So here’s where we are with the America’s Cup. Alinghi has filed for an appeal on the entirety of Justice Cahn’s rulings to date and asked for an expedited hearing. They got the expedited hearing and it’s scheduled to happen on June 5th. BMW/Oracle filed to have the whole thing tossed - we’ll hear more about that on June 5th but the word on the street is that Alinghi has very little chance of success with the appeal.

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for Cahn’s ruling regarding the date of the event. One would presume that he has delayed his ruling due to the appeal filed by Alinghi - which could potentially negate anything he has to say (so why bother?). His ruling could come out any day but don’t hold your breath.

Across the pond, Alinghi has announced that they have begun design of their DoG boat and will be ready for a May 2009 event…as if repeating 2009 will magically make the October 2008 date go away. That’s the nutshell.

Nigel Pitt and Alex Shafer win the U.S. Sailing Multihull Championship. After years of competing in this Championship and placing the top three, the team of Shafer and Pitt were finally able to break through and take the win by a narrow margin of two points over returning champions John Casey and John Williams and five points over the team of Tomko and Billings.

The final day of the U.S. Multihull Championship concluded today with one last A-fleet heat which concluded Race 11. Off the start line, the points leading teams of Pitt and Casey were unintentionally fouled off the start line by another competitor leaving them both late to the start line while the third place team of Tomko and Billings was well underway heading up the course. Both teams managed to fight hard in the lightish 8 to 10 knots of breeze and claw their way to a third and fourth place finish, while Tomko struggled on the last lap and slid back to seventh. Watters and Burd seemed unable to shake the DSQ from the day before and finished the race in 8th place – still holding onto fourth overall but poised to return to B-fleet in the next series.

Going into the last day, we had hoped to run three heats to end on 12 complete races but with a deadline of 3pm for the last start, and the seabreeze refusing to fill in by 2pm, the event was concluded on the 22nd heat with 11 completed races – a very high number for a championship with boat rotations.

The facilities planned for by the Gulfport Yacht Club and provided for by the city of Gulfport, FL were absolutely outstanding for this event. The Mayor of Gulfport, FL went so far as to present Commodore Bob Feckner and the all volunteer Gulfport Yacht Club with a proclamation proclaiming Saturday April 25th, 2008 as the U.S. Multihull Chamionship for the Hobie Alter Cup day during the dinner banquet on Friday evening. The manufacturer and importer of the AHPC Capricorn F18 catamarans, Fun in the Sun, Inc and AHPC in Austrailia, provided impeccable fine tuned racing machines for this event. Fun in the Sun went so far as to, at their own expense, locate and provide a 12th boat when we had two boats damaged and in need of repair so that we would not have to end the event for the two lowest scoring teams at that point. This year we had a beach support staff of one person for every two boats and they two are largely responsible for the success of this event. In no particular order; Tim Owens, David and Robyn Strickland, Chris Zander (also taking photos), Rob “What about Rob” Van Den Enden, Greg Goodall (AHPC), Robbie Daniels (Fun in the Sun, Inc), Jill Nickerson (Fun in the Sun, Inc), Pete Pollard, and Mary Ann Robertson.

I have been honored to work with PRO Fairlie Brinkley and his on the water staff, largely from the Gulfport Yacht Club, this week. The integrity of the race management and proceedings on the water were impeccable making it easy for everyone else to do their jobs. Lastly, I would like to thank our Chief Judge, Dave Shaffer, and Judges Barb Shaffer and Ann Newton (who in my opinion have one of the most stressful jobs at an event of this caliber) for helping to make this an incredible week. We have had a terrific championship and I look forward to next year.

Day four of the United States Multihull Championship has paved the way for an all-out brawl for the final day of racing tomorrow; day five. The top four teams have unbelievably close scores with a very small margin separating the top four. They’re separated by 6 points all within reach of the lead currently held by Pitt and Shafer.

One team stands alone in not having once been relegated to B fleet thus far in the series – that’s the returning champion team of Casey and Williams. However, that feat has not guaranteed them any comfort room atop the leader board as the two throwouts have allowed Pitt and Shafer, Tomko and Billings, and Watters and Burd to erase their mistakes and come back for a tough finale. Casey and Williams now sit in third with 26 points one point behind Tomko with 25, and three behind Pitt with 23. Watters and Burd, who had been sailing an excellent regatta and sitting in the number 1 position this morning, were protested in a barging situation in heat 9A and were disqualified from the heat giving them a DSQ and relegating them to a B-fleet race which they subsequently won.

