in the 15NM downwind leg in shifty winds -- getting better every time. In fact, the gybes became better than our fully crewed ones (sorry team!) -- simply from needing to finesse the sail instead of "forcing" it.

After ~ 6 hours of uneventfulness, we got to 2 BL from the finish and I managed to broach the boat the first time all day (tight angles to avoid hitting a Gov buoy). How ironic! We rolled over the finish in a heap of flapping sails -- not pretty but still a gun. We ended up with first to finish (boat for boat), first in class (corrected time), and (unofficially) first overall (7 classes - multi hull, 2 non-spin classes, 2 spin classes plus 2 fully crewed classes)."

Tim

2008 Crew of Two Around the Coronados - Spin PHRF <= 149 Class

Start:Class D, Finishes:Finish time, Time:112000, Distance:30.5, Course:North Coronado Island to Port

Rank	Class	Boat	Mfg	SailNo	Helm	Crew	PHRF	Start	Finish	Elapsed	Corrected	Nett
1	Spin PHRF <= 149	Abacus	Flying Tiger 10M	USA 008	Tim Chin	Marc Simmel	48	112000	175020	6:30:20	6:05:56	0.75
2	Spin PHRF <= 149	First Light	Ben 40.7	56046	Gary Jorgensen	Mark Spencer	54	112000	180033	6:40:33	6:13:06	2.00
3	Spin PHRF <= 149	Vikktoreus	Beneteau 35	56370	John Dodge	Ryan Hunter	123	112000	184323	7:23:23	6:20:52	3.00

 

USA 80 - "Tigress" of  Ken Keiding and Dr. Laura Schlesinger won the PHRF sprit class and PHRF overall of the 36th Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race. One of the crewmember on "Tigress" reported that "We had a great sail... the wind kicked it up from Anacapa to Dume. We sailed flat out on a solid plane averaging 15 knots for about 45 minutes to an hour. We were passing Santa Cruz 50's boat for boat when the wind was up. We were overlapped with Santa Cruz 50's at the finish. (they started 5 minutes ahead of us)".  this is the first race entered by Tigress, after its delivery from China a few weeks ago. Well done!

Pictures: Joysailing

P1 Fleet

Sailed:9, Discards:1, To count:8, Ratings:PHRF, Entries:9, Scoring system:Appendix A

Place	Fleet	Boat	SailNo	Skipper	PHRF	R1 7/21	R3 7/21	R4 7/21	R5 7/22	R7 7/22	R8 07/24	R10 7/24	R11 7/24	Fri-1 7/25	Points
1	P1	Tigger / Dangerous When Striped	USA 22	Chris Winnard	57	2.0	4.0	(7.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	3.0	14.0
2	P1	Prowler	CAN 37	Kirk Leslie	57	1.0	1.0	(4.0)	2.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	4.0	2.0	18.0
3	P1	Tiger Lilly	29	Mark McCuddy	57	(3.0)	2.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	18.0
4	P1	Eye Eye	USA 3	David Cohen	54	4.0	3.0	2.0	5.0	5.0	4.0	4.0	(6.0)	6.0	33.0
5	P1	Dos	26000	Paul Faget	78	5.0	6.0	1.0	6.0	6.0	(9.0)	7.0	8.0	5.0	44.0
6	P1	Still Gladiator	46778	Eric Rimkus	78	6.0	5.0	5.0	4.0	4.0	7.0	(9.0)	5.0	8.0	44.0
7	P1	Uno	26001	Brad Butler	60	9.0/DNF	(10.0/DNC)	9.0	7.0	8.0	8.0	5.0	3.0	4.0	53.0
8	P1	Gardyloo	71221	Eric Nelson	49	7.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	7.0	6.0	6.0	(9.0)	7.0	57.0
9	P1	Psycho Duck	USA 040	Julie Kadar/ Peter Lagergren	78	8.0	7.0	6.0	(9.0)	9.0	5.0	8.0	7.0	9.0	59.0

Photo Credit: Sean Trew, Pacificfog Photography

Photo Credit: Sailing Anarchy FT10 Forum

Light conditions once again today for Race 13 of the CYCA Audi Winter Series, in fact so light that it was very difficult to get to the first mark, against a 3 knot tide. A couple of the early starters got around before the breeze really dropped out. The Three Tigers showed how well a Tiger goes in light breeze, could not quite match the Melges 32 but handled the M30's and everyone else without too much difficulty , Could not catch the early markers but Tigers 4th , 6th and 7th. As we go into the last race an all Tiger Podium is still possible, Tigers currently 1,2 and 3.

