Organizing authority and fleet members
Fleet 448 members, friends and family!
It takes a village... and we need you! Members of the Hobie Fleet 448 support all events that we are able to put together, both financially with membership dues, and by volunteering to help. Whether you're a sailor or just a friend hanging with us - or enjoying our cookouts at the beach - there is a place for you in our fleet, and we're happy you've joined us! If you're not yet a member, you can join following our membership link here - and thank you!!
M/V NAMASTE, and her Captain
In the last few years, Hobie Fleet 448 has had the great fortune of connecting with former Fleet 416 member, Scott Lang, who restored Wickford Yacht Club's old signal boat "Namaste" to it's current beauty. She's got plenty of room to keep our PRO and RC comfortable and able to see and be seen on the race course. Scott's long time love of Hobie Cat Racing shows all the time.. proof positive: besides prepping Namaste for a 24 hour cruise to Rowayton, CT from her home port of Wickford RI, Scott has generously offered to sponsor entry for several youth teams at the H16 NAC.
Roton Point Association
Roton Point Association and Roton Point Club membership are going above and beyond to put on a fabulous event and have donated the use of their beautiful facility including all the amenities we always enjoy at their annual fall regatta (RPMR), as well as several support vessels. Their club membership will be volunteering and hosting our out of town volunteer race committee, there is no way we can thank them enough for this generosity, but we hope you will make a point to thank them in person while you're at the event! Thank you Roton Point!
Rhode Island Orthodontic Group
Since 2024's North American Championship event, RIOG has been a sponsor of Hobie Fleet 448 events, including our newest race series on Tuesday nights and it's championship event the Conimicut Cup. Brad has been a member for many years, and is one of our top competitors, you'll see his "RIOG" sponsored sails in the leaders of the pack! We're thankful for his competitive spirit and continued support of our Hobie fleet!
Hobie Cat Company
Steve Fields of Hobie Cat Company secured a generous donation of a new set of Hobie 16 sails to assist us in fundraising for our 2024 NAC.. this donation shows the commitment Hobie has to the class association and the regatta, as well as those who love to sail Hobie Cats... Thank you Hobie Cat Company!
Coddington Brewing Company
Since 2024, Coddington has sponsored our annual summer regatta at Quonset Point with gift cards and prizes for the winners. Whenever we can we'll meet there for a food and beverages and love the place, thank you Coddington Brewing for your continued support!
West Passage Brewing Company
"Good food, Great Service and a Healthy dose of Ocean and Beer" - The west passage of Narragansett bay is where we sail the most, and West Passage Brewing Co has been a sponsor of our annual Megrew's Cup Regatta since 2024. West Passage Brewing company was born out of desire to share with the local community a comfortable place to enjoy artisan brewed beer and great food in an environment that is welcoming to all.... there is still no comparison to locally crafted beer.
Click an image to visit sponsors of the 2024 hobie 16 n.a.c.
Blount Fine Foods
As we started brainstorming about how to showcase the local flavors found at Hobie Fleet 448 events, we knew we needed a classic chowda! Immediately our minds went back to that fabulous chowder from a fleet meeting last year and Todd Blount who provided it. Bount Fine Foods is donating enough New England Clam Chowder made to the old family recipe to feed the 5000, eh, I mean 150 hungry sailors at our Friday Fleet 448 home style dinner. Click the image to visit their facebook page and see what Blount Fine Foods is doing in the local community, or go to their website to learn more about their products! https://www.blountfinefoods.com/
Grey Sail Brewing
Fleet 448 and RPSA want to feature the tastes of New England in all our food and beverage selections for the socials. We want to treat our guests to the best New England has to offer and what better way to do that than to have our own Grey Sail Brewing of Westerly RI supply the kegs for the event!?
When the call went out for a beer sponsor, we were so delighted that Jennifer over at Grey Sail enthusiastically responded, they are a fitting sponsor for our high class sailing regatta.
Click the image to visit their website to learn more about their brews, and their brewery, as well as their schedule of live music playing at the Grey Sail Taproom - 65 Canal Street, Weserly RI.
Shoreline Photography
Gayle Brouillard of Shoreline Photography serves on the worship team with Christopher in Stafford Springs, and after hearing about the big event week after week, she wanted to get involved. She and her husband Scott drove down 3 separate days to shoot the event, and donated her services and technical resources to provide an amazing amount of professional photography of our event. Gayle and Scott split up to capture the event from three different RC boats on the water as well as on shore. She then gifted all the photo's including high resolution to everyone. This family has been a blessing to us this year, serving all God's people, and enjoying the ride! We hope these photo's are a blessing to you. Click the image to go to the gallery where you can page through about 2800 photos.
