Magic Light finish 3rd. at the Newport Ensenada Race

As the owner of "Magic Light (hull #1)we too followed the big boats outside in very light air. Unfortunately, having seen Max tack out right away we thought he was still outside of us and jibed back inside way too late as we were about 8 miles outside where he was worried about kelp. We caried our small reaching A-Kite all but the last few miles and missed getting SECOND by 2 minutes to a much larger N/M design.

2006 North American Championship: June 30th., July 1st. & 2nd.

North Cape Yacht Club will host the event. North Cape is located in Lasalle Michigan on the shores of Lake Erie. It is about 10 miles from Toledo Ohio. The web address is www.ncyc.net. Steve Attard will be the regatta chairman. Details and the Notice of Race are still being work. So far 10 boats are already committed to participate. ...more info

Lauderdale to the Caribbean on MIRAGE - 2006

The forecast was a down wind race long before we started from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West ...and they where right. Somewhat light for the first 10 hours in the 160nm race and the rest was a beam reach to the finish. Our spinnaker time was about 85% of the whole race.

At dawn the next day we found the other Hobie33 tucked clearly behind us. Not so a J-105 which had a young crew from the Naval Academy and the head-coach from J-World, Annapolis on board. With their asymmetrical spinnaker up they were cooking. With us in pursuit we noted their lead was building. Both of us kept close to the reef boundary line away from the Gulf Stream. Thanks to last years performance of MIRAGE the local handicappers converted their PHRF system to 3 ratings. Now they could choose between either buoy races, random course or off wind races. They choose the random course rating. That helped the J-105's rating and they won corrected by 3.5 minutes.

They would have led by a lot more if MIRAGE had not picked a course east of the rhumb line in final 5 miles to the finish avoiding bad counter current and gaining nearly 10 minutes. Will the handicappers penalize again after this 2nd in class and 5th overall? At least their local heroes won overall this time. It took us over 8 hours more than last year and we had ample time to enjoy the Caribbean scenery. The fact that PHRF used the ramdom leg rating instead of the off-wind rating cost us 1st place in class. The H33 rating did not change but the J105 was 3sec higher. A reaching spit boat just like the Melges 24, Thompson 870 and the J105 are a class on their own in beam reaching conditiond. The off-wind rating should have been used despite the wording:

>>>c. The OWC Rating is assigned to courses that, under normal conditions, are expected to have at least 2/3 of the distance be a "reach" or a "run". This rating will be used on all races where any leg exceeds 20 nm.<<< because from Looe waypt. to KW Sea Bouy is 22.3nm.

The Santa Cruz 70 is about the same design as a Hobie33 and received a 3 sec downwind penalty vs. our 12 sec/mi The fat head SR33 of the chief-handicapper had a nice rating of 63 for himself. The beefed up SR33 only gave a Hobie33 ODR 11 sec/mi. Luckily we finished a quarter mile ahead of them and next time they'll rate us to give THEM time <g>. I love golf handicaps. Hurricane damage from Wilma is hardly visible anymore. But FEMA drove up hotel prices and gas for the trip was up again. I heard HT's car had a break down on the way back to Ohio. Hope it was an easy fix. results here http://www.keywestrace.org/pdf/2006results-phrf.pdf

Christian
MIRAGE 3113

Magic Light back on track (turbo vs. stock)

In December 2005 Mr Alter's own boat, the "Magic Light" was sold to Dave Du Ket and Les Schmitz. The boat is back at the factory, i.e. Robbie Spartan Marine being brought up to a like new condition. "Magic Light" has incorporated many of the "Turbo" options that are available when buying a new H33 from Robbie. "Magic Light" has an open transom (original) and mast-head A-Kites too. Even the mainsail is a max roach powerhouse. However, remember all these option do cost on the rating. "Magic Light" rates 66. Under previous ownership she had a very winning season going very fast. On the other hand, a stock Hobie 33 won The Cabo race with a Max Turbo H33 finishing 3rd on corrected time.

David R. Du Ket lll

New Class President

Kerry Hitchings is our new Class President. He was elected during our class meeting in Texas.

Words from Kerry: "I remember in the eighties when I saw my first Hobie 33. The boat had been introduced with a lot of press in magazines and newspapers. I wanted to see what one looked like. I finally spotted one at the Port Huron to Mackinac Yacht race. I remember two things about the boat. 1. The boat was very narrow. 2. The motor smoked and kept stalling out. Years later I had the chance to buy one with my brother-in-law and nephew. It is a really exciting boat. We finally figured out how to get the motor to stop stalling out. We race for fun and enjoy being on the water. At the end of each race we always say the same thing." There is no one having more fun per dollar than we are". I really appreciate all the efforts that people like Rich Brew and Christian have put into the class. They have really kept the class alive and are committed to promoting the Hobie 33. I like to refer to people like that as the class of the class. There are many other Hobie owners that contribute to the website and make the class what it is today. We saw our boat on the website and then bought it. I look at the news on the website and forum everyday because I learn so much. I hope that any contribution I can make to the Hobie 33 Class will only further participation by all Hobie 33 owners in the future."

Kerry Hitchings

Hobie 33 North American Championship

It was 2001 when Bret Stewart won the last North American Championship held in Virginia Beach. This time the regatta goes to the South West. Cedar Mills Yacht Club will be hosting the 2005 Hobie 33 North Americans, so far 12 boats are registered with several more ready to make the trip to Lake Texoma, TX.

Read: more information

Lake Erie Trans Erie Race

Three Hobie 33's competed in the Lake Erie Trans Erie Race and all showed great results. The impressive finish though was Plum Crazy the Hobie 33 doublehanded by veterans Walt Norris and Rich Potcova. They had sailed in the double handed class and were not counted in the Overall results but as you can see from corrected time, they had it locked up. Downwind in about 20-25 kts. at times. Exceptionally well for two people in these conditions. You can see more info at www.transerie.com

Mike Deye

Soap Opera wins Transpac Double Handed

Soap Opera has finished in style. Finishing more than 6 hours ahead of their 24hour projection, they finished today, Sunday, at 11:10:45AM Honolulu time or 4:10PM our time. They easily won the Double-handed Division along with Division V. In addition, with their fantastic finish they may have moved up to 15th to 16th overall (they were 18th in the last report) in the 75 boat fleet.

Congratulations! Nigel and Scott, you have represented the Hobie 33 well.