The first day of racing for the U.S. Multihull Championship has concluded after an excellent series of five heats and two completed races (two heats constitute one race).  After the first day of racing the returning champions, John Casey and John Williams, are sitting atop the leader board with 2nd and 1st place finishes.  They are very closely followed by Nigel Pitt and Alex Shafer with 4 points John Tomko and Ian Billings with 5 points.  The 20 teams pushed their high performance catamarans from the white sandy beach of Gulfport, FL into the 10 to 18 knot breeze for racing around a course operated by PRO Fairlie Brinkley.  The husband and wife team of Olli and Kelly Jason are poised in a 5^th place position followed by Ken Marshack and son Ian Marshack.  The Marshacks had led race 2A for one full lap before a brush with C-mark led them to a 360 degree penalty turn and a drop to 5^th place for that heat.  The wind and weather were so spectacular that the fleet gladly continued racing until 7:30pm until we had to stop for losing daylight and still, not one complaint was had.  The top 20 multihull teams in the nation are satisfactorily exhausted and headed for dinner while they are undoubtedly working on their game plans to find that extra inch of boat speed and to establish goals for tomorrows racing which starts in the morning at 10:55am. 

Robbie Daniel of Fun in the Sun, Inc, and Greg Goodall of Australian High Performance Catamarans (AHPC), who have provided the 10 new AHPC Capricorn F18 catamarans for the event, have contributed 10 very solid boats that have allowed us to record 5 heats on the first day of racing with very few minor issues permitting us to achieve short fleet rotation turn-rounds.  Gulfport Yacht Club has graciously paved the way with the race committee, facilities, local city authorities, and provide thus-far superb hosting.  We’re excited to record more racing tomorrow in what should hopefully continue the established pace and rhythm of, what has already been the beginning of, a stellar championship.