Standings after 12 Races:

 

 

The action on Sunday was fast and furious as the wind built into the twenty knot range with higher gusts and rough seas

It all came down to the final race for the Team on “Mile High Klub” and their 10 meter Flying Tiger sport boat. The Team from Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, started the day two points behind Eric Schlageter’s team “Ruckus” from Anacapa Yacht Club. Mile High Klub needed to win both races on Sunday to win the Pacific Coast Championship and that proved to be a monumental task.

Team Ruckus leads Mile High Club after the first mark on day three of the Championship series.

Clear skies and winds already at 14 knots greeted the racers at 11 AM when the teams headed out on the water to prepare for the first race. Seas quickly built to three feet creating challenging conditions for the Teams on these powerful race boats. At 12:15 pm the winds had increased to 16 knots and were gusting to 20 for the start of race number one. After a clean start, Schlageter’s Team Ruckus had the advantage and lead the fleet at the first weather mark with Mile High Klub close behind. The downwind leg was fast and wet with all of the boats finding themselves up on a plane with the bow out and water going everywhere. Smiles all the way around for the crews but things began to get tense as the winds continued to build and the seas grew to four feet and short period chop as they neared the first leeward gate. Team Ruckus went to the left gate marker and Mile High Klub went to the right gate marker. Team Mile High Klub took advantage of Team Ruckus allowing them to split the course and hiked out with every inch they could manage.

Team Mile High Klub (on the left) hikes with every ounce they can muster to move into first as Team Ruckus is forced to duck behind them at the second windward mark in race 1.

As the boats neared the top of the course on the second lap, Team Mile High Klub were in a position to move into the lead. Team Ruckus was forced to duck below Mile High Klub and for the first time in the race, Mile High Klub was in a position to win. They would have to hold off a hard charging fleet to take the gun at the finish. This is no easy task on these fast sport boats as an increase in wind on the opposite side of the course can cost you several positions.

The Mile High Klub team takes a moment to re-focus between races.

After rounding the weather mark for the second time and setting their spinnakers, the Flying Tiger fleet came alive as winds continued to build into the mid twenty knot range with big square chop making the trip “Down the hill” a real sleigh ride.

Mile High Klub managed to hold off Ruckus and take the win to inch one more point closer to winning the Pacific Coast Championship. Only one thing stood in their way…An entire fleet of skilled racers who also wanted to prevail on the final race of the three day event. The owner and helmsman of Mile High Klub took a deep breath and reviewed with their crew what they needed to do in the last race. For the second time in as many races they again had to beat Team Ruckus boat for boat in what amounted to a match race within a fleet race.

Ruckus, Mile High Klub and Niuhi drag race upwind

As the fleet counted down the minutes, then seconds to the horn marking the start to the final race of the championship, Team Ruckus and Team Mile High Klub began their dance fighting for position on the start line. Team Ruckus did a fantastic job of getting themselves into what might have been a controlling position at the start. A flapping leach on the mainsail and a little less hiking by the crew prevented Ruckus from pinching off Mile High Klub. It was a drag race with Mile High Klub helmsman Payson Infilese trying everything he could think of to drive over Ruckus and take their breeze. For ten minutes the boats were side by side with neither making distance on the other. Finally, Mile High Klub chose to tack away and head for the mark on port tack leaving Ruckus to sail on up the course on Starboard.

2008 Fling Tiger Pacific Coast Champions Philip and Payson Infelise from Long Beach, CA

Mile High Klub prevailed in the battle of upwind speed and after a conservative spinnaker set at the weather mark they sailed on to the finish in a tie with Team Ruckus in what can only be described as an amazing day of racing off Long Beach, California.
Everyone who was lucky enough to participate in this year’s event was treated to excellent race committee work and conditions on Saturday and Sunday that were “Classic Long Beach”. Strong winds, brisk water and sunny skies made for an epic weekend on the water. Many thanks to those competitors like Marc Pinckney who brought their boat all of the way from San Jose and John Paquin who traveled up from Coronado, CA. Philip Infelise gets the “Distance Award” though coming all of the way from Colorado to sail with his son and claim the Pacific Coast Championship trophy for 2008 which was donated by the distributor of the Flying Tiger, Hiptrader, LLC.

