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2010

WFORC 2010

October 18th, 2010 - Pensacola, Florida.

Y'all just flat out missed a great one!

It was chamber of commerce weather in Pensacola all weekend.

Practice on Thursday was 14-20 knots. Fizzing was to be had!

Friday the racing started. We had a very competitive fleet of 5 boats. Maiden China (who wins the best logo award... hands down), QMN, Toy Tiger, 007, and Liberty all attended.

Two races were held on Friday in 7-15 knots.

Three races were held on Saturday on 5-12 knots (the first was one when the breeze died and tried all of our patience!)

Sunday, one race finished out the series in 8-10 knots of breeze.

Bushwackers were enjoyed by all.

Liberty just squeaked by Maiden China by winning the tie breaker.

Results were...



Sail Boat SkipperYacht Club 1 2 3 4 5 6 TotalPos
USA 32 Liberty Douglas Kessler LLSC 1 2 1 3 1 [4] 8T 1
USA 52 Maiden China Tom/Dave Tatum/Irwin Rush Creek YC [2] 1 2 2 2 1 8T 2
USA 80 007 George Petrovich N/A 3 [4] 4 1 4 2 14 3
USA 58 Toy Tiger AL Wolczyk Cruising Club of Louisville 4 3 [5] 4 5 3 19 4
USA 35 QMN Ivars Blumenau AISC 5 [6/DNF] 3 5 3 5 21 5


Just a few personal notes...

At any given point, any boat on the course was very fast. The starts were pretty competitive with all boats pushing the line. I ended up fouling George on the last start (SORRY AGAIN!!! ) and the penalty turns took me out of the hunt for that race. I don't think that any one race had anyone lead from the start to the finish. There were a fair amount of lead changes.

There was a fair amount of conversation on the docks about "how do you do this" and what setting do you use here"... I know that we learned more at this regatta about the boat than we had for the whole Wed Night series on our local pond. I am still impressed with the openess of the fleet with information. I think that it is helping everyone climb the learning curve.

Really looking forward to seeing everyone again in November. I think that we have one or two more boats committed to coming down for that one. We working on the big build up for the NA's in March.

Douglas Kessler - USA 32 "Liberty"

 

Pictures Courtesy of PYC


6th China Club Challenge Match

October 9th, 2010 - Xiamen, P.R. China.

The Tigers proved excellent and plenty up to the task once again in Xiamen, P.R. China that has one of largest fleets with 13-14 boats in Wu Yuan Bay.

Here is a report of the 6th China Club Challenge Match.

Drama at the Death

The 6th China Club Challenge Match was to end in the most dramatic way imaginable with an unwound penalty on one boat followed by a penalty on their opponent. It may have been opportunistic but it certainly gave the event one final twist of excitement to finish off with.

22 Competing Teams, 7 days of racing, around a dozen protests submitted and 6 heard, close to 30 races completed and 3 seminars run. I may be biased but the Committee Boat team and the Umpires of the China Club Challenge Match should be as proud of their achievements as the eventual winner of the event.

The standards rise each running of the CCCM partly due to improving standards of dsailors in any event but also becasu the event includes 3 evening of feedback and traqining seminars this year run very ably by Peter Backe (SWE) and Tim Somerville (AUS) two of the umpires. Talented match racers in their own right, Peter has done a Monsoon Cup while Peter is the reigning Hong Kong Match Race Champion.

Competition was fierce at times and extremely vocal and the early briefing sessions went to pains to encourage teams to sail their own boats fast rather than try and vocalize at high volume to other teams they felt were in the wrong.

Happily for all the shouting during the fleet racing visits to the protest committee were remarkably few.

The weather was also cooperative with one morning being lost to a glass-out and part of another afternoon to a thunderstorm and downpour that seemed to settle for a time over the course and flashed and banged right over Wu Yuan Bay reducing visibility to mere meters.

The fleet racing was in two flights and ended with the following results:
Flight A Flight B

Xiamen I Can Fly 14 Xiamen Fei Peng 12
Shenzhen APAT 14 Dalian Ming Island 19
Mountain Water & White Wave 15 Blue Sea 20
Santi 24 Shanghai Boat & Boat Club 20

These 8 teams progressed to the match racing element of the event.

Umpires were to be kept busy with perhaps the most unusual task being that of a fender when Xiamen Fei Peng hooked the anchor line of the committee boat and, as has happened before, Umpire Al had to stick his RIB in between a Flying Tiger and the big wooden committee boat to avoid damage to the former – useful things RIBs.

