Heemskerk Dominates A-Cat NA Champs

San Diego, CA (October 8, 2017) – The 2017 A-Class Catamaran North American Championship was held at San Diego Yacht Club with 11 races completed over four days of racing, October 5-8.

San Diego saved the best breeze for the last day of competition, with the wind at 16 knots for the day’s first race which started at 11:30am. Race Committee started the first race earlier to allow competitors extra time to tune their boats for the breeze. Due to the faster wind speeds, Race Committee lengthened the course to 1.1 nm. At 12:30pm, the wind slowed to an average of 13 knots for Sunday’s second race, which was five legs.

Mischa Heemskerk (WSV de Braassem) won both races on the last day, making him the overall champion of the event. However, since Mischa is from the Netherlands, he became the Open North American Champion, and second place Bruce Mahoney (Houston YC) was named the 2017 A-Cat North American Champion. This is Mahoney’s second time winning this event.

Four time A-Cat North American Champion Matt Struble (MBYC) finished second and Brandon Wallace (MBYC) finished third. The top three finishers in the Classic Division were Craig Yandow (DIYC), Rush Bird (Gulfport YC), and Ken Marshack (VLSC).

These A-Class sailors are a cohesive group that has some of the best sportsmanship in sailing. One spectator noted that the windward mark, a location where sailors are known to get vocal with one another, was “like a library” during this event. Additionally, there were no protests during this event in its history, a statistic that remains true after this weekend.

Event Website – Results – Facebook

Source: Emily Willhoft, San Diego Yacht Club