The 2009 event promises to be even bigger with more fleet members and boats being added all of the time. For more information on the Flying Tiger fleet go to: www.ft10class.info
 

Final results:
 

Place	#	Boat Name	Owner	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Total
1	33	Mile High Klub	Philip/Payson Infelise	7	1	2	2	1	1	1	15
2	49	Ruckus	Eric Schlageter	5	2	1	1	2	2	2	15
3	24	Elusive	John Paquin	4	3	3	3	5	5	3	26
4	10T	Harbor Sailboats Racing	Tom Hirsh	2	4	5	7	3	3	6	30
5	54	Niuhi	Paul McPherson	3	6	6	4	4	4	4	31
6	19	Occam's Razor	Neil Senturia	1	5	4	5	6	6	5	32
7	69	Malcontent	Marc Pinckney	6	7	7	8	8	7.2 avg2	7.2 avg2	50.4
8	8T	Abacus	Tim Chin	8	8	10 dnf	6	7	10 dnc	10 dsq	59
9	15	Centomiglia	Fabio Maino	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	70

Pictures:

• Mark Michaelsen

• Joysailing (nice shots from the camera of Bronny Daniels)

About the FT10- Distribution
The Flying Tiger 10 M (FT10) is a new 10 meters One Design Club Racer designed by Bob Perry, built by Bill Stevens at Hansheng Yachts in Xiamen, China and commercialized by Hiptrader LLC. You can visit www.hiptrader.com for additional information or directly contact them at: Hiptrader, LLC
826 Orange Ave., Suite 612 Coronado, CA 92118 Office (619) 778-8880 Fax (619) 435-5236
[email protected]

Media Contact:
For high resolution images during Long Beach Race Week or to be put on the media list serve and receive updates during Long Beach Race Week please email Mark Michaelsen: [email protected] . VOICE: 562 773 0552, FAX 562 431 2313

Tight starts were the rule of the day on the Flying Tiger 10 meter courseJune 28, 2008

Racers were greeted by overcast skies at 0900 hours on Saturday morning here in Long Beach, CA and from the look of it, today’s racing would be much like that on Friday which means light winds under ten knots and a mostly left side favored course. But by 11:30AM the skies were crystal clear and the wind up the coast at Pt. Fermin was already blowing from 208 degrees and 12 knots. It soon built on the Bravo course just outside Long Beach Harbor to 14 knots and gusting 16 with it looking like there was more on the way. Eric Schlageter from Anacapa Yacht Club found the windier conditions to his liking aboard the Flying Tiger 10 “Ruckus”. He took not one but two bullets today and followed that up with a second place which moved their team into first place on the second day of racing here at the Pacific Coast Championships for this exciting class.

By race two on Saturday the wind was up to 18 knots and still buildingText Box: Winds and seas built through race number 3

Team “Mile High Klub” enjoyed quite a bit of success as well and moved into second place followed closely by John Paquin on Elusive who won the event last year. Phillip and Payson Infilese aboard Mile High Klub are from Long Beach and trail Ruckus by just two points. The second and third races both proved challenging with winds building into the low twenty knot range and increasing seas. Wet and wild conditions prevailed for the rest of the afternoon creating lots of tense moments on the start line, around the marks and getting through the jibes which provided more than a few photo opportunities. By race number three, winds had built to 21 knots gusting 24 and you could feel the increased tension as the boats went through the “Starting line dance”. Now reaching back and forth became not just an opportunity to better position your self on the line at the gun but also an opportunity to play “chicken” with the opposition. Tension quickly turned to smiles as the boats lined up cleanly and it’s very hard not to have a lot of fun sailing these very quick boats whether you won the start or not.

Marc Pinkney and his team "Malcontent" before the Melges 24 "Karma" took off their instruments in a violent rig to rig collision in race three

The end of racing today found yesterday’s leader Neil Senturia now 10 points out of first place and currently sits in fourth . It really is still anyone’s regatta to win or loose with six boats still capable of winning the event Two races are scheduled for the final day. Sunday’s weather forecast has also improved and now looks very similar to today with winds from 12-22 knots and scattered high clouds possible in the afternoon.