This wasn’t the only example of anchor line hooking as Qingdao Santi also performed the same trick – coincidentally in the same match leaving Fei Peng to sail the course unopposed. Santi have a propensity for anchor lines as they hooked it twice this year to add to their double hooking in the 5th CCCM.

This, the repechage semi final was certainly the most closely fought match of the event so far and the best of 5 match went down to 5th race and had just about everything.

In this first it appeared as if the blue boat may win and then the yellow might win with the final result being decided by less than a boat length as both boats crossed the finish line carrying spinnakers and still overlapped.

However this was not to prove the closest finish of the day with two local universities, one from each side of the Taiwan Straits took part in a Friendship Regatta in conjunction with the main event.

Friendship was certainly a good title for their add on event as, when Taiwan became the latest victim of the anchor line, the Xiamen boat could have sailed off into the distance but instead slowed right down and actually sailed back to the start line.

The umpires and race committee in tandem decided to abandon that race and give the students another crack at it. This time all went well and the boats went round the course as if attached to each other by bungee cord. The finish was one to rival Team New Zealand and Alinghi in the final race of the 32nd America’s Cup with perhaps 2-3 seconds separating the crews as they crossed the line.

The 5th day finished with the two finalists decided and two very tired teams happy with their efforts so far – and I am talking about the Umpires and Race Officers.

By this stage of the regatta they had officiated over almost 30 races, 6 protests and had raised blue, yellow and mainly green flags on uncountable occasions.

The following day the Challenger final did not disappoint with the final score line of 3-0 to Xiamen Fei Peng not being a true reflection of the distance between the teams. Santi, their opponents were far from outclassed and they sailed to a much greater challenge to the winners than the score line suggests.

The pre-starts were sometimes aggressive and also involved some running away with small errors exaggerated into a one point loss but that is the sport of match racing.

With 2 easy wins to Xiamen Fei Peng over Shenzhen Sea Wolves in the first 2 races of the final by Fei Peng over Sea Wolves from Shenzhen and looked like it might just a bit anti-climactic compared to what had just gone before with easy wins for Fei Peng but whether sea Wolves just had a good night’s sleep, watched a couple of hours of America’s Cup pre-starts or simply gave themselves a good talking to it was an entirely different story on day two of the final.

In Race 3 and race 4 Sea Wolves gave as good as they got and became the first team to match Fei Peng for upwind speed and shared the points with them bringing the score to 3-1.

With an early penalty against Xiamen in Race 5 and with the boats never more than 2-3 boat lengths apart in terms of distance to finish it looked like Sea Wolves were about to bring the score back to 3-2. However, on port with the spinnaker up they allowed themselves to get too close to Fei Peng as the latter spun through the tack onto starboard to unwind their penalty.

The Xiamen team then dived towards Sea Wolves who were still on port and threw up the penalty flag.

All this occurred a few boat lengths from the finish line and the boats were across in 10-15 seconds.

The umpires were well positioned with Tim and Peter slightly upwind and to the right with Al and Li Li on the wing the other side of Sea Wolves and as this was the final and this incident could decide the championship an umpire conference was called.

It took some time and the decision hung on whether Xiamen Fei Peng had come below 90 degrees to the wind before hailing Sea Wolves and the umpires knew they had to be sure, It was the decision of all the umpires, shortly afterwards confirmed by video replay, that Fei Peng had correctly cleared their penalty and Sea Wolves had incurred a penalty.

The race, and therefore the Championship, was awarded to Xiamen Fei Peng. Incidentally it was the first time in its 6 year history that the victorious team had ladies on board.

It is quite incredible how far this event has come in the 4 short years I have been involved in it, either covering the event or involved as an official.

In your writer’s humble opinion this is the number one event in China when it comes to helping to develop the true sport of sailing n China, the sport that is played at all levels by none professionals who do it for the sport, the spirit and the fun that is sailing and the true success of the China Club Challenge Match is many facetted.

It is the level of professionalism of the race management team both on the committee boat, the mark boats and the on the water umpiring team. It is the feedback the sailors receive in ad hoc explanations and in 3 evening seminars run by the umpires to polish and hone their skills and understanding. It is the social events that are totally inclusive and cover all levels of formality. It is the fact that the sailors know that the event is strictly policed to ensure fair pay and fair sailing across every stage.