Flying Fish Arts (Chris Picknally)
Having received the donation of a brand new set of Hobie 16 sails - the white racing main and jib seemed to some of us to miss an element of Hobie sails... we know that colorful sails have been a key draw for some of our fans, so to the rescue came Chris Picknally of Flying Fish Arts - creator of some truly stunning custom sail graphics and durable sail bags. Chris has generously donated a gift certificate good towards a custom sail design and production, and we're combining that into our grand raffle prize, awarding it with our Hobie class racing sails donation. Flying Fish Arts also donated a gorgeous full size 'Rumple Sail Skin' sail bag to our event raffle... Thank You Chris Picknally! Please click the image and visit Chris' web site to see some more of his work, arrange your own project, or order a sail bag!
C4 Design
Fleet 448 member and graphic designer... Carl 'Lee' French is responsible for our event logo in all it's forms and is assisting in the "merch department" ... if you've got a marketing or advertising need, we highly recommend giving Lee a call, 617-306-8094, or visit his site C4Design.net ... we hope to see Lee on the water at the main event!
Wozztography / The Drone Zone
We were looking forward to some spectacular sights at this year's North American Championships, but to capture a fast paced Hobie regatta by drone takes an especially adventurous photographer/pilot - Joe Woznica fit the bill. Joe's a professional photographer in Central New York who we found through his fun footage of a Fleet 204 regatta. Joe agreed to come out to our event, and contribute towards our Raffle.
Joe's going to upload all his video production for us to his Youtube channel, so you can go there to see the latest offerings at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/@wozztography
Joe's more commonly running his wedding photography business, and his work is pretty amazing. Click the image to go straight to his website to see for yourself, or find him on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wozztography/
Fleet 204 folks, here's your daughter or son's wedding photographer!
StartWithAscribble, Sailboat art by Matt Fleming
We started seeing these cool Hobie 16 stickers showing up and found out that their creator - Matt Fleming is a local! Matt has been sailing for over 25 years and has been a graphic artist for 20 years. Matt creates the artwork as a way to share his love of sailing and to allow sailors to display the beauty of the sport, and their boats, on and off the water.
Click the image to visit his Etsy shop, StartWithaScribble, Matt offers personalized sailboat wall art, car window stickers, desk lights and more. Many of his pieces are custom made and are great way to show your love for your boat and sailing!
Biota Coffee
One of our beloved Fleet 448 members, Zach moved to Minesota and launched his own coffee company "Biota" focused on supporting regenerative agriculture in coffee farming... when he heard about the NAC, I got this generous note from him... " I’d love to be the coffee sponsor of the event. We could donate a bunch of coffee to brew over the weekend, including Roton Point, plus donate some retail bags to be included as prizes." Heck yeah Zach, we're interested in that!
Hull Flyer Graphics (James Derck)
If you've been on the catamaran racing circuit much in the past few years, you've probably already seen James Derck's work, including Fleet 448 members and friends, Worrell 1000 teams, and even the hull graphics on some of Flying Fish Arts' projects such as "Hobie Mackeral"! James helped us out with our bow numbers for the NAC, and we really appreciate his time and attention to detail - if you are looking for graphics for your hull or sail, get in touch with James at Hull Flyer Graphics... click the image to go to his facebook page.
Hemlock Ink
For our regatta rash guard, we asked for recommendations from members and friends and one name rose to the top - Hemlock Ink out of Hingham MA. Neal and his team were super quick to respond to our ideas, and held off on the final design until the last minute, allowing us to add some final sponsors. They then became a sponsor themselves! Hemlock Ink is holding onto the project for us for a bit, so if you didn't get all the rash guards you wanted, please reach out ASAP and let us know what size/gender shirt - maybe we can get it into a follow-up order for you! Click the image to check out their screen printing, embroidery, digital printing and custom vinyl work! Thank you Hemlock Ink!
Click an image to visit sponsors of the 2024 hobie 16 n.a.c.
Sail Newport
Putting on a big regatta like a North American Championships takes a village, and we were fortunate to have Mike's connections at Sail Newport when it came time to assembling an appropriate set of equipment and back-up equipment. Sail Newport has a long history of supporting sailing for youth and adults through all sorts of programs to get you out on the water.
Thank you Sail Newport for the use of your gear!
Check out their website to learn more by clicking on their logo.