Hobie Miracle 20 North American Championship event 2024!
Pre-Game - Billy Bowlegs!
Ft Walton Yacht Club has everything you need and then some (damn nats!) We arrived on Saturday before a week of championship one design racing for setup and practice sailing. There was chatter about a distance sail that the yacht club was going to put on Sunday and we were invited! Great warm up opportunity. OA setup scales early so we could weigh in Sat and be ready to race Sun. Four 20s went out in some spicy breeze with almost no idea where we were going! The local fleet captain took us out to the point and gave us some guidance, but it was new terrain. We ended up chasing the Local 20 sailor for a bit unti we found the marks, and then lead the fleet! We lost out on corrected time to a Weta, but still made off with a bottle of rum!
Day One and two-
Ft Walton Beach Yacht club got off a few races in pretty good breeze. Greg Thomas horizoned most of the fleet with Jason Sanchez and Dan Jarret getting near him for a bit. The water was flat and the breeze was fresh. We got so spend a bunch of time on the wire. A few boats retired with some mechanical issues, but we had some nice loops ripping around on the 20s.
Day Three -
Was a lay day! A bunch of us went over to Crab Island, which was a shallow sand bar spot with tourist souvenirs, food, drink and LOTS of power boats on the other side of the bay. Some grabbed a pontoon boat and cruised over. Five of us on two 20s sailed over, with Jane and Sheila cruising over on the Hobie Skiff. We navigated through the shallow water and waist deep people to anchor over by our friends in the middle of the chaos. The water was clear and the sand was white. After munching some fresh burgers and ice cream, we grabbed some neon sun shirts and headed for home.
Day Four -
Started with a Greg Thomas and Jason Sanchez Chalk Talk! Most of us sat around the Gazebo while Greg tried his best improve the level of his competition. The fleet engaged, and I think everyone learned a few things. The results from day Four and day Five seemed to reflect that too! Thursday and Friday were a bit lighter, and the fleet was A LOT tighter. We seemed to do a better job of locking in on the down wind with a semi wildthing approach and hooking up some of the light waves to make gains on the fleet each downwind leg. The breeze was light and the humidity and temps were high!
Day Five -
We had a bit more breeze which brought a slightly better temperature. Lots of single trap conditions with a little bit of double trapping. We did a pretty good job of locking into an oscillation pattern on the water and creeping up on boats. Which made up for some of our slower maneuvers. On the second to last race we managed to sneak in and round the weather mark in second or third place. We lost some spots on the rounding, but managed to stay in the mix on the downwind.
Take away -
Getting an upper leech telltale and making it fly can be helpful to boat speed! Getting weight down to leeward downwind and in light are can be huge! Having your two crew sit at the bridles to get the rudders out of the water while still in the locked down position is critical when sailing through Crab Island. The Hobie Class Association and FT Walton Beach Yacht Club put on an amazing event. There was an emphasis on communication and community. We'll see everyone in Dallas next year!