Long Beach Yacht Club will host the party this evening for race participants and their families.

About the FT10- Distribution

The Flying Tiger 10 M (FT10) is a new 10 meters One Design Club Racer designed by Bob Perry, built by Bill Stevens at Hansheng Yachts in Xiamen, China and commercialized by Hiptrader LLC. You can visit www.hiptrader.com for additional information or directly contact them at: Hiptrader, LLC
826 Orange Ave., Suite 612 Coronado, CA 92118 Office (619) 778-8880 Fax (619) 435-5236
[email protected]

Media Contact:

For high resolution images during Long Beach Race Week or to be put on the media list serve and receive updates during Long Beach Race Week please email Mark Michaelsen: [email protected] . VOICE: 562 773 0552, FAX 562 431 2313

Flying Tiger 10 Meters tune Up For Pacific Coast Championships

Thursday afternoon brought lighter wind conditions than normal to Southern California’s premiere sailing venue off Long Beach. Six to nine knots of wind from the South and Southwest usually means slow boat speeds and an unexciting day on the water but not so for Bob Perry’s speedy 10 meter design “Flying Tiger”.

The father and son team of Phillip and Payson Infelise took me along for a late afternoon practice sail as they warmed up their top notch crew for this weekend’s Pacific Coast Championships. The Flying Tiger showed its speed in the relatively light and was able to hit its upwind target speeds of 6.3-6.5 knots even with some moderate wave action working against it going uphill. Downwind the Team on the Infelise’s “Mile High Klub” nearly matched wind speed with boat speed which was quite a surprise given what little wind there was available.

The weather looks to be slightly windier on Friday as the fleet begins racing for the coveted PCC trophy. With one of the largest fleets in this year’s Acura Ullman Long Beach Race Week the Flying Tiger class is fast becoming the dominant fleet for the performance minded sailor. Defending Champion John Paquin from San Diego should feel right at home with the conditions expected on the course in Long Beach this year. The winds should peak on Friday and then diminish as a high pressure system builds into Southern California and brings high 70’ F temperatures to the coast and low 100s in the deserts. The traditional tactics of “Going Right” on the race course may not be the right call as lighter winds mean shiftier conditions, especially on the Flying Tiger course which is just off of Sunset and Seal Beach just to the east of the Harbor.

You can view the racing from the end of the Seal Beach pier and catch lunch at Ruby’s Diner at the same time.

About the FT10- Distribution

The Flying Tiger 10 M (FT10) is a new 10 meters One Design Club Racer designed by Bob Perry, built by Bill Stevens at Hansheng Yachts in Xiamen, China and commercialized by Hiptrader LLC. You can visit www.hiptrader.com for additional information or directly contact them at:

Hiptrader, LLC
826 Orange Ave., Suite 612
Coronado, CA 92118
Office (619) 778-8880
Fax (619) 435-5236
[email protected]

Media Contact:
For high resolution images during Long Beach Race Week or to be put on the media list serve and receive updates during Long Beach Race Week please email Mark Michaelsen: [email protected] . VOICE: 562 773 0552, FAX 562 431 2313
 

Just one year after introducing the FT10 sport boat to the world of high performance sailing, the class may very well be the largest one design fleet at this week’s prestigious Acura Ullman Long Beach Race Week. FT10 racers will be vying for the coveted Pacific Coast Championship title during this three day regatta beginning Friday, June 27, 2008 in the scenic waters off of Southern California. Racers from all over the West coast are coming to try and unseat last year’s champion John Paquin from Coronado, CA.

The father and son team of Philip and Payson Infelise will race their tricked out FT10 “Mile High Klub”. Philip and his son may have the advantage over John Paquin’s team with more than two decades of local knowledge and sailing out of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club which is co-hosting the event this year along with Long Beach Yacht Club. Last year Payson and his Dad finished up a full 10 points behind Paquin but with a year of experience under their belt you can bet they’ll apply the pressure at every corner of the course.

The highly competitive fleet will also see a new high profile member join them from Santa Barbara Yacht Club. Radio celebrity talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger has purchased hull number 80 and is scheduled to compete for her first time on the new boat. Dr. Laura is no stranger to mixing it up in a tough fleet though. For the past several seasons she has been successfully racing against some good competition in other classes but has decided that it was time to step up to a Flying Tiger. Her Santa Barbara based team is highly skilled and should bring yet another boat to the fleet capable of winning it all.