It is THE event Chinese Corinthian sailors want to be at each year and if it used, not so much as a format but, as a model for future and for more events in China the sport in this rapidly growing country could just have some very bright prospects indeed.

It should be noted that several local companies supported the event with, in particular, Hangsheng Yachts, builders of the event boats, the Flying Tiger 10, loaning 4 brand new boats to bolster the fleet and supplying two new spinnakers for use in the final

Alistair Skinner


 

 

 

 


ISAF Regatta 2010

September 26th, 2010 - San Diego, California.

(from Sailing Anarchy)

Meredith Block's amazing pictures from the 2nd annual International Sportboat Anarchy Festival hosted by the Coronado Yacht Club in San Diego, Septeber 23-26th. The fastest of the 9 FT10s were USA 33 - "Mile High Klub" of Philip and Payson Infelise and USA 11 - "Anarchy" of Tempesta/Rickard that took the 3rd place in Sportboat A.

 

 

Photo Credit: Meredith Block


Summer Down Under

September 20th, 2010 - Sydney, Australia.

(from Sailing Anarchy)

The Sydney 2010 - 2011 racing season started last weekend with our first PHS Super 30 race. 18 starters , 4 Tigers and Tigers 2nd , 3rd and 4th, but unable to keep up with a very well sailed Hick 30 with green Kite...maybe our fordeckie could have paid more attention... still its another world up there.

 

Sep 26 we have a Training Day with the Norths Sails folk, to help upgrade the skills of the Sydney Tiger Fleet.

10-11. Meet at RANSA dock for a short talk on Rig tune and sail set up on
the boats, Cocko will also give a little talk on starting

12-14:30 Short casual racing 3-4 races ,20 min races which we will run
from a rib.

Plan to do 2 practice starts and on the 3rd start do a race.

Hopefully get some video footage of set up and sails which we can show at
the club afterwards. I will try and get on a different boat for each race.

15:30-16:30 Debrief and drinks at RANSA.

FT10  Owners gather in Sydney Australia during the North Sails FT10 Coaching Session.


Que Viva isaf!

September 23rd, 2010 - San Diego, California.

The 2nd annual International Sportboat Anarchy Festival is approaching fast. Next week in San Diego 9 FT10s and 3 FT7.5 are expect for the sportfight of the year... There's still time to join.

 


2011 FT10 North Americans Update III

September 1st, 2010 - Pensacola, Florida.

 From member Douglas Kessler:

Just an update on how things are coming along for the SE Series including the East Coast Championships and the North Americans in Pensacola this winter and spring.

I spent some time on the phone yesterday with the Pensacola Yacht Club powers to be and they, as always, are very excited about having us back down again. The oil is staying out out the bay and they do have booms that should protect the area that we would be racing in. The general feeling down there is by late summer... this will be an issue in the past.

Here is the updated PROPOSED schedule

Oct 15-17 Pensacola WFORC

Nov 13-14 Pensacola Jubilee Regatta

Jan 22-23 Pensacola Superbowl Regatta

Feb 04-06 Pensacola East Coast Championships

Mar 04-06 Pensacola North American Championships

Mar 26-27 (?) Lake Lanier (Atlanta) Dogwood Regatta

Apr 14-17 Charleston SC Charleston Race Week

In the past two weeks I have talked with several guys from the west coast. We've got one that is talking about getting his boat to Pensacola for the winter. One more that is kicking the same around. Two more that have expressed an interest in that if boats are for charter... then they would like to come. We are pretty confident that we'll have 10 there for the whole series. We are expecting more to arrive for the East Coast and North American Championships.

20 boats on the line? Maybe! :-)

I have also been in talks with the best PRO that I have ever sailed with, Hal Smith. He is very interested in running our courses for us for the NA's.

It is coming together nicely folks!

_____________________________________

The NOR and Registration for the first of the SE series events in Pensacola has just been posted. It is the WFORC 14-17 Oct. Racing does start on Friday 15 October.

As usual, the Pensacola Yacht Club puts on one heck of a show for this event. If you attend this event, I'll let you in on the secret on how to get a FREE Bushwacker (and if you perfect the system... it can turn into many free ones)... but you MUST attend this event to get the inside scoop! :-)

Please visit the PYC website

Register early and often boys and girls!

See ya on the line!

36th ANNUAL
WEST FLORIDA
OCEAN
RACING
CIRCUIT

October 15, 16 & 17


2011 FT10 North Americans Update II

July 15th, 2010 - Pensacola, Florida.

