I think the Race Result categories for the larger cats should read:
- 45 Feet to UNDER 50 Feet.
- 50 Feet and Over.

This is how the classes were defined in the Race Instruction sheet given to the captains, and I assume this was based on actual LOA (not manufacturer's marketing department - e.g. FP Lucia 40 is actually 38.4' long).


Our Saba 50 Cuvee is 49.2 feet LOA so we were placed in the 45' to <50' class.

The Leopard 45 and Lagoon 440 specs show both as 44.7' LOA, so both being in the <45' class seems appropriate.

I think the time penalty added for boats flying spinnakers, such as Spellbound and the top 2 monos, was too low particularly with the very light wind conditions. Captain Jay and Rick on DeLife sailed an excellent race, but were significantly disadvantaged by the low spinnaker penalty applied to the two spinnaker flying mono's that placed in front of them.

I thought the race committee did a good job explaining the start order for race 1 and calling out time checks prior to the 11 am start time. Committee clock was 35 seconds faster than our GPS. Boats were started at 1 minute intervals based on the start number (which appeared to roughly match the order of LOA of the cat fleet). With our #14 order we were to start at 11:14. We played it safe and got to the line about 20 seconds late but passed 8 cats in Race 1 and pulled away from all the cats starting behind us. It did get confusing midway thru Race 2 as half the fleet was starting while the other half of the fleet were simultaneously finishing Race 1 on the same line.

I agree the placement of the Race 1 mark was very odd. We made course towards Smugglers Cove and wound up sailing a good bit extra distance. This being our 1st (but hopefully not last) Cat Fight, I simply assumed this scavenger hunt approach to racing was part of the "fun" factor of this race.

I do feel empathy for the race volunteers on the Committee Boat. We were half way thru Race 2 and there were still cats limping across the finish line for Race 1, and the last cat to finish Race 2 was at about 5:45 pm so the committee was out there for 7+ hours, then had to rush back to Foxy's for the awards presentation.

I would have liked to seen the uncorrected and corrected times reported.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed the race and Foxy's Halloween Party!