Also notable, the young team from Peurto Rico, Francisco Figueroa and Gustava Pinto, scored impressive finishes today with a 2nd and a 1st in A-fleet which lifts them up to fifth place over Brandon Wallace by 2 points. This is an incredible showing for a young pair of sailors that currently race Hobie 16s and have very little experience with Formula 18 spinnaker equipped catamarans. The Marshack team continues to struggle unable to break back out of B-fleet for the second day but they won the last b-fleet race of the day which may enable them to hold on to a top 10 finish position.

Fun In the Sun, Inc, went above and beyond today by quickly finding a 12th boat to use in the event after damage to the backup boat on Wednesday precluded it’s use in racing today. Contractually, Fun In the Sun was only required to provide 11 boats but upon realizing we were going to have to finish two teams early if we had to retire a boat position from the event, worked late into the night and early in the morning to get a 12th boat ready to race.

We’re hoping to have an opportunity for the ground / beach crew to get out on the water with many of the local Gulport, FL residents who have been watching the event to experience, first hand, the final race of this year’s Championship that we’ve all been working so hard to complete. It will undoubtedly come down to the last and final race but one way or another, the United States Multihull Champion will be named tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Day three of the United States Multihull Championship again shook up the results after a tough day of racing on the water in some shifty breeze. The day started off in a healthy 13 knots as Pitt/Shafer stood atop the leader board with a 9 point lead over returning champions, Casey/Williams. The early racing in the morning saw several lead changes and the team of Ken and Ian Marshack, who had been consistently placing well in A-fleet, struggled and dropped back to B fleet where they have not been able to escape for the rest of the day. After three completed races (six heats), the Marshacks have dropped from third to sixth. The team of Tomko and Billings, who had suffered from an OCS penalty yesterday, posted good finishes of 5, 3, and 4 in a-fleet and once we reach the end of the 8th race, are standing in 4th place.

The most surprising event today was that the teams of Pitt/Shafer, leading the event, and Krantz/Lennard were involved in a collision that resulted in a DSQ for Pitt dragging them down the leader board as they were relegated to B-fleet. Currently Pitt/Shafer, our leaders through day 2, now stand in 3rd position 2 points behind a 2-way tie for first between returning champs, Casey/Williams, and another team quietly posting solid A-fleet results, Watters/Burd. At the end of Day 3, Watters/Burd, even after hitting a sandbar and damaging the daggerboard well of their boat for the last race, have been the consistent sailors finding themselves now tied for first place with two days of racing left.

With 8 complete races recorded to date, we’ve seen a multitude of changes in the standings for the Championship. Once we achieve ten complete races, the sailors will benefit from a second throw-out, which will undoubtedly have an interesting affect on the scores. Tomko, who was at the front of the fleet early but suffered an OCS penalty, will suddenly find himself back in the hunt as will Pitt / Shafer. With two days of racing still remaining, the Alter Cup is up for grabs as a handful of the best US Multihull sailing teams are still in contention for the win.

Going into the third day of racing, this is where we stand:

Today’s United States Multihull Championship continued the success from yesterday with another five heats of racing. The Fun In the Sun, Inc supplied AHPC Capricorn catamarans are holding up exceptionally well allowing for even shorter turn around times today as we work out the last few exceptionally minor bugs.

Today’s racing started out in a lightish and shifty 10 knots of breeze with our round 3 A-fleet. The team of Watters and Burd were late getting dressed and pushed off the beach and were even later getting to the start line. They were 35 seconds late to the start line after the gun went off as the other 9 teams tried to sort out the best lanes to A-mark. Returning Champions, Casey and Williams, had difficulty getting to A quickly and rounded in 9th position. Watters and Burd, on the other hand, seemed to have pulled off a miracle and had already overcome much of their startline disadvantage and rounded in 6th. By the end of our race, all of the current standings leaders had not managed the shifty air incredibly well with Tomko scoring a 4, Pitt a 5, and Casey digging out from the back of the heat with a 6th. Watters and Burd had obliterated their startline disadvantage and won the heat!

B fleet managed to get another race where the teams of Gillespi, Ingram, and Olsen finishing in the top three and picked up a promotion to the next A fleet. The mildly unstable 10 knots of breeze then fell to the sea breeze and we sat for about an hour while the new fresh breeze settled in. Once we got things underway with race 4A, things got interesting. After the start, we could see from the beach that an OCS flag was flying off the committee boat as Fairlie Brinkley’s sharp staff had identified at least two boats that were over early. The racing continued and we watched the team of John Tomko and Ian Billings race a terrific race holding 2nd place or better for the entire race and to finish in the lead. We learned that Tomko and Whitte were both OCS which gave them last place finishes “flushing” them to the next B fleet race. OCS penalties are very costly as the OCS teams, now relegated to B fleet after the 11 point OCS score, can score no higher than 11 points in the next round.

