2008 International 14 North American Championships

Several of our participants gave us glowing reviews of our event, and some were kind enough to put them in writing.

Peter Hayward:

Avram,

Can you please pass on my congratulations to the whole team from Newport for hosting the North American Championships! The event, the venue, the management and the conditions were first rate and we had a fantastic time.

Andrew Yates

Hi Yarrow,

We had an excellent time at the NA's. You all did a great job of organizing the event.

Thanks

[...]

Best regards,

Andrew Yates PMP

Peter Hayward
CAN 601

Dave Bradley:

All,

I just wanted to pop a note to the fleet that from my perspective (solidly mid-fleet :-)) we had a FANTASTIC regatta hosted at Sail Newport this past weekend. The venue is just one of the best I have been to, the organisers (Tracy, Ezra, Avram, Yarrow and all) had everything under control, we were made to feel completely welcome, the RC were awesome and I will definitely be back next year. The folks there are trying to grow this fleet and this has to be one of the best vehicles to do that I have seen - one guy even lent his boat out to some prospects and helped RC too. The spirit there is just amazing and totally inclusive.

We got the there in time on Thursday to get a short practice sail (and preliminary capsize) in, prior to sampling some of the many watering holes of Newport (Black Pearl I think). Friday was the long distance race with three possible course areas. After much arm twisting from Steve Clarke, we ended up with a race around the Island. This is without doubt one of the most memorable races of my life (and I have done more than a few). The distance as the crow flies is some 18 miles, but of course we were not going straight, although certainly flying!! I think we covered somewhere in the region of 23 miles, with an EPIC (sorry Avram) 11 mile down wind in mid-teens knots. Just the best. Saturday and Sunday were both challenging from an RC perspective with sea breeze saving the day in both cases. Good tight racing, with a deep fleet and much talent.

All visitors were billited locally which made a huge difference to the regatta experience. You guys have set the bar very high and I look forward to coming back next year in what ever form this regatta grows (as it surely will).

cheers,
Sorta (GBR 1513 "Knee Trembler")