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August 16th, 2010 - 2010 F18 North Americans Recap
Racine, WI - Fresh off the 160 boat F18 Worlds (31st) and our Eastern Area Championship (1st place), we felt ready to rock as we saddled up for the road trip. 20-odd hours later, we were welcomed to the Racine Yacht Club by an excellent group of volunteers. Measurement and weigh in was a breeze, which says a lot given that the F18 class officials measured and certified 50 boats before anyone hit the race course on Monday.
No matter how we prepared, we were not ready for the conditions Lake Michigan cooked up for us that week. 35 knots, hail, lightning - we could make it work. With a few hours of exception, we spent the week on the beach, postponed under a heavy marine fog layer and light, shifty breeze. After a delayed start, the first race of the series fired off, the fleet poking through the fog searching for shifts, breeze, and more importantly, the weather mark. Maybe abandonment flags were lost in the fog as well, but the first race in the books had us deep in the fleet. Fast forward to Wednesday, a small breeze had filled, enough for 4 more races. Light and shifty land breezes interrupted with 20 knot blasts near the top mark made for some dramatic lead changes and huge losses. While we were able to dig ourselves back from our thirtieth on Monday, we still had trouble syncing with the shifts. No excuses really, a few gambles and only 5 (marginal) races over the week didn't enable us to hit our stride. Looking back at it, this was our worst regatta in both results and conditions. No fault to the race committee and yacht club volunteers though, the post sailing dinners, parties, and hospitality were top notch. Us in the Northeast fleet were taking notes for 2011 North Americans...Hyannis, MA! Get ready America, the F18 champs are going to be breeze on next year.
Full results are here: http://crawsailing.net/Racine2010/F18_results
Plenty of photos here:http://moving-target-photos.com/2010RCC/
July 15th, 2010 - 2010 F18 Worlds Recap
After a week of amazing competition and 15 races we finished up in 31st place in the 160 boat fleet. Mixing in several top 10 finishes and a 15th place ranking after three days, we are very exited by our first World's results. Divided into Gold and Silver fleets, 80 of the best teams in the world on one line was a fantastic learning experience for us. In our 5 years sailing F18s together, we have never competed in a fleet that
fast and unforgiving. As such, we experienced a pretty steep learning curve at the beginning of the regatta as we learned new starting and fleet management tactics.Trapezoid courses added an unexpected element to the racing strategy. Twin wiring under spinnaker while in close quarters was fantastic, but it took us a while to learn to keep the boat high and fast while not stalling out or breaking the mast. For such a small part of the racecourse, the losses we took here were the most obvious...still lots to learn.
Off the water, even more learning to do. English was hard to find in the shops in town; severalsurprise meals and bumbling around grocery stores kept us on our toes. Buying food and drinks was a challenge,but we figured most out. Beers come in tiny, half-size bottles, and snacks are packaged for children. Nowonder people are thinner 
in France, the only full size food you can buy is Baguettes. As Erquy is a very small town with no night life, our regatta house became the hangout of choice. Teaming up with two of the Nacra Europe boats, we were set up a few miles from the venue. Huge thanks to Nacra and Macca for helping us out. Surprisingly, not much was planned in the regatta village, so large groups of racers were tough to find. The 2012 Worlds organizers for Long Beach, CA have taken notes, and we all can expect the best social and race management for that event.
After the regatta ended, the two young US teams tooka weekend to tour up the Bretagne / Normandy coast, then to Paris to explore a bit and to see all
the touristy sites. Overall, it was a great trip and we were really glad to have had to opportunity to sail against the world’s best. It’s definitely addicting and in the future we would like to be able to do more regattas on theEuropean circuit. More immediately, we are focusing on taking what we learned and applying it to our sailing for the rest of the season to achieve some great results. Sail fast!
A full gallery of pictures from the trip can be found here
July 1st 2010 - F18 Worlds Prelude
Today was a tourist day, in which we finally settled in after an adventurous journey from America (Fuck Yeah!) to the French country de crepes, via planes, trains, buses, and automobiles. Luckily the bus drivers found entertainment in helping two poor Americans get to the regatta site. Unfortunately, we didn’t know how to say “stop here and let us off!” in French so we got driven to the other side of town before the bus finally stopped.
The regatta site is awesome and the tide here is something else. I believe it is about a 10m (33ft) tide difference, which means a very long walk (500m?) to return beach wheels to the beach after launching the boat (see pictures).Breeze is light, but so far the weather is surprisingly warm and s
unny. Sunset here is 10:30 at night, which is pretty awesome. In the next few days, the rest of the teams should arrive, and we should be able to get some final practice in before racing. It’ll be nice to be back to something familiar, despite all the communication and travel dilemmas, we are still here for a sailboat race. We can handle that much.
As the regatta really kicks off for us, we need to thank the people involved in getting us here. We would have had a very tough time without the generous boat help from Nacra US, and Volkswind with travel assistance. Ronstan and FSE Robline have made sure we are fully equipped, and family, friends, and the Southport Sailing Foundation cannot be forgotten either. Sail fast, more updates to follow!
May 12th, 2010 - 2010 Season Preview
Team Microwind is back at it and gearing up for the 2010 season! There have been a lot of cool developments since last year and we're ready to hit the water at full speed. In two weeks we head to Houston, TX for the US Sailing Multihull Championship, to be raced on the new AHPC C2 F18. After a disappointing end to our last Alter Cup, we hope to finish strong among the highly competitive fleet. The next major event for Microwind Racing will be the F18 World Championships in Erquy, France. This regatta represents the next step in our racing campaign, as our team has never raced in an event of this scale. 190 teams will be representing their countries with hopes for a World title.All these aspirations wouldn't be possible without the contributions of our sponsors for the 2010 season. Most significantly, Nacra has stepped up to help us train and compete in Worlds as part of the factory team. This relationship should develop equally as we learn more about our Infusion and the factory advances new modifications. To further help equip our platform, Scot at Ronstan and FSE Robline has jumped on board with great F18 enthusiasm. They offer a bunch of slick products needed to really fit out the team boat. Right now we are testing a new mainsheet system that is showing a lot of promise - more to come on that after we be-bug a bit. We'll be out practicing for the Alter Cup next week - we'll have updates posted in the days before the event.
November 21st, 2009 - New Website Released
MicroWind Racing welcomes you to our new website. We appreciate your support and comments. If you have any suggestions or comment about how to make the site better, please email Mike EastonNovember 18th, 2009 - Nacra Infusion, USA 1042 for Sale
MicroWind Racing has put our 2009 Nacra Infusion on the market. This boat is incredibly quick and is a proven race winning machine. The boat comes with all racing lines, 1 mainsail, 1 jib, 2 spinnakers (including a 1 regatta old Glaser Spin). For full specs and pictures of the boat can be found here. Asking $16,000 obo. Please contact Tripp Burd if you would like to make an offer.
October 1st, 2009 - U.S. Multihull Championship Wrap UP
The regatta that almost was. Overall a great regatta and a teriffic experience. The race management was excellent and the weather was perfect.Read More