 

Just a few updates for all of you...

Pensacola Yacht Club is VERY EXCITED about hosting this event. As usual, they have promised to pull out the red carpet for us. I have been working with them and will have an update on alternate launching and storage locations in about a month.

I am VERY PLEASED to announce that Hal Smith, US Sailing National Race Officer, has agreed to be our PRO for the event. I have been too many regattas when Hal has been the PRO. Hands down he, and his team, are THE BEST! Hal is a racer at heart (actually National Champion) and gets the big picture. We seem to go to too many regattas that the PRO thinks that the racers are there for his/her PRO team. Not Hal. He understands the ins and outs of being a racer and makes sound decisions about the course as if he was actually racing the event. Guys, this is a big score to get him to come! It just made the event that much better!

There also seems to be a growing interest in West Coast boats coming down for the event. From conversations that I have had, there are at least 4 that are kicking the tires. This is really great news! Still hoping to pull more West Coasters to get us to 20 boats on the line. Think about how awesome that would be!!!

It may not be my place... but I have asked one owner in the NW to consider bidding for the 2012 NA's at WIRW. I'd really like to have everyone's input on this. I am sure that the owner there would love to have the input as well!

That is about all for now. I'll try to get updates to you all as the info starts to come in.

Doug
 


2011 FT10 North Americans Update I

July 4th, 2010 - Pensacola, Florida.

Member Douglas Kessler is just back from Pensacola with this updates:


I just got back from Pensacola this past weekend. I know that there has been some concern about the oil and wanted to give you all an update.

They had a bad spill hit the beach about 10 days ago. There was almost NO evidence that there had ever been a spill. If you looked really hard... you could maybe find a tar-ball here and there. The beach was open... as was the ocean for swimming.

The bay (where we'll race) was totally clean.

The have booms everywhere staged for a worst case scenario. These guys have done a great job and are very prepared.

Pensacola is SAIL READY! Posted Image

Hope to see you all there!

Doug

 


Tigers in New Zealand

June 22nd, 2010 - Auckland, New Zealand.

Westhaven Marine Brokers Ltd around well known Tony Smith and Graham Murray have secured the dealership for the Flying Tiger boats and the first of the boats has now arrived in New Zealand waters and is currently assembled at Pier21. Note! Currently the boat can be seen at Pier 21, Viaduct and people are welcome to come and have a look while the boat is been assembled and still out of the water.

Westhaven Marine Brokers are to establish the class here in New Zealand with that race medium sized keelboat and rigid class rules. The one design club racer is built at Hansheng Yachts in Xiamen China and a brand new boat can be on the water and sailing for approx. NZ$150,000. The FT10 is an international class with 100 plus boats built worldwide so far. Its design principles are those of a state of the art, easily transported, low cost, high performance sports yacht. The Flying Tiger 7.5m, 10m and 14m will be distributed exclusively in NZ by Westhaven Marine Brokers.

Measurements on the Tiger 10 are DWL 9.24m Beam 2.78m Draft 2.32 Mast(P) 12.24m Displacement 1985kg. Vacuum bagged sandwich core with carbon spars. Kevlar main and jib with nylon asymmetrical spinnaker.

Chec out www.flyingtiger.co.nz and join the 'Flying Tiger Boats' on facebook

Here are the pictures of the first FT10 landed in New Zealand


A Weekend of Firsts

May 28th, 2010 - Stamford, Connecticut.

FT10M on Block Island Race
from Sailing Anarchy

Well after a few years of planning and thinking about it we finally got the Tiger out for a near shore distance race - the Storm Trysail Club's Annual Block Island Race held over Memorial Day weekend.

This project started before I bought the boat, way back in the fall of 2007 I asked Bob Pattison - can the boat do this race? I asked other owners, QMN said oh sure, no problem, we just rocked out in the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race... 20 kts boat speed... So I bought the boat because it was fast, relatively simple, and could make the wine and cheese runs right after a beer can Wednesday night race, do the odd family overnight, and then (hopefully) do a near shore distance race.

