Greetings FWC Members!
 
March is here, and just like that, our first two regattas of the year are completed! I hope you are excited for the warmer weather that is on its way and are ready to get your Wave moving soon (if you haven't already, of course).
 
Regatta Recaps
Instead of putting full regatta recaps in the newsletter, we are going to start publishing them on our website. I will add links to the recaps in the newsletter. Visit our website periodically to see news and updates posted there first!
 
First, the Southwest Regional regatta recap was written by our friends at Murrays!
 
https://www.formulawaveclass.com/news/2022-southwest-regional-recap
 
The recap contains a link to their website. Please consider supporting those businesses who help support the FWC!
 
Congrats to the top finishers:
1st Place - Jim Sajdak
2nd Place - Jane Sherrod
3rd Place - Teri McKenna
 
Next, the Deep South Regional was held in Clermont, Florida. Find the recap, written by FWC Event Coordinator Doug Seib here: https://www.formulawaveclass.com/news/2022-deep-south-regional-recap
 
Congrats to the top finishers:
1st Place - Doug Seib
2nd Place - Jane Sherrod
3rd Place - Terry Warren
 
Schedule
Mid-South Regional - Shreveport, LA
April 22-24, 2022
Come sail with the gators in Louisiana! The Shreveport regatta has become an annual favorite for FWC sailors. On-Site camping, gracious hosts, good food, and great wind make this a regatta you don’t want to miss.

Midwest Regional - Yankton, SD
June 24-26, 2022
Yankton is a favorite sailing location for many Midwest sailors for several reasons! Camping on-site by the scenic bluffs make this a gorgeous destination to visit, and the traditionally good winds make the sailing fun. Yankton has hosted many national championship level regattas. Come see what the fuss is all about!

Emerald Coast Regional - Fort Walton Beach, FL
July 8-10, 2022
The Emerald Coast Regional will be held as part of the Meigs Regatta. Fort Walton Beach is a great place on the gulf you can take the whole family too! The Fort Walton Yacht Club is a first class organization and will host an excellent summer sailing event!

North Coast Regional - Put-in-Bay, OH
August 5-7, 2022
Often called the Key West of the North, the Put-in-Bay regatta is a party within a party. Spend the day racing on Lake Erie, and your evenings exploring the active nightlight of the island. There is plenty to explore, so bring the family, and enjoy all Put-in-Bay has to offer.

HCANA Wave North American Championship – Shreveport, LA
October 12-16, 2022
**This is not an FWC Regatta. Participants must be members of the HCANA and sail an HCA compliant boat. 

Pensacola Yacht Club Regatta - Pensacola, FL
October 28-30, 2022
**This is not an FWC Regional Regatta, but will offer a Wave start and course sailed under FWC rules. 

FWC Championship Regatta - Gulfport, FL
November 17-20, 2022
 
Membership
It’s time to renew your FWC Membership! If you haven’t already, please contact Wendy ([email protected]) to complete your membership. We also have a button on our website that links out to PayPal and you can complete your membership that way too. Remember, memberships are required to participate in our events!
 
Regular memberships are $25 and youth memberships are $10. Our referral program is still in place, so be on the lookout for new FWC members and it could save you money on next year’s membership!
 
FWC Forum
If you haven’t already done so, check out the FWC Forum, accessible from our website! The forum is meant to be driven by you! When you go to the forum, you will see a button in the upper right-hand part of the screen that says “Register”. All you need is your email address, and it takes a couple of minutes to set up the account for the forum. Once you have an account – have fun! Start a discussion. Ask a question. Feel free to use it and post to it.
 
Social Media
Please follow us on Facebook! (https://www.facebook.com/hobiewaveracing) We post updates, pictures, schedule information, and all things FWC. Like and share our posts to spread the news of all the great things we have going on!
 
Thank You
As always, thank you all for your continued support of the FWC. Wave sailing wouldn’t be what it is today without your participation and enthusiasm in our sport. See you at one of our Regionals this year!
 
Ben Wells
FWC - President

The following recap was written by FWC Events Coordinator Doug Seib:

I was able to get down to Clermont this past weekend, borrow a friend's boat, and we had some great sailing. Three days of 85 degrees, with cloudless skies and good winds. It mainly blew 8-18 all three days. Sometimes gusting even more. The lakes shallowness keeps the waves from getting more that 2 feet. It was very puffy and shifty, but that really tests the sailors all around skill level.

