United States A-Class Sailing Association (USACA)

Action from Day 1 of the European Championships at Mar Menor

Ladies & Gentlemen. We introduce our new class President. Following on the big footsteps of Michael Christiansen, as his tenure comes to it's end, Patrick Stadt has been elected as US fleet President at this important time, with the Worlds due in Tampa, in November.

Born in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, in 1956 - raised in Melbourne, Florida. He graduated from the US Coast Guard Academy in 1979 with a BS in Marine Engineering. He served for 30+ years in the US Coast Guard as a Naval Engineer and Commanding Officer of the services largest Cutters and gained an MSE in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He then served as one of the Corporate Directors of Government and Customer Relations in Washington, DC, for Huntington Ingalls Industries for seven years following his USCG Retirement. He was a consulting engineer with Peter Hinz Consulting for four years. He is also a licensed Sailplane pilot and a licensed USCG 100t Master.

He has been cruising the US east coast and the Bahamas for several years with Michelle Jennings of Indialantic, Florida, on their 44’ Fountaine Pajot, and they’ll have been married for 47 years on 09 June. He's also an avid Pickleball player. His first A-Cat was a WaterRat, but is now sailing a 2015 DNA, racing and learning for the last four years, and 'very happy to be counted as a member of the USACA and the global A-Cat community!' he says.

Regatta Report: High-Performance Catamarans Shred the waters at the CSA North American A-Cat Championships. Bailey White reports.

The racing calendar delivered spectacular conditions this past week as sailors from ARG, CAN, and USA gathered for one of the most anticipated events of the season, the A-Class North American Championships. Lake Carlye in southern Illinois outside of St Louis, Missouri is known for its tactical challenges, hospitality and stellar race management. It lived up to its reputation, providing tight racing across a multi-day schedule.
The official notice board, full scoring breakdowns, and tracking links were hosted directly via the event portal at csa-sailing.org/regatta/3VQxQFbbZy.

The Venue & The Host Association
The regatta was organized and hosted by the Carlye Sailing Association (CSA), a largely volunteer group that reflects the best of midwestern American culture and hospitality. The club hospitality deserves special mention with dinners, breakfasts, PB&Js, and refreshments all provided to sailors throughout the event by club volunteers. There are too many club members to cite but Rick Bernstein and Tom Paoloi as regatta chairs deserve special mention as well as Tom Wyman, PRO.

Sailors from sea breeze venues had to adapt to the game of shifts and pressure that can routinely be 2X the mean wind speed. This adaptation often starts with frustration and ends with patience and better results. This is lake sailing and brings a new level of challenge to those who might otherwise rely on speed to win the day. It brings tough lessons that have helped this club’s sailors win world championships in fleets including the Lightning.

Sailors each day arrived at the club after driving down long straight roads beside fields of agricultural crops and enjoyed the beauty of the region. The area is a perfect embodiment of the heartland of the USA and why USACA picked Carlyle for the 2026 North Americans. It served as a way to have a unique experience together as a fleet in preparation for the 2026 Florida Worlds in November at David Island Yacht Club.

The Podium and Key Battles
Looking at the results, you’ll see just how close the competition was. Even Ravi, didn’t always have it so easy, barely pulling off one 1st place finish over Bruce, Todd, and Bailey with a foiling jibe.

Two Open sailors have moved into Classics with a vengeance. Bruce Mahoney and Todd Woods, sailing DNA Vintage F1 and eXploder Classic respectively, showed what is possible in that fleet and overall. Todd in particular transitioned his Open fleet approach to classic mode upwind speed and set a high bar for all. Todd would have finished higher if not for his top hook breaking way from his mast due to age and rust.
Francisco Venetucci deserves special mention. First, he traveled farthest, flying from Argentina to compete. Second, he now owns a 2020 eXploder in the USA and will be training with Ravi and Lena in Long Beach this summer. He is already fast and will only get faster.

As with any great fleet, there are stories throughout it worth mentioning and this article only covers a few. Olivier Lajoie deserves special mention as a new CAN fleet member how has just learned to sail 9 months ago. Olivier has gone all in with two boats, dedicated time with Red Gear Racing and Ken Marshack’s tutelage in Key Largo, and results that consistently improved throughout the regatta. Watch this man go in the coming years.
Other relatively new fleet members like Alex Hart, Scott Ledbetter, Ian Ray, Mark Sellnau, Patrick Work, and Kirt Simmons were awesome to have in the event. Scott is already on the podium and has a fascinating history as a captain for megayachts.

Leon Pinson, a soon to be wedded man, hosted his batchelor party at the event. He and his regatta cat, Louise, are event favorites and Leon showed he will go for it on the water every time, even if it is not in the best interest of his ankle or foot! Youth.

We had six decades of ages racing. Olympic medalists, top sailmakers, composite engineers, doctors, lawyers, air traffic controllers, industrial experts, real estate professionals, electric vehicle entrepreneurs, royal yacht masters, etc etc. You won’t be disappointed to get to know any of them better.

Congratulations to Patrick Stadt, new USACA President and thank you to Mike Christensen for his two years of leadership.

Pics - Carol Ann, CSA

Brand new exploders will be available for charter at the Worlds for $5000.00 including admiral cup. Sailors must provide own insurance and sail.
First come first basis.

https://usaca.info/classifieds

Only a couple of weeks or so to go until Fiesta Time in the A-Cat World !

Over the weekend of April 17-19th, the Upper Keys Sailing Club hosted the Intergalactic regatta. This event has been going on about 20 years now and celebrates the top sailors from the second half of the fleets. A fun, less serious event, it was John Schiefer who was the original brainchild of this event. It gave recognition to those who may never win but always participate. Still with some great sailing and they had 16 sailors, including 4 down from Canada. The water was a beautiful, warm, clear turquoise with winds 8-10 for two days. The winds died on the Monday, so no sailing, but everyone had a great time.

Had this been a normal regatta, the overall winner and the winner of the Classic division would have been Ben Moon, with one of the CAN sailors, Andrew Woods, leading the Open foiling fleet scores. However, this isn't a normal regatta, it's the Intergalactic Regatta, and the winner is scored from the lower half of the whole fleet. Hence the declared regatta champions here are Andrew (Kiwi) Burdett, overall and Classic, and Mark Herenden for the Open fleet! We said it was to be fun! Many thanks to Shelli Skeels.

Worlds entry opens and NOR published.

The 2026 World Championships Notice of Race is now published.
https://www.aclassworlds.com/documents

And entry is now open for both the Admiral's Cup warm-up regatta - https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/31123

And the World Championships - https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/31124

This year, the AUS Association celebrated 60 years of A-Cat sailing as an association.

Former AIADCA President and A-Cat legend, Ian 'Storm' Johnson, has done many hours research in the archives to produce this interesting biography of their Association. This was presented at their 60th celebrations at St Leonards Yacht Club and Motor Squadron in early Feb 26.

Read it here
https://www.a-cat.org/node/3928

Great research work done here by the Aussies!. They found all the first, second and third places for the Worlds from the start in 1981 https://www.a-cat.org/node/24