So now with two seasons behind us we've finally got the boat sorted out (really more me and budget related than anything to do with the boat) and were ready to do something like a 185 mile race. We upgraded halyards and lifeline stanchions (and bases). I added an A3 for reaching, a 85% jib for bigger air, a 2nd reef in the bulletproof OEM main. I put a masthead VHF on - grumbling all the way about weight aloft. I rented a life raft and borrowed a MOM8. I talked to M32 guys (thanks for the advice) and was convinced that Heatermeals/MREs were the way to go instead of a camp stove and open flames - we had 3 rounds of hot meals plus hot coffee for the entire race. Finally, I got an IRC certificate because we're over the speed limit to race PHRF.

Predictably we were a bit out gunned in our fleet - IRC seems to do that to toy boats like the FT10. Our rating was 1.123 racing against well sailed beautiful boats like a King 40 rating just 1.129 (yeah sure, they're only 0.5% faster than us...). Never mind the ratings debate - I didn't buy the boat to win pickle dishes under IRC.

Once the race got underway we had a great 37 hours of racing and a good list of firsts for us:
- 1st race where we parked three times for a total just shy of three hours
- 1st time I fell asleep at the helm after 2 or 3 RedBulls - the guys tell me I was mumbling about Smurfs or something - I thought I was at work
- 1st time we took 37 minutes to go the last mile of a race
- 1st time that Survivor's Eye of the Tiger was played on VHF 5 at 4:15AM approaching the Cows

We had a blast and I think all 5 of us are ready to go do it again.
 

Tom Reynolds, "Red Stripe"


For anyone who did the race check out our track through the Gut and our final run from the Cows to the finish - feel our pain - see the time bubbles in there.

 

Block Island Race 2010 from Tom Reynolds on Vimeo.


My-Tai Wins Division 7 at Swiftsure 2010

May 19th, 2010 - Fort Meyers, Florida.

Daryl Homan's CAN 31 "MY-Tai" finishes First in PHRF Division 7 of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race 2010 hosted by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Congratulation to Daryl, and if you are in the market for a proven winner check out our classified section!

 


USA 20: Horizon job in Ft. Meyers

May 19th, 2010 - Fort Meyers, Florida.

FT 10 #20 "Tiger" wins the long distance race from Tampa to Fort Meyers in record time ( first to finish and first corrected ) , the next closest boat was off the horizon. The event hosted by Davis Island Yacht Club had a race distance of 106 miles. The start was off the pier at the St Pete YC and finished off Sanibel Island. Some of the other entries were J-92, J-80, J-42, CC-35, Olson 29. DIYC hopes to make this an annual event. Congrats to Alan Jeppson.

Alan said it was a great morning at the finish line. He looked around to find other competitors and couldn't see any. Then he asked for the binoculars and still could not find any competitors.
 


 


USA 10 wins San Diego Yachting Cup

April 30th, 2010 - San Diego, California.

Congratulations to Tom Hirsh on USA 10 for a well deserved win at 2010 SDYC Yachting Cup! Tom with his three sons crewing finished either first or second every race. Payson Infelise on Mile High Klub in second overall gave a great chase trading firsts and seconds with Tom on all but the first race. Kudos to Tim Chin on USA 008 "Abacus" who brought his two very young kids out. It was great to see the next generation aboard!
 
Place
#
Boat Name Owner
Race 1
Race 2
Race 3
Race 4
Race 5
Total
1
10 USA 10 Tom Hirsh
1
2
1
1
2
7
2
33 Mile High Klub Payson Infelise
5
1
2
2
1
11
3
11 Anarchy Rickard / Tempesta
2
4
4
3
3
16
4
62 Jelani Clive Daem
3
3
3
5
7
21
5
54 Niuhi Paul & Julie McPherson
4
6
5
7
4
26
6
72 NastyR Wilson
7
5
6
4
6
28
7
19 Occam's Razor Neil Senturia
6
7
7
6
5
31
8
8 Abacus Tim Chin
8
8
8
8
8
40

 

 

Anarchy First Overall at the Border Run

April 25th, 2010 - San Diego, California.

USA 11 "Anarchy" of the duo Tempesta/Rickard is the overall PHRF winner of the 2010 Border Run.
 
 
 

Builder's Report

April 15th, 2010 - Xiamen, P.R. China.

I have recently returned from a working visit to the yard in Xiamen. They are quite busy there while preparing to ship (15) FT 7.5 models to various Chinese Naval Academies. It was a good opportunity for me to inspect the boats and they all look great. We anticipate further sales to the Academies as their sailing programs grow.