The forecast looks spectacular with cooler temperatures at the beach and very warm inland which creates the solid sea breeze that Long Beach is so well known for. These winds will combine with a 3-5 foot swell from the west and a good south swell to make for what should be some epic wave surfing conditions in these speedy boats. Spectators can view the racing from the Seal Beach pier and there will be a band at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club on Friday evening for event participants and their families.

About the FT10- Distribution

The Flying Tiger 10 M (FT10) is a new 10 meters One Design Club Racer designed by Bob Perry, built by Bill Stevens at Hansheng Yachts in Xiamen, China and commercialized by Hiptrader LLC. You can visit www.hiptrader.com for additional information or directly contact them at: Hiptrader, LLC
826 Orange Ave., Suite 612
Coronado, CA 92118
Office (619) 778-8880
Fax (619) 435-5236
[email protected]

Media Contact:
For high resolution images during Long Beach Race Week or to be put on the media list serve and receive updates during Long Beach Race Week please email Mark Michaelsen: [email protected] . VOICE: 562 773 0552, FAX 562 431 2313
 

From Sailing Anarchy

Speculation is raging on the Sailing Anarchy Internet Forum. The drawings of what appears to be a 14 meters sportyacht that looks a lot like the FT10's big brother were published today in the usual who, what, where challenge.

The rocker, the stripe, the general look and feel all seem from the drawing board of Bob Perry and Ben Soquet, but no official word has come out yet from neither Hiptrader nor Perry Yachts Designers Studio. If you're looking for an ocean capable boat, fast and fun stay tuned...

PHOTO By: DA-WOODY.COM / Dennis St.Onge

With 4 victories in the last 4 races Tom Hirsh, Southern California Fleet Captain and Skipper of USA 10 "Harbor Sailboats Racing", won the 2008 Sailing World Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD Regatta. Tom is the owner of two FT10 (#9 and #10) that are part of the racing program of "Harbor Sailboats", his sailing school in san Diego. He certainly had something to teach to the rest of the fleet this time!

 

• Final Results
• SDYC Photos

Place	#	Boat Name	Owner	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Total
1	10	Harbor Sailboats Racing	Tom Hirsh	3	3	1	1	1	1	10
2	33	Mile High Klub	Phillip A. Infelise	2	1	4	8	4	3	22
3	24	Elusive	John Paquin	1	2	13 ocs	2	3	2	23
4	21	Slip Kid	John Folvig	7	8	6	4	2	5	32
5	49	Ruckus	Eric Schlageter	5	7	3	5	8	6	34
6	54	Niuhi	Paul McPherson	4	4	5	10	7	7	37
7	11	Anarchy	John Rickard	6	5	2	3	13 dnc	13 dnc	42
8	19	Occams Razor	Joe Markee	9	10	7	6	6	4	42
9	008	Abacus	Tim Chin	10	9	10	9	5	9	52
10	62	Jelani	Clive Daem	12	6	13 ocs	7	9	8	55
11	39	CharSar	Scott Fox	11	11	9	13 dns	10	10	64
12	13	iota	Don Prince	8	12	8	13 dnc	13 dnc	13 dnc	67

 

Tom Hirsh, Southern California Fleet Captain and Skipper of USA 10 "Harbor Sailboats Racing", gets two bullets on Day2 of the 2008 Sailing World Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD Regatta and moves on top of the fleet. Tom took command of both races taking advantage of the heavy air conditions on the ocean course off Point Loma.

 

Day Two:

• Results
• SDYC Photos
• Press Release (Sailing World)

Results after Day Two

Regatta results last updated: Saturday, March 15, 2008 6:37:14 PM CDT

Pos Sail   Boat   Skipper Yacht Club    1   2   3   4    Total 1   10   Harbor Sailboats Racing   Tom Hirsh   Southwestern Yacht Club     3   3   1   1     8   2   33   Mile High Klub   Phillip A. Infelise   Armitos Bay Yacht Club     2   1   4   8     15   3   11   Anarchy   John Rickard   San Diego Yacht Club     6   5   2   3     16   4   24   Elusive   John Paquin   Coronado Yacht Club     1   2   13/OCS   2     18   5   49   Ruckus   Eric Schlageter   AYC     5   7   3   5     20   6   54   Niuhi   Paul McPherson   Mission Bay Yacht Club     4   4   5   10     23   7   21   Slip Kid   John Folvig   SDYC     7   8   6   4     25   8   19   Occams Razor   Joe Markee   SDYC     9   10   7   6     32   9   62   JELANI   Clive Daem   Silver Gate Yacht Club     12   6   13/OCS   7     38T   10   008   ABACUS   Tim Chin   Silver Gate YC     10   9   10   9     38T   11   13   iota   Don Prince   CRA     8   12   8   13/DNC     41   12   39   CharSar   Scott Fox   PYC / SAYC     11   11   9   13/DNS     44