With a scheduled 6:30 dinner hosted by the Gulfport Yacht Club and with chef services by Tom Feckner (I’ve heard the menu is to be outstanding!), we decided to run two more races and call it a day. The team of Nigel Pitt and Alex Shafer scored a very impressive bullet in their A fleet race while Casey and Williams seemed to continue to struggle today with a 4th place finish. The standings now have Pitt and Shafer in the lead with 6 points followed by Casey Williams with 12 in second place overall. The dark-horse team of Ken and Ian Marshack has been quietly recording great finishes and are sitting in 3rd place with 13 points due largely to their consistency.

Tomorrow should bring more excellent breeze and another great day of racing. It’s early but already the results pattern established on day 1 were completely shaken up on day 2 – who can maintain the consistency required to win a championship of this magnitude? Perhaps tomorrow will give us some additional insight.

This is a pretty crudy image - but here are the results from Day 1’s competition. B fleet sailed the 1st half of race 3 last night so we start this morning with the second heat of race 3 with the A fleet competitors.

The first day of racing for the US Sailing Multihull Championship has concluded after an excellent series of five heats and two completed races (two heats constitute one race). After the first day of racing the returning champions, John Casey and John Williams, are sitting atop the leader board with 2nd and 1st place finishes. They are very closely followed by Nigel Pitt and Alex Shafer with 4 points John Tomko and Ian Billings with 5 points. The 20 teams pushed their high performance catamarans from the white sandy beach of Gulfport, FL into the 10 to 18 knot breeze for racing around a course operated by PRO Fairlie Brinkley. The husband and wife team of Olli and Kelly Jason are poised in a 5th place position followed by Ken Marshack and son Ian Marshack. The Marshacks had led race 2A for one full lap before a brush with C-mark led them to a 360 degree penalty turn and a drop to 5th place for that heat. The wind and weather were so spectacular that the fleet gladly continued racing until 7:30pm until we had to stop for losing daylight and still, not one complaint was had. The top 20 multihull teams in the nation are satisfactorily exhausted and headed for dinner while they are undoubtedly working on their game plans to find that extra inch of boat speed and to establish goals for tomorrows racing which starts in the morning at 10:55am.

Robbie Daniel of Fun in the Sun, Inc, and Greg Goodall of Australian High Performance Catamarans (AHPC), who have provided the 10 new AHPC Capricorn F18 catamarans for the event, have contributed 10 very solid boats that have allowed us to record 5 heats on the first day of racing with very few minor issues permitting us to achieve short fleet rotation turn-rounds. Gulfport Yacht Club has graciously paved the way with the race committee, facilities, local city authorities, and provide thus-far superb hosting. We’re excited to record more racing tomorrow in what should hopefully continue the established pace and rhythm of, what has already been the beginning of, a stellar championship.

Chris Zander has been taking some incredible photos out on the water. Here’s a few of my favorite for the day. For the rest, go to the entire set

The practice day went down without any major issues….quite an accomplishment and a testament to the effort put in by Gulfport Yacht Club and Fun In the Sun, Inc (Red Gear Racing). We had a few minor things to tweak on the boats after the first round of racing - namely, we found one cleat backwards and several spinnaker pole bridles needed to be tightened. We did also have two issues with spinnaker halyards that were resolved with some minor hardware replacement. This is a terrific day for the teething of 10 new boats - so we’re pretty happy.

The racing was pretty fierce out there on the practice course and several teams, who are expected to be strong, have shown an early speed advantage. We had the drawing tonight for the fleet assignments for the first scored races tomorrow and they are as follows:

B Fleet (racing 1st):

• Burd
• Carlson
• Figueroa
• Ingram
• Krantz
• Olson
• Tomko
• Whitte

A Fleet:

• Bauldry
• Casey
• Gillespi
• Hilk
• Marshack
• McDonald
• Miller
• Newkirk
• Spina

Yet to draw are the teams of Pitt, Wallace, and Jason….we’ll get them at the skipper’s meeting in the morning. Both of the 1st fleets will be scored 1 through 10 points. After the first round, the top five from each fleet compose “A” fleet while the bottom five from the two fleets compose “B” fleet. From then on, A fleet is scored 1-10 points and B fleet is scored 11 through 20. Each round, the top three teams from B fleet are promoted to A fleet and the bottom three from A fleet are relegated to B fleet. It’s a rotation system called “relegation / promotion series”.

