2012-2013 Planning to sail ?

[minibar]

Hi,
I am new in the forum. I sail a Pogo2 in Marina Del Rey, CA.
Seems very quiet here, no activity on the forum since March 2011...I was wondering if there are still some people sailing minis in the US ?

I am considering doing some single handed races next winter and then single handed transpac next summer.
Would be nice to have other minis to play with.
let me know

Yves   

[ctut]

Yves,

Agree the US Mini site is very quiet.

Which events are you looking to do?

[minibar]

I am part of PSSA (www.PSSALA.com), they organize races single and double handed around Los Angeles. the Winter races are from 24 hours to 6 days, the summer one are more day races. Many different types of boats from racers to cruisers. it is a nice and active group, but not much minis (only one other pogo). It is hard to compare and evaluate how good ( or bad) I do with just PHRF. I am looking at doing some races with them during winter to prepare for the single handed trannspac from San Francisco to Hawaii next year (http://singlehandedtranspac.com ) . The guy who build the pogo2 in the US did it this year. looks like a wonderful experience. His name's is Jerome from Open sailing USA.
Are you on the West coast also ?

Yves

[ctut]

I know Jerome very well, was glad to see he had a successful SH TransPac.

Unless I have the dates mixed, you are aiming for the 2014 SH T-Pac, yes?

I am on the west coast but presently boatless. I sold my mini right after the 2009 Mini TransAt and have not yet replaced it.

[OSC007]

Hello everyone,

I emailed the commodore of the Transpac YC, hoping they will allow the minis to race if we have a fleet. Whether I will be on the boat or not, USA 806 will race and USA 822 is also planning on a crossing. I am confident we can get a fleet of minis. There are another 2 Minis in SF, and hopefully by then, other Minis interested.
If Transpac 2013 (from Los Angeles) is not possible, we can 1) organize our own race - I have made plenty of friends in Hawaii in the past 2 years who would love to see a fleet race there. Waikiki YC might be able to host the fleet or 2) wait until 2014 for another SHTP...The SHTP is great but honestly, finishing in Kauai is tough. There is really no boating facility, it is tough to get the boat shipped back from there to the mainland and all together, it adds lots of time, efforts and money to the race itself. The crossing from Kauai to Honolulu is awful (at least for a mini). I was beating to weather for 26 hours with 3 reefs in the main and reef jib and nasty waves. Don't want to do that again. Ever.
So the goal is to get a fleet....
Open Sailing will help in many ways for logistics and other details running the race. If you want to practice before the race with other minis, we will be happy to find slips affordable in Marina Del Rey, will be able to keep your trailers at our place,....plenty of things we can help with since we have a great sailing center down in Los Angeles.
For practice, there are some great races organized by PSSA Los Angeles (see minibar's post). If the Guadalupe race is not on the schedule this year (every other year), we can still have some good races, once a month. We can also plan on having a qualifier for the minis who want to race. An unofficial Guadalupe race is a good qualifier because if forces to go downwind, then back upwind, in sometimes very rough conditions.
Let's keep working in this direction...

cheers!

Jerome
Pogo 2 "Team Open Sailing"
"The first Mini to ever race the SHTP"!!!! ;-) First of many to come I hope!!!