Notes
- Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2005-2008
- Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts

The FT10 fleet gets ready for a start in some large swell off Point Loma (Photo: Stuart Streuli)

One year after the first FT10 One Design  event, San Diego will see 12 Flying Tiger competing for the 2008 Sailing World Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD Regatta, March 14th-17th 2008. The FT10 will be the second largest fleet above 20 feet competing in San Diego, a clear measure of the success of this class one year and a half after the first hull was built in China. The Southern California fleet has started the process of sail registration and measurement that will be proposed to the International Class Association in the next months.

Tim Chin, skipper of USA 9 - "Abacus", posted this report on Sailing Anarchy after Day 1 of racing:

"Very lumpy seas with light wind. Made for a hellish time for those helming (and those blowing chunks...)

Race 1 -- Good race by CYC's #24 "Elusive" the 2007 SoCal champs (good to see them back in form) helmed by Rick Harris with Willem VanWaay as their "3". Second place went to #33 Mile High Club" from the Rockies, co-helm by Nate Campbell & Ullman's Eric Shampain (their "3"). They were followed by Mr. Consistency (& the fleet captain himself) -- #10 "Harbor Sailboats" rounding out the top 3.

Race 2 -- same top 3 finishers with #33 pulling out a huge lead (they were in a different zip code) to take the win and #24 making a real good comeback to clinch 2nd.

Race one was pretty tight across the fleet with some close finishes. Race two seemed to be all #33's and we saw two tight packs from 2nd to 5th and then 6th to 10th all crossing the finish nose to tail.

Racing was high quality -- some minor rubbing, no visits to the room. Plenty of projectile vomiting on the course."

Day One:

• Results
• Photos (Stuart Streuli - Sailing World) - more photos
• SDYC Photos
• Press Release (Sailing World)

Results after Day One

Pos Sail   Boat   Skipper Yacht Club  1   2  Total 1   33   Mile High Klub   Phillip A. Infelise   Armitos Bay Yacht Club   2   1   3T   2   24   Elusive   John Paquin   Coronado Yacht Club   1   2   3T   3   10   Harbor Sailboats Racing   Tom Hirsh   Southwestern Yacht Club   3   3   6   4   54   Niuhi   Paul McPherson   Mission Bay Yacht Club   4   4   8   5   11   Anarchy   John Rickard   San Diego Yacht Club   6   5   11   6   49   Ruckus   Eric Schlageter   AYC   5   7   12   7   21   Slip Kid   John Folvig   SDYC   7   8   15   8   62   JELANI   Clive Daem   Silver Gate Yacht Club   12   6   18   9   008   ABACUS   Tim Chin   Silver Gate YC   10   9   19T   10   19   Occams Razor   Joe Markee   SDYC   9   10   19T   11   13   iota   Don Prince   CRA   8   12   20   12   39   CharSar   Scott Fox   PYC / SAYC   11   11   22

 

Notes
- Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2005-2008
- Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts
 

The Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background of AUS 66 Balmain Tiger.  (from Sailing Anarchy Forums)

Slick boathandling and great starts helped Red Stripe win the first-ever East coast Flying Tiger event.  (Credit: Meredith Block/BlockSail.com)

Action on Day 2 (Credit: Stuart Streuli)

Close crosses and tight racing has made the first two days of the Flying Tiger's East coast debut exciting for all racers in the growing class.  (Credit: Meredith Block/BlockSail.com)

Light air and heavy competition at the Flying Tiger starting line. (Credit: Meredith Block/BlockSail.com)

Charlie Reynolds keeps his Connecticut-based FT10 "Red Stripe" moving in the tiniest breeze. (Credit: Meredith Block/http://BlockSail.com)