FT 10m
Bob and Ivan have designed a new rudder for the boat and the yard has the drawings in hand. The new blade and tiller will be built of carbon and will not feature a cassette. It is designed to fit the existing gudgeons and after testing will become standard equipment on all new boats delivered. The rudder will also be offered to existing owners at a reduced price. I don't have the final dollar amount yet but it should prove to be cost contained. We plan to sail the prototype in the historically breezy Long Beach Race Week June 25-27.

FT 7.5m
As mentioned above, the yard is close to delivery of (15) FT 7.5s. We went through them piece by piece and are quite happy with the job the builder has done. The original FT 7.5 that was in San Diego and then the East coast is now headed back to SD. After some minor detailing it will be offered for sale well under replacement cost. Two more FT 7.5s will land in San Diego in May to bring the San Diego total to 5 boats.

Demo Race Sails on the FT 7.5m
We are offering demo sails in San Diego on (2) FT 7.5 every Tuesday evening beginning April 19. We have a race committee provided by Harbor Sailboats and will match race the boats with owner prospects driving. Bring your crew of 3 total and we will provide a representative aboard with you for an evening of real world testing. If you fly in, I will put you up for the night on a charter boat and if you buy a 7.5, I will refund your airfare. (some restrictions apply) Email me for reservations as openings are limited. You don't have to be an owner prospect to participate but you do have to be a promoter or at minimum, a guest celebrity.

FT 13.8m
We gave plans to the builder and are awaiting some specifics back on tooling and construction costs. This project was not as far along as some had thought before Flying Tiger Boats took over from HT. I have at least 4 followers who continue to express strong interest in the boat and we are exploring several possibilities before determining how and when to proceed. I personally like this boat a lot and would like to see it built, but it will have to be financially viable for everyone involved. When we receive a firm quote and timeline from the builder we will proceed to the next step.

New Zealand Dealership
We are very close to announcing a dealership agreement with an experienced group in New Zealand. The First FT 10m to hit their shores will arrive in about 2 months. We have had several conversations with European interests in a similar fashion but have yet to find the right fit. If there is an experienced EU group out there that has some interest I would be happy discuss the opportunity.

Marketing
The FT 10 was born and sold on the internet with Sailing Anarchy members playing a very important role. While much of the low lying fruit has been picked, we believe the future of the fleet lies with producing a great product, customer support, and effective marketing. My first four months have been spent dealing primarily with administrative issues and climbing the learning curve on building issues. Now the time has come to devote more energy and resources to marketing.


Thanks for listening,



Tom Hirsh - Flying Tiger Boats
[email protected]

FlyingTigerBoats is on:


Towing a Tiger 

April 8th, 2010 - San Diego, California to Anacortes, Washington

Chris Winnard, skipper of "Tigger - Dangerous When Striped" proves to be fast not only on the racecourse, but also on the freeway with his tiger in tow. Here are a few suggestions after his many trips up and down the US West Coast between Seattle and San Diego. 

"My Screw 4X4 F150 - bought new in Jan '06 - just clicked over 100K pulling the FT back to Seattle from San Diego. Went over the Grapevine better than expected (kept it at 40) and No Cal and Oregon weren't a problem as long as you know that you don't have the power of a 350. You have to run without overdrive and if it's cool out turn the AC off and gain 1 mpg (from my experience). Average MPG for the trip down 12.5 and 11.5 coming back.
The truck has the full towing package and without question, the Ride Rite Air Spring Bags are the ticket for keeping the back end stable and the truck level once you add 600# of tongue weight. I set them at 40# with the air lines led back under the bumper for easy access. Also, after a long haul (SD-SEA and back etc.) I get the truck serviced and flush the tranny. No OD and clean fluid is the key!

A diesel F350, Excursion or Duramax would be nice but not needed for the FT if you have a 1/2 ton with longer wheelbase set up properly.

Photo at Kingston Ferry line showing truck and trailer nicely level. The Melges 32 mast support with additional trailer tie downs works great. Make sure the bow is in the roller and dogged down tight. We use rubber mats all the way around the keel to prevent any road chafe."

Chris Winnard - USA 22 "Tigger: Dangerous When  Striped"

 


Dangerous When Striped Takes San Diego NOODs 

March 23rd, 2010 - San Diego, California

Chris Winnard, skipper of USA 22 "Tigger - Dangerous When Striped" was the Winning Tiger at the 2010 San Diego Sperry Top-Sider NOODs.

Here is an interview with Tom Hirsh, the owner of FlyingTigerBoats, publised by Sailing Worlds that sums the great weekend up.