The PRO rarely changed the start line or moved the weather mark because if had done so, 1 minute later he would have had to move it back!  He /They did the right thing in leaving it alone which promoted more port end starts than I've ever seen at one regatta!
Another skill set to learn.

About that He/ They thing...our PRO on Friday had torn his Achilles tendon and was wearing a boot. He stood all day and the bouncing around set him back, so much that he couldn't get out of bed Sat. morning. Our second PRO Steve arrived on 30 minutes notice and took care of us the Sat & Sun. Kudos to him.

We had a large grassy area to share with the Hobie 16's that were also there. It was a nice combination of fleets and the course kept us from getting in each others way since 16's don't really go upwind or down wind like waves! We had a great group of wave racers, and because of the shifty winds, it was rare that any race wasn't lead by several people.

The Clermont town center was only blocks away and Friday night they had 15 food trucks set up for a "First Friday" celebration. YUM. If your looking to get an early start on summer, or just bored shoveling your driveway, this could be a nice breakout for anyone interested in a great sailing weekend!

We want to thank our friends at Murrays for writing this! You can see the original post here. While visiting their website, take some time to look around and support their business, as they are supporters of the FWC and Wave racing.

Recap: A few short months ago, 78 Hobie waves gathered in Texas for the US Sailing Alter Cup championships. Last weekend we had ten boats turn out for our regional championships in the South Bay of San Diego. The Formula Wave class has been growing again recently with the resurgence in outdoor activities and simplicity of the boat. The event was hosted largely by the crew of the Bill of Rights, a 129′ schooner based in Chula Vista. Don Johnson and crew hosted the racers each morning in the galley of the ship with fresh eggs, bacon, pancakes, coffee and more. Racers would gather each morning to rig and launch their boats from Bayside park, and sail a few miles out to the race course in the waters south of the Coronado Bridge and the US Naval Vessels along the water front.
The event consisted of three days of racing, starting on Friday Feb 25th and ending Sunday Feb 27th. The previous week had been quite cold, and the weekend was calling for much warmer temperatures. The cold held on for that first day of racing though. The light breeze and sun had us all questioning how much to bundle up… and by the end of the day I think we all figured we had underestimated the cold. With a modest slog out the the course and a mild forecast, we were prepared for some technical and light wind racing. As the day moved on, and the white caps rolled in, we found ourselves cooking right along! The top sailors clearly set themselves apart as they battled for the top three spots. Jim Sadjak, Teri McKenna and Jane Sherrod. Steve Murray did manage to swipe a third on the third race. The wind dictated that the gate be setup right next to the channel, so some sailors made good use of the incoming tide to get a boost when hugging the left side of the coarse out of the gate. I found myself missing my trapeze lines as the day went on, but the spread of the sailors was pretty tight. The leaders were clearly at the front, and others settled into their positions in the fleet, but it was difficult to gain significant distance on anyone. Until Saturday
Day two started largely like day one, but with slightly warmer conditions. Racing was set to start a bit earlier and pretty close to the slack tide. The breeze began frustratingly light as we chased Jim around the course. Four of us broke out into a nice lead and headed left at the gate to milk the current of the outgoing tide. The rest of the fleet went right, to hug the left side of the course, and found a fantastic wind shift and boost. Chayne Lesley had been in the right spot to see the header coming down and tack early. From the right side of the course we could see one boat screaming towards the weather mark followed loosely by five more. Chayne’s boat didn’t have a tiller, as we got closer to the boat on their way to the finish, I saw Chayne in full superman stretched out pose, steering with his feet with at least 6 boat lengths of room between him and his followers. We heard the nice beep of Chayne’s bullet as the four of us were rounding the weather mark. DOH! The race committee squeezed in four more races on Saturday, with a pretty good spread of finishes. The breeze was a bit stronger after that first race, and with the slack/ incoming tide that followed, the water stayed pretty flat. Richard had to head in early with some rudder issues and was followed shortly after by Steve when the course needed some adjusting.
The final day of racing started with warm air and a glassy bay. Race committee put up a postponement right off the bat. A few of us pushed off with an angel breath worth of breeze to bait the wind into coming out to play with us. After some capsize drill conversation and 2mph hull flying, I decided that it was a great time to practice a dry capsize on a Wave! Chayne was in a great spot to capture some photos and the rest of the fleet pushed off the beach to drift out to the course. The wind filled in slowly at around the same time it’d filled in the days before. The final day of racing didn’t see any significantly strong breeze, but provided some nice consistent breeze for the last day of the event. After another few races we flowed back to the beach in a nice little wave parade.