The first big F18 event of the year took place at Carnac over the bank holiday weekend and this year saw over 140 F18′s and many of the world’s top sailors take part.
It has been over ten years or more since I raced in a fleet of this size and we were here to work on boat handling and speed to ensure that we were on the pace come this summer’s Archipelago Raid.
It still surprises me, that the 12 year old design of the Hobie Tiger is still such a competitive design amongst a fleet comprising two brand new designs. This event was the first outing for the much hyped Hobie WildCat and also the new Loday-White Shockwave. Neither boat’s have had much time on the water, but with the star studded team’s sponsored by Hobie, including world and Olympic sailor, Darren Bundock it was tantalising to see the new designs in action for the first time.
First race and we were inside the top ten at the windward mark – unbelievable after a poor start.
No problem with our pace up wind. The downwind leg saw a number of team’s pass us by, it was just a case of not pushing hard enough but as the confidence grew we started holding our own here as well. We finished 14 in the first race, our best result of the weekend and an opportunity to see that we had good overall speed.
On Saturday, the 300 strong fleet took part in the 30mile offshore race and after a light upwind start we had a 7 mile reaching leg. Tactically the fleet held high and we managed to soak off down this long reaching leg which paid massively as the tide was racing around the Quiberon Penisula. Gybing through the islands was just breath taking with a large swell running and lots of rocks scattered around it felt a bit like the Archipelago. After around 50 gybes, we were around the back of the island and back on the wind for a long fetch home. We were in good company with Andrew Macpherson and Mitch Booth close by. We crossed the line with less than twenty ahead of us, which was fantastic. It was a good chance to see that our tactics were good and so was our speed.
Overall, the weekend was superb, and really impressive to see Carnac with such an active race scene for Catamarans. The event management was superb with over 200 volunteers involved in making the event happen and with the onshore activities, there was certainly a buzz for the whole town. Well done Carnac Yacht Club for a great event.
Tags: Blue, Conrad Humphreys, Eurocat 2009, F18, Ryan