Flying Tigers Taking Off in SoCal


When Tom Hirsh took the reigns from previous Flying Tiger builder Bill Stevens in December, he knew how important it was to keep the class's independent spirit alive. "Sailors are an independent lot to begin with," he says. "But we know it has to be about more than just straight racing. Not everyone can be on the podium, so here in Fleet 1 we've made a big effort to increase the socialization, make it a more friendly class where people help each other out. That's had a real positive effect on the class."

At the San Diego NOOD, the 13-boat Flying Tiger 10-Meter division made its home base at Coronado YC, where boats rafted up alongside one another. On Saturday night, the group hosted a BBQ boat-hop. "That was probably the highlight of the weekend for me," says Hirsh. "The owners all mostly know each other, but the crews don't, necessarily. Seeing them mingle was really cool. We've had several socials, but nothing quite as large as this. We probably had 80 people there—sailors, wives, girlfriends. Everybody was moving around from boat to boat, and the party went late into the night."

Southern California's Fleet 1 is the Flying Tiger 10-Meter's largest. There's a strong contingent on the East Coast and in Australia, too. "The fleet that's really growing is in Atlanta," says Hirsh. "A year ago, it only had one boat. Now there are four."

While Hirsh doesn't have an extensive boatbuilding background, his experience maintaining the fleet of charter boats at his Harbor Island Sailboats—a sailing club and instructional facility on San Diego Bay—gives him a solid understanding of what makes a sturdy boat. With the help of designer Bob Perry, he's making a few tweaks to the 10-meter. "I'm not a boatbuilder by trade, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night," jokes Hirsh. "A lot of guys in the class made it clear that they desire a change from the casette-hung rudder, so we'll be unveiling a new rudder prototype in May. It's important to us to keep the class growing as a one-design, so we're doing our best to communicate with the class about any changes."

Hirsh raced in the NOOD with his sons Kyle (23), Kevin (21), and Keenan (19); Chris Winnard's Dangerous When Striped won the division with five first-place finishes. "We had three days of good, steady racing," says Hirsh. "In this class, five or six of the boats have a good chance of winning any race. Going into the first weather mark, there's a stack-up seven boats deep. It's a fence line—you just can't get through.

"It's a relatively new class," continues Hirsh, "but it's made up of very experienced sailors. The 10-Meter is by no means an entry-level sportboat."

The 10-Meter may be a bit frisky for beginners, but the new Flying Tiger 7.5 Meter could prove an excellent training platform. "It's a sweet, user-friendly boat," says Hirsch. "You can sail it with two-people, but you usually race with four. It doesn't have the waterline of a 10-meter, but it's still got some performance characteristics. There's an 800-square-foot gennaker, so it's got some power off the wind. There's a huge cockpit, a fathead main, no backstay, a bulb keel with plenty of ballast, and a bit of a chine in the aft section. We've taken delivery of two of them here in San Diego, and the plan is to get the fleet off the ground through the charter program at Harbor Island."

Given the Flying Tiger 10-Meter's success in Southen California, it can't be long before we see a 7.5-Meter division at the San Diego NOOD. They'll certainly get a warm welcome from the Flying Tiger family.

—Michael Lovett

Photo: Copyright © 2010 Jack Kelley. All rights reserved. No reproduction of any kind without written permission.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 


Jim Betts Rudder Starting Production 

February 28th, 2010 - Anacortes, Washington

Kellen Betts, of JBEinc, sends the latest update on the Carbon Rudder and Tiller that may be used to replace the OEM rudder/cassette system (the rudder is not class legal, yet, but the Class Executive Committee is working on a proposal to amend the class rules that should be up for vote by the class members.

Our "Standard Package" rudder will fit the stock 12mm pin. We are providing a 1/2" 316L stainless pin as an additional option, in which case the bracket would need to be machined out.

Additional testing of the rudder will be done this month at the NOOD regatta, however, we are ready to start taking orders and are currently building rudder #3. Attached is an order form that can be used to hold a production position. We set up a page on our website for the rudder with additional information and pictures. The website also will be capable of taking orders online soon.

http://www.jbeinc.com/projects/ft10_rudder.html

 


 

2nd Australian FT10 Nationals 

March 2nd, 2010 - Sydney, Australia

The second Australian FT10 National Titles will be held in Sydney this coming weekend 6-7 March as part of the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta. We currently have 11 Tigers entered which is probably one of the largest FT10 fleets to get together anywhere in the World. What next , maybe the World Titles. The Audi Regatta will be conducted in "The Sound" which is the area between North Head , South Head and Middle Head just inside Sydney Harbour for anyone who wants to check this out on Google Earth.

