July 18, 2001

Hello everyone,

Our National Championships at Sail Newport brought great weather, camaraderie between crews, and competitive racing! This was the first large regatta we've sailed as a class since 1996, and it felt like we didn't miss a beat.

Tight racing brought a tie for first place points between Eclipse (Warren Hudson-Boston) and Knotless (Ken Bowden-Marblehead), but the tie breaker went to Eclipse (total number of first place finishes). Dave Nauber was nipping at their heels with a total of 19 points in third place (Yes - 1 point separating 1st to 3rd). Bob Keenan on Coconuts had an impressive three bullet Sunday to put him in Fourth place with 24 total points. Past two time national champ Bob and Greg Ames on Windswept finished 5th overall with 25 points. Interestingly enough, both Knotless (old Reggae) and Wolverine's boats have been past national champions.

1st Eclipse - Warren Hudson - Boston, MA 18 Pts
2nd Knotless - Ken Bowden - Marblehead, MA 18 Pts
3rd Wolverine - Dave Nauber - Westbrook, CT 19 Pts

For full results, go to www.sailnewport.org.

The race committee and race organizer Brad Read did an outstanding job. A total of 8 races were sailed with one throwaway. Their motto of "more racing, and less waiting" was true to form. Friday and Saturday brought winds of around 15 true, and Sunday around 7 true.

We will definitely keep the National Championships alive for years to come. It seems that Newport is an ideal location and venue for a regatta such as this from talking with the owners and crews. It was great to see everyone, and make new acquaintances. We really do have a special class of people and boats! We took a bunch of great pictures that will be up on the Frers33.com site as soon as possible.

We do have some Newport Nationals white polo shirts left at $25 each. We'd like to try and sell them all, and put the money back in the class treasury. Contact me if you'd like to purchase some.

We also have class flags for the backstay available at $17(ea). If you weren't at the regatta, and would like to get one please let me know.

We continue to collect class dues - if you haven't sent them in yet, please do so as soon as possible.

Our other one design events for this year are

Marblehead NOOD - July 28-29th
Buzzards Bay Regatta - August 3-5
Larchmont NOOD - September 7-9
and possibly AYC Fall Series or Manhassett Bay Fall Series

Special thanks goes out to Matt Whitlock, our class secretary and treasurer, for all his hard work and effort in helping me plan this event. I couldn't have done without you!

Thank you all for making it a great weekend. I can't wait to do it again next year.

Regards,

Kurt