Mike Clements and team Too Wicked win the 2022 North American Championships

regatta report from Mike Clements (thanks Mike!)
The 2022 Martin 242 NA's were held in light air in Nanaimo with a fleet size of 15 boats. Many top Regional Teams attended the event, including 3-time winner Michael Clements, 2-time winner Alex Fox, runners-up Ken Holland and Matt Collingwood, and Phil Cragg & Reto Corfu, a top Vancouver team. 
 
It was a very tough regatta that required everyone to be "on" every minute, and relatively minor mistakes resulted in several boats passing by in an instant.
 
Day 1 was sunny and cool and 5 races were held. By the end of the day Crantini (Alex Fox, Sarah Rosenthal, Sarah-Anne Brault, Isaac Kitchingman) was in the lead with 8 net points, Back in Black (Phil Cragg, Reto Corfu, Drew Mitchell, Ryan McKenzie) was in 2nd with 10 net, followed closely by the Too Wicked team with 11 net (Michael Clements, Micah Vanderheide, Ella Li, and James Pettit). 
 
Although each team had different experiences on Saturday, in the case of Too Wicked they favored the right side of the course every beat as there seemed to be a bit more wind on that side coupled with favorable shifts. (Editor's note: maybe favourable current too?)
 
Sunday was another matter, with rain and cold wind, and the course was more variable with big windshifts and occasional soft patches in some sections of the course. When the final race was held there was a large pileup of boats at the pin end due to more wind and a 1.5 knot cross-current, and both Crantini and Back in Black hit the pin mark in turn, with Alex Fox winning the prestigious "Screwdriver Award" as a result of getting the anchor line caught on his rudder for several minutes. 
 
Too Wicked and Dingo were able to escape the melee and rocketed off to the port side of the course. However, Back in Black made an amazing recovery and by the windward mark was only a few boat lengths behind Too Wicked, which set up a nail-biting final downwind leg with the two boats racing almost neck-and-neck to the finish. However, Too Wicked was able to harden up under Back in Black with about 200 yards to go and position itself between Back in Black and the finish line, and that was that.
 
Final results can be seen here. Too Wicked was 1st overall, followed by Back in Black and Crantini. Peter Grimm on m&m won the Seriol Williams Award for "Most Improved" at a major championship event.
 
Many thanks to the Nanaimo Yacht Club and Bill Jones and Ken Holland for putting on a great event.

Team Too Wicked taking it down!


Crantini - leading after Day 1, Hearbreaker on Day 2!


Back in Black - in the hunt up to the final finish...


m&m - a few great finishes, snapping at the heels

Lots more photos of all the boats here:

Round Bowen Results - M242’s Dominate Once Again

 
11 boats attended the event this past weekend, and the final results can be seen here.
 
Allan and Clare Strain were 2nd overall in the event on Shadowfax - congratulations!
Martin 242’s were 2nd Overall, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th to 12th, and 18 (so 7 of the top 10, and 10 of the top 20)

Shadowfax crew picking up some Hardware! Allan (middle left) holding the brand new Fleet 1 Round Bowen Award (donated by Colin Potter) and Clare (right side).

The downwind start was spectacular (first one in decades), and resulted in a bit of a gong show at Finisterre (at the NE corner of Bowen Island). The wind was highly variable the rest of the race up to Roger Curtis, and some PHRF boats got stuck for 3 hours in the massive wind & tide transition zone that had developed at Arbutus Point (at the north end of Bowen Bay at the west side of Bowen). Most of the 242’s escaped the hole and kept the PHRF boats within eyesight.

Allan Strain reports:
"I would have won (overall) with an age allowance, and SPOG gives age allowance. (Editor's note: I guess we should lobby for a change to the scoring rules for next year?) It was light, patchy, and very shifty. Glad I got into wind first and left the fleet behind as we rounded to tight reach up south side of Bowen."

Nice job racers!


image credit: Stefan

Registration Update Regarding Major Upcoming Events

Pacific Coast Championship / Cal Race Week

The Regatta website is open here, the NOR is available, and the SI’s will be available soon. The event takes place on June 4 & 5. US$75 to Register until May 22, and US$150 after that. Five M242’s have Registered so far.

 

Round Bowen Race

The Regatta website is open here, the NOR is available, and the SI’s will be available soon. The event takes place on June 11. $60 to Register until June 1, and $65 after that. Social events on Friday & Saturday nights.

One M242 has Registered so far, and we are expecting up to 15 boats from Washington State and BC. Free overnight moorage on the Friday and Saturday nights is available for participants at Union Steamship Marina on specified docks. See the regatta website for details.

 

Round Orcas Race

The Regatta website is open here, the NOR & SI’s will be available soon, and the event takes place on June 18.

 

NA’s at Nanaimo

The 2022 NA’s in Nanaimo are approaching quickly on July 2/3, and 12 M242’s have Registered so far on the regatta website here, and we are expecting 25-30 boats from California, Washington State, BC, and Alberta. The world-renowned Opti races and Regatta Party take place on Friday evening after the M242 Practice race.

Registration deadline is May 27 to be eligible for the early bird prize draw!

A team from Los Angeles is looking for a M242 to borrow/charter, so if you have a good boat that you are not planning on racing in the NA’s with, please consider contacting Denise George at 1-310-490-9432 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

BC Championship at Gibsons

The Regatta website is open here, the NOR & SI’s are available, and the event takes place on July 23/24.

Two M242’s have Registered so far, and we are expecting up to 10 boats from BC.

Skippers are encouraged to make moorage reservations as soon as possible, as there is limited reserved space for competitors, and M242’s will be rafted 3-deep on one side of an 82’ concrete float, and motherships will be rafted in the main harbor. See the regatta website for details and contact info at Gibsons Landing Harbor Authority.

 

Cowichan Bay Regatta

The Regatta website is open here, the NOR is available, and the event takes place on July 30/31. 40% off Early Registration ends on June 1st, so don’t miss this great deal.

Four M242’s have Registered so far, and we are expecting up to 15 boats from Washington State and BC. Skippers are encouraged to make moorage reservations as soon as possible via the regatta website - see it for details.

 

REMINDER - All competitors need to have at least the helmsperson Registered with a Fleet for the NA’s, PCC’s, and BC Championships, plus the boat itself, per Class Rule 7, so to join Fleet 1 or Fleet 2 go to “Member & Boat Registration” at www.m242fleetone.org

Fleet 1 has 19 boats and 41 Members Registered so far (we usually peak at 28-30 boats and almost 70 Members) and Fleet 2 has 17 boats and 20 Members Registered so far, with about another 4-5+ to go in each category. See the complete list here.

  1. KYC Thursday Night Racing
  2. Update 2022-04-13
  3. Fleet Loaner Spin Poles
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