Just to get your appetite wetted, here are some shots from last weeks NSW State Titles held in the inner harbour.

 

 


Hello Tiger is 2010 New South Wales Champ

February 22nd, 2010 - Sydney, Australia

8 Tigers lined up for the 2nd NSW State Titles at the Royal Australian Navy Sailing Association ( RANSA ) on the weekend of Feb 20/21 . Australian FT10 Class Association Chairman sent the following message to Participants and other interested parties today...

"Hi Guys

Thanks very much for a great weekend of One Desing Racing... that's what our Tigers were built for !!

The racing was close and furious all weekend, with a mix of equipment failures , navigation errors , poor Gybes , a couple of broaches ,very fancy wine glasses and an incorrect approach to that wonderful start line in Race 4 keeping the final results very close. In fact we had a count back for 1st place and another for 3rd place. I know that everyone had a story to tell and I have heard most of them. The real story was that 8 Tigers were out there in quite fresh conditions particularly on Saturday with all the crews doing themselves justice and making a real Tiger Spectacle for the large number of boats on the harbour and ferry passengers etc. That's the kind of exposure that will build our Fleet. As Bruce Tav saild, the Farr40 guys must have been looking at us and saying "That looks like a lot of relatively inexpensive fun".

I have attached a copy of the Results for both Ourtright and Handicap.

For those who just want the highlights here are the winners...

Outright...

1st - 12pts Hello Tiger
2nd - 12pts Ophir
3rd - 14pts 5 String Circus

Handicap

1st - Sabre
2nd - Flying Brandy
3rd - Balmain Tiger

This was a great shake down of crews and boats and I am sure that everyone is looking forward to a great National Titles at the Audi Regatta. At the moment we have 11 entries which is fantastic news. We are all just hoping that Shere Khan and Sophia will be released from boat hospital in time for the fun.

Special Thanks to RANSA for hosting the NSW FT10 State Titles once again. The Race Management and support was first class and a credit to the Club and its hard working officials.

And here are the elapsed times.... Thanks to all! Great couple of days."

 

 


Great Fun for SCYA Midwinters 

February 22nd, 2010 - San Diego, California

A ten boat Fleet was out this past weekend to celebrate the end of the winter at the SCYA midwinters in San Diego. After 5 races USA 11 "Anarchy" of the duo Tempesta/Ricard won by 1 point over USA 22 "Dangerous When Striped" of Chris Winnard that travelled all the way from Seattle. More fun ahead on March 19-21 with the 13 boats FT10 fleet at the San Diego NOODs.

 


East Coast Champion is "Maiden China" 

February 8th, 2010 - Pensacola, Florida

Dave Irwin, the skipper of  "Maiden China", is the 2010 FT10 East Coast Champion. Liberty won 3 out of the 7 races of the FT10 East Coast Championship hosted by Pensacola Yacht Club on February 5-7, 2010. 5 boats on the starting line for three days of racing in winds between 18-22 knots in the first two days, and a lighter third day.

Check out the cool Kattack replays of saturday races, the pictures and the video.

 

 


Hot Carbon! 

January 28th, 2010 - Anacortes, Washington

Jim Betts' rudder prototype for the FT10 is fresh out of the moulds. Too hot to handle! Stay tuned for more details.

 


 

Happy New Year Tigers!

January 1st, 2010 - San Diego California

USA 11 Anarchy, of the duo Tempesta/Rickard, takes first in the 15 boats PHRF 2 division at the traditional SDYC New Year's Day Regatta in San Diego. Mark Mallaby's USA 62 Jelani takes 2nd, while Neil Senturia on USA 19 Occam's Razor finishes 5th. Happy New Year Tigers!

Place
#
Boat Name Owner
Rating
Boat Type
1
11 Anarchy Tempesta / Rickard
48
Flying Tiger
2
62 Jelani Mark Mallaby
48
Flying Tiger
3
46996 caper John Laun
42
J/120
4
61119 Stars & Stripes Dennis Conner
-72
Farr 60
5
19 Occam's Razor Neil Senturia
48
Flying Tiger

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


 

 

Last Edited: April 15, 2010

 

 

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