2008 Lightning North Americans - Almost Day 1

Sail Newport of Newport, RI is hosting the 2008 Lightning North Americans with racing beginning tomorrow.  Actually, the real festivities began earlier in the week with the North American Womens, Juniors, and Masters competition.  These sailors experienced a range of conditions from drifting to holding on for dear life, but we hear that most left with a smile on their face.  You can get all the details from this event from lightningclass.org. 

The NA's this year is extremely deep in talent, as this is as qualifying regatta to be among the US entries for next year's Lightning World Championship.  Combine that talent pool with some of the best sailors in South American (and the world), and you one very competitive 100 boat fleet.  Today we completed measurement and registration and a few boats made it out for a nice afternoon practice sail.  The wind was absent for much of the morning, but filled in nicely at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  We had the skippers meeting at 6, and a nice seminar by Bill Shore going over the hot points of sailing in Newport.  His big message was to watch the current if we're sailing in the bay, where two of the three potential race courses are positioned.  Tomorrow we start racing with the qualifying series.  The boats are divided into 3 randomly assigned fleets for a set of four races over two days.  After those races, the fleet is then divided up into the NA's fleet, the Presidents cup, and the Governors cup regattas.  Everyone comes with the goal of making the NA fleet, but only 30-40 will get the honor.   More on how different people fare tomorrow.