This great event started Friday May 16th with Welcome party and dinner at the Pensacola Yacht Club (PYC). Racing Saturday the 17th and Sunday the 18th. Awards and dinner Sunday at conclusion of Racing. Regatta was organized by Tommy Clark, Sales Associate, Windcraft Multihulls and Pensacola Yacht Club. Windcraft is the dealer Corsair, Dragonfly, and Rapido Trimarans. Mark Smith was the Race Committee PRO, he and his Race Committee volunteers did a great job. The event was open to all multihulls including Weta Trimarans and Beach Cats, but I was the only Weta sailor and there were no beach cats. So I was racing against Corsairs, Dragonflys, and Farrier Trimarans, No large Catamarans either. The entry fee was $250 per boat early registration, and $275 late registration. I contacted Tommy via email and said that I didn't think a single handed Weta should pay the same entry fee as a large multihull with 2 to 4 crew members. Tommy agreed and said Beach Cats and Weta could pay half price so I registered late for $137.50 and I saved money by camping also. PYC allowed both tent and RV camping on their large property. PYC was established in 1908 and they have very nice facilities, including a large, wide beach for launching Weta Trimarans and other small boats, as well as a boat ramp for large boats. The wind Saturday was Southwest starting light but increasing to 12 to 15 knots by midday. Sunday the wind was lighter, never getting over 10 knots. It was interesting racing larger Trimarans. For the most part, my Weta was able to keep up with the larger trimarans in the wind conditions we had. This was my first time sailing in Pensacola Bay which is much larger than I antisipated. The race course utilized exhisting navigational aids, Red and Green channel markers and bouys for the most part. This made it challanging for me. You can differentiate a red from a green marker from a pretty big distance, but to know if it was the correct red or green, you had to sail close enough to read the number on the mark. The bigger boats had binoculars, and possible electronic charts and or GPS. I only had prescription sun glasses. I might recomend some water proof binoculars next year. Or if we can get 5 or more Wetas they give us our own courses with inflatable race marks. I had a great time and I will definately race in the 2nd annual Pensacola Multihull Regatta next May.

Rick Upson, sail# 1422