A-Class North Americans

A record 39 boats attended the A-Class North American Championship held November 11-14, 2003 in Mandeville, LA at the Pontchartrain Yacht Club. Competitors came from California, Texas, Canada, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and New Zealand! The regatta was won by Pease Glaser of Newport Beach, CA who showed excellent speed and sailing smarts by dominating the event on the last day in light and shifty winds.
Competitors began arriving 5 days before to rig their boats and tune up on Lake Pontchartrain. Measurement began on Monday and finished on Tuesday. The class made a major effort to update everyone’s measurement documentation and enter the information into a database that will be maintained by the class. This will not only speed up measurement for future regattas but will help boat owners keep track of their current and previous boat configurations.
The regatta opened on Tuesday night after measurement had been completed with a beer and pizza party hosted at the yacht club. Ben Hall and Jay Glaser gave presentations on mast and sail design that were very interesting and informative.
Wednesday morning dawned clear and bright with a forecast for 10 knot southerly winds ahead of a cold front. The wind started out in the morning at 6-8 knots out of the southeast but by the time the competitor’s meeting was over had fizzled to nothing. It stayed that way for the rest of the day. The class made some productive use of the down time by letting Pete Melvin present an overview of the new A2 A-Class. A current Flyer and the new A2 were flipped over on their sides and Pete highlighted the design goals of the new boat and pointed out the differences with the new Flyer. While not a radical change, Pete hopes the A2 will be a step forward with a hull design that is more faired than the Flyer and that also incorporates more bow and stern rocker to make the boat easier to sail in light winds. The boat did look quite slippery sailing! The day ended with a crawfish and pasta buffet hosted by the yacht club. Everyone was anticipating the cold front that was expected to arrive early the next morning.
Thursday dawned cloudy and a bit cooler with the wind out of the north/northeast at 12-18 knots. The clouds quickly cleared and along with the clearing came more wind. As the sailors launched, the wind started gusting up to 18-22 mph. Most sailors made it out to the start line with no incident but once out on the race course, the wind picked up to 20-22 knots accompanied by violent gusts that were between 25-30 knots (spray was blowing off of the white caps in the gust waves). The class has a wind maximum of 22 knots average so the race committee started the first race. It quickly became apparent that the conditions were at the limit of being safe for racing. Many competitors decided not to risk boat damage or personal injury and retired to the harbor. About half of the fleet continued to race and the first downwind leg had the most carnage. Ten competitors pitchpoled so violently in the big gusts that their masts were broken! These racers included very experienced sailors like Lars Guck, Ben Hall, and Jay Glaser so that gives one an idea of how radical the conditions were. At least two sailors were separated from their boats in violent capsizes and were rescued by fellow competitors who after dropping them off with a rescue boat or getting them back to their own boat continued to race.
Pontchartain Yacht Club’s David Bolyard displayed one of the best acts of seamanship we have ever seen in these rough conditions. When it became apparent that the conditions were getting tough, Dave realized that there may not be enough chase/rescue boats on the water (there were three). He loaded his boat with five anchors and line. When the number of boats that were disabled on the water became more than the number of rescue boats, Dave was able to get to each sailor needing assistance and gave them an anchor to set and stablilize their boat and rig (or what remained of the rig). Working with the other chase boats, they were then able to get all the disabled boats back to the harbor safely. Dave’s actions should be a great lesson for all race committees.
Ten boats finished the first race (which was won by Tornado Olympian Johnny Lovell) and the race committee then sent everyone back to the yacht club. The conditions did not subside after lunch so racing was wisely cancelled. The competitors spent the rest of the day helping each other replace masts and get the fleet ready for racing on Friday. Only two boats out of the ten that broke rigs were not able to be put back in race readiness.
Some of the disappointment and frustration of the racing conditions on Thursday was eased that night with a gourmet dinner for the competitors at one of Mandeville’s finest lakefront restaurants. The mood was still optimistic that Friday would provide a good day of racing.
The last day of racing on Friday dawned cold, crisp, and windy. The wind had subsided some but was still at 15-18 knots out of the northeast. The weather forecast was calling for northeast winds at 20 knots in the morning backing down to 15 knots in the afternoon. The competitors were anxious to get back on the water. As the first boats launched and sailed out to the racing area, the wind quickly dropped to 8-12 knots. By the time the entire fleet had made it out to the race area, the wind had dropped to 4-6 knots and stayed that way for the rest of the day. The race committee did an excellent job of getting off four races in the very tough conditions. Except for the excellent sailing of Pease Glaser, there was quite a battle in the rest of the fleet with many position changes.
The top five placings (five races with one throwout (not shown):

1.Pease Glaser, Newport Beach, CA 1-1-1-2 Waterat/Ullman/Hall
2.Johnny Lovell, New Orleans, LA 1-6-4-3 Flyer/Ullman/Australian
3.Pete Melvin, Long Beach, CA 6-3-2-7 A2/Ullman/Hall
4.Woody Cope, Tampa, FL 3-2-10-5 Javelin/Ullman/Riba
5.Lars Guck, Bristol, RI 4-4-7-8 Flyer/Goodall/Australian
Top Master (45-55) – Jay Glaser
Top Grand Mast (56 and over) – Woody Cope

A big thanks goes to the members, officers, and staff of Pontchartrain Yacht Club. The club provided an excellent venue with possibly the best hospitality the class has had at a North American championship. In addition to excellent race management, the club provided housing, breakfast every morning, lunch on the water for competitors, three evening dinners, and unlimited use of the club facility. Despite the trying conditions, every competitor left the regatta with a smile on their face!

Bob Hodges
USA 147
Regatta Chairman