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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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"
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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!
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