A-Class Catamaran North American Championship

This year the A-Cat North Americans was held at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, California. The venue tends to be a sea breeze venue because a marine layer comes in overnight and burns off at about 12:30 pm exposing the land to the sun.  I had experienced this once before when I sailing in the Youth Multihull Championship in 2011.
Our boats arrived on Saturday.  I had enough time after unpacking and measuring to go out for a sail and tune up with a few of the competitors in the late afternoon sea breeze, which was about 17 knots. On Sunday the Glasers ran some practice races for us and helped us with sail setup.  Monday was the official practice race.
The conditions for the first race day were challenging.  The first race was held inside the breakwater in 5 to 10 knots of breeze before shifting right 30 degrees when the sea breeze began to come into full effect.  I finished 4th  in that race.  Later in the day I struggled a bit in the breeze because of my weight but managed top 10 finishes.  The second day was very strange.  The marine layer didn't burn off until about 3:30 which was after our two races had been completed.  I managed to finish 2nd and 5th in these two races which were held in light winds. After day two I was sitting in 3rd place.  The third day we sailed back inside with a typical sea breeze and I had scores of 7,6, and a 9, which hurt my scores a bit and dropped me back to 5th in a tie.  The last day we sailed two races outside and I did what I had to do to finish the regatta in 5th. The conditions for the last day were very choppy with the breeze building.
Overall it was a great experience and I learned a lot.  I would like to thank St. Francis Sailing Foundation. Next years A Class North Americans will be hosted by Peter Johnstone with Gunboat in Wanchese, North Carolina.