Things are well underway here in Gulfport, FL putting the last finishing touches on the AHPC Capricorn F18 catamarans for the upcoming US Sailing Mulithull Championship. I’m the chairman for the event again this year and am joined by a crew of dedicated individuals from our local sailing area and from the Gulfport Yacht Club. The weather is looking spectacular and we’re expecting to have a great week watching the country’s 40 best catamaran sailors go head to head. We’ll be updating from the blog site here periodically throughout the days of the event and will have an article on the US Sailing Multihull Championship page every night. Stay tuned!

It’s signed and sealed but not yet delivered due to time constraints placed upon me by the US Sailing Championship for the Hobie Alter Cup next week. However, I am the new owner of a very well kept Boyer Mark IV A-class catamaran. I’m really looking forward to the simplicity of this boat, learning to sail it, and the carbon fiber tinkering I can do with it.

Speaking of the US Sailing Multihull Championship - stay tuned here for details and updates. We’re sailing on AHPC F18 Capricorns imported by Fun In the Sun, Inc down at the Gulfport (FL) Yacht Club. We’ve got a stellar line-up of talent who will be competing for the Hobie Alter Cup.

Not yet, plan “A” didn’t pan out quite like I thought it might….now if I can just figure out what plan “B” is.

Not only before “the ink dried” but before the pen even hit the paper, Alinghi files for appeal on the whole shebang today with the New York Supreme Court. From Alinghi’s website, Lucien Masmejan (SNG lead counsel), explains their latest maneuver…I’ve dissected it a little inserting my own commentary:

Why have you appealed?
Our goal is to have it decided on the water and have a competitive America’s Cup in 2009.

Cough, cough, Gaggg…huh? Seriously? Let’s roll through this briefly; I paraphrase; we filed for appeal asking for a stay (delay) so we can compete on the water, not sooner, in 2009. What’s wrong with 2008? Besides, your rights as a challenger are very clear - you can’t touch the date! You pick the place…focus here…please focus…we’re waiting for the place, not the date.

We are in the process of appealing and filing a motion to request an expedited appeal and to stay the case in order to attempt to fast track the legal process.

Here’s an idea; fast track it by NOT FILING APPEALS and specify the place for the event!

We have spent eight months engaged at trial court fighting a law suit brought by GGYC to force their way to the America’s Cup Match at the expense of 12 other challengers.

Ummm…no - actually GGYC tried several times to find an agreement with you that would INCLUDE the other challengers…and wait a minute - 12? Who ever said there were 12?

Justice Cahn’s order dated 17 March 2008 left key elements unanswered, including the dates for the event. Since then, we had a hearing with Justice Cahn but we still have no certainty as to the ruling. We are now less than 3 months from the dates indicated in the original GGYC challenge and we still do not know when the 10 months notice has started and which will be their boat.

Actually you do have a date as was stipulated in the official challenge by GGYC - YOU contended that date in court and YOU are the reason we are waiting for a ruling regarding the date. Establishing a date is not the responsibility of the court - they just interpret the deed and the law and apply it to the situation.

In that respect, the Challenge submitted by GGYC on 11 July 2007 does not supply the information prescribed in the Deed of Gift and is not only ambiguous but also contradictory in places. GGYC are now tactically withholding the custom-house registry and vital technical information regarding the boat that they will challenge with from the defender. This tactic is against the terms of the Deed of Gift and most certainly in contrast with the intentions of George Schuyler.

The Deed leaves a bit to be desired in this area - as well as another area, in my opinion, Alinghi is guilty of exploiting. The Deed does not explicitly specify WHEN the registry of the challenging vessel needs to be presented and it also doesn’t specify explicitly WHEN the location needs to be announced by the Defender…and we’re still waiting on that piece of information too….seeing as GGYC doesn’t know the location of the event, it’s kinda hard for them to finalize the technical details of their vessel (are we racing in the Southern Ocean or the shifty calm of something near the equator?). It’s pretty clear that the wording of the Deed assumed that a defense mounted by a club would be done so in their home waters. Given that it was written in the 1800s, it also does not take into account that we can fly boats to any location in the world in a matter of days nor does it consider that there would be a defender from a landlocked country.

There’s about 70 pages of the official appeal documentation on the GGYC website. While I’m certain there are loads of golden nuggets in there, I’m going to sit back and wait for the legal analysts to dissect this one. Tomorrow’s news should be interesting.