Age and treachery leads Formula 18 Americas

Long Beach, CA (September 7, 2017) – The second day of the 2017 Formula 18 Americas Championship completed four races on the course inside the breakwater, giving sailors a break after being pounded by the Pacific Ocean swells the day before.

The fleet sailed out in just 8 knots but the typical Long Beach thermal didn’t leave the fleet waiting long as it built from 12 to 18 in the first race. The winds stayed 15+ for most of the racing until the last race when it died off to just around 7 knots on the final lap.

Ken and Eric Marshack continue to lead and took two wins today, with Ken, the oldest sailor in the fleet at 66 years old, proving age is just a number.

Robbie Daniels and Gary Chu won the first race while Todd Riccardi and Bryan Paine won the final race.

Overall, in second place are Steve Stroebel and Matt Morris followed by Charles Tomeo and Dalton Tebo in third.

With seven races completed, second place through fifth place are close in points, and after the next drop comes into play after race 10, there will be a few boats dropping DNF’s from yesterday and moving to battle for the top 5.

The forecast for the final two days of the event anticipates winds of 10 knots.

Event details – Results

The biennial event acts as the USF18 National Championship with a change to the “Americas” title biennially to encourage participation from Central and South America. A maximum of 16 races are planned for the 3 teams on August 6 to 9.

Source: Report by Todd Riccardi. Photos by Rohan Hollingsworth.