Krantz leads U.S. Multihull Championship

Fort Walton Beach, FL (April 19, 2018) – The opening day of the 2018 U.S. Multihull Championship hosted by the Fort Walton Yacht Club was blessed by the champagne sailing conditions of a 10-16 knots seabreeze on Choctawhatchee Bay. There were 41 competitors (33 singlehanded, 4 doublehanded) racing 14-foot Weta trimarans with four races completed.

Racing was tight with only a 7 point spread between the first and fifth place boats at the end of day one. Mike Krantz from Flowery Branch, GA is in the lead with 4 points. He is followed by Dave Bernsten (San Francisco), Randy Smyth (Fort Walton Beach), and Bob Hodges (Covington, LA) with 7, 8, and 9 points respectively. Jonathan Weston (San Francisco) rounds out the top 5 with 11 points.

The forecast for tomorrow looks challenging as a cold front has passed the area and light northeast to east winds are forecast for most of the day, with the light air specialists in the fleet looking forward to challenging the front runners. A stronger easterly gradient is forecast for Saturday (Apr 21) and that is forecast to veer to a stronger southeast gradient with rain on Sunday, the final day of racing.

Racing is planned for April 19-22 on Choctawhatchee Bay. Sailors compete in the Weta trimaran as either singlehanded or doublehanded teams for the US Sailing title.

The perpetual trophy was presented and named the Alter Trophy in 1986 in honor of Hobie Alter, Sr. and his extraordinary promotion of one-design multihull sailing and racing programs. The Championship rotates in discipline each year to showcase the depth of classes in multihull racing in the United States.

Day One Results (Top 10 of 34; 4 races, 1 discard)
1. 1193, Mike Krantz[WETA SINGLE], 1-2-1-[4]- ; 4
2. 1199, David Berntsen[WETA SINGLE], [10]-1-5-1- ; 7
3. 437, Randy Smyth[WETA SINGLE], 2-[3]-3-3- ; 8
4. 1003, Robert Hodges[WETA SINGLE], 3-4-2-[5]- ; 9
5. 1190, Jonathan Weston[WETA SINGLE], [7]-5-4-2- ; 11
6. 254, Keith Rice[WETA SINGLE], 5-6-[7]-6- ; 17
7. 362, Richard Stephens[WETA SINGLE], 8-[12]-6-10- ; 24T
8. 1197, David Bacci[WETA SINGLE], 9-[10]-8-7- ; 24T
9. 1007, Randy Mulligan[WETA SINGLE], [19]-7-9-8- ; 24T
10. 622, Carey Jones[WETA SINGLE], 4-[15]-10-12- ; 26

Event details – Results – Previous winners and results

Source: Bob Hodges