Dynamic New A-cat

Pics by Jaco Kleijwegt Localsailing.nl (hi-res pics later)

Chris doing the wildthing DNA style; brutal force by wind, boat and helmsman.
In the first pic you can see the perfect hull trim and in the others how Chris uses the gust to accelerate his boat. He pushes the boat through the wave and get it in a higher gear by working the sheet hard and by moving his bodyweight.
Chris applied this style when needed to get away form his fellow competitors. Where other A-cats have to shift to a light footed mode in a big breeze he just stepped on the gas.

Dutch Nationals technical wrap-up

The Dutch Nationals provided us with more data about how to get the best out of the DNA.

There is a trend toward more mastrake. That way we keep the bows form burying downwind in big gusts which helps the boat acelerating to speeds over 20 knots.

Although the beam is clearly behind the middle the mastrake balances the boat better upwind and downwind.

Upwind all forces are centered around the daggerboard. The helmsman is standing in the trapeze at the daggerboard as well and the boat feels light and fast.

It is so importrant to keep the bows up in breeze to keep the boards working for you. If the boat dives the boards give less left and become draggy. The same effect as if you would sail downwind the straight boards completly down. The fastest way to sail the boat is the nose just touching the water, both burying and high up are slower.

In 24+ knots you can choose how to sail the boat downwind; to sail it flat with the daggerboards up or with even more mastrake on one hull and boards down. If the boat nosedives you can still bear away; the boat will not cartwheel but plough through the water before it comes back. Chris sailed it in 24 knots of breeze downwind on one hull with extreme mastrake and was excited about the speedthrill.

We have not seen any trapezing downwind in this Nationals, mainly because the wind was so gusty and sofar only Chris and Jaap have experince in doing so in force 5 and up. You definitely need toe loops to do so, although nosediving is minimized once you stand on the transom of the boat. (according to Jaap and Chris)

Now the first DNA's have arrived in Australia we will soon get more reports about this new style of of downwind sailing.

We also believe now that in over 18 knots we can reduce the rake of the boards a little because at the high speeds you get so much lift from the boards. When I overshoot te first mark in a 20+ knot breeze and had reach to the first mark the boats started to jump, which looked spectacular but felt a bit scary. So next time I will reduce the angle with half a degree to have better control and lower drag for even higher end speeds. Decreasing the amount of lift is easy on the DNA because we have our sliders with which we an easy adjust the amount of lift.

Upwind you can sail the boat in two modes; one is going for maximizing straight line speed with a slightly twisted sail (Roeland style) or sail it with a tighter sheet and sailing 'bananas' in gusts. With bananas I mean that you not really steer up to to handle the gust but instead sailing a slight curve to gain height. It feels as if the boat is climbing up into the wind. I used this technique to pass a boat with straight boards. It only seems to work on a boat with curved boards.

Another title for Chris Field on his DNA

Chris Field, Bob Baier and Sjoerd Hoekstra on the podium.

All pics by Auke Minderman

The Dutch Nationals were won by Chris Field. Chris was incredibly fast downwind in the strong breeze.

Bob was second on his Nikita and Sjoerd third on his Tool with DNA curved boards. PJ was fuorth wth same points as Sjoerd who pushed really hard in 24 knots to win the last race when Chris suffered a broken tophook.

Wind during the event varied between 16 and 24 knots.

In the 16 knot race PJ won the race by sailing a magnificent downwind leg. His GPS showed a consistent and amazing 19 knots.

Roeland could have been on the podium but missed that by not finishing two races.

Upwind Chris and Bob were clearly the fastest guys, downwind Chris and  Roeland outpaced the others.

Bob did use a new Ashby Maxx sail which looked very promising.

Sjoerd sailed sharp and smart and pushed his Tool to the limit. Downwind his was struggling on his Tool but he always kept the pressure on the other guys by excellent boathandling, gybing and tacking on shifts and windlaned and profiting from the right of way at the marks.

Next week Sjoerd will be sailing PJ's DNA at Scharbeutz during the German Open where he and Bob will fight for the title.

more pics at:http://picasaweb.google.nl/krijgercj/NKAKLasseVrijdag

                   http://picasaweb.google.nl/krijgercj/NKAKlasse2010Zondag

                   http://localsailing.nl/

another report at: http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/

Roeland at Lake Garda

Some pics of Roeland at the Swiss Open, where he finished 2nd overall. Unfortunately no pics of Chris, the new Swiss Champ on his DNA.

In the first pic you can see Roeland doing the wildthing in a position where normally te rearbeam would be.

The nose up wildthing is typically for a high volume curved foils A-cat.

The second pic shows Roeland in some serious breeze. He could maintain such high speeds upwind due to the great longitudinal stability both caused by the sharp nose which cuts the waves and the low rocker flat bottom.

Over 40 entries in Dutch Nationals!

For the first time in the history of the Dutch A-class we will have more than 40 competitors.

The Swiss Meister and vice-meister will be present and the current European Champion is expected.

Due to the extra PR efforts of Kees, Rob and Jan-Willem we will see more sailors than ever from the Netherlands.

Matthias Dietz will defend his title and many others form abroad are curious how the DNA it will do in its home waters.  We have now two DNA's at Hellecat (Roeland and Jons) and Jan Willem has ordered one.

7 DNA's will be present (Chris, PJ, Arno, Jons, Roeland, Jaap, Rene).

Chris has put extra hiking straps (toe loops) on his boat for getting even more speed out of the boat while going downwind. He is the first who adopted the trapezing downnwind without a spinnaker style.

He believesthat it will work in medium conditions as well.

Megan Brewin pics of Cesenatico

(c)Megan Groves Brewin Photography

Some great pics by Megan of Stevie and Chris in which you clearly see the curved boards. In the third pic it is shown clearly that front beam and rear beam are perfectly aligned for minimum drag.

Banana Beach Trophy

Pics by Geert Schouten

Jaap Staakenbroek on his yellow DNA during the Banana beach Trophy of Catclub Zeeland in which Jaap took second place. On the pics the curved boards are clearly visible and you can see Jaap hiking out doing the wildthing and even standing in the trapeze. Jaap told me that he could macth the speeds of the fastets F18's downwind.

Upwind he was slightly faster.

Lake Garda wrap-up

Just spoke to a happy Chris Field in the phone; an fantastic boat, Arno he told me, so stable and so incredibly fast.

Chris did match the speed of Roeland and Bob (European Champion) upwind but was definitelt faster esepcially if he started to really push the boat.

He did some trapezing downwin even in the 25 knot stuff and gained hunderds on meters on the down wind leg. He only needed it if he was behind and sailed more cautiously if he was in front.

He put little rake in his daggerboards, while in 20 knots plus the boards still generated enough lift.

Trapezing downwind will ne the new trend next year.

Chris will take part in the Dutch Nationals were we expect a 40 plus fleet in the well known club Hellecat in Hellevoetsluis. 7 DNA's will be present there,

see http://www.a-cat.nl/

Chris Field Swiss Champion!

Chris is the new Swiss Champion! He scored three bullets today. Roeland has become the vice-meister.

congratulations to both. Bob Baier was a convincing third on his Nikita, with Luc Dubois number 4 on his Scheurer and Giovanni Calabria fifth on his Flyer S.

Great result for our new design with all races won by a DNA and 4 1-2 finishes.

Chris is rewarded for his hard work this spring and summer and Roeland scored his second podium finish in a big regatta this year. Chris is sailing boat 4 and Roeland is sailing number 3 (the black one).

I will try to get some quotes from Chris later.

Final results at: http://www.circolovelaarco.it/immagini/allegati/201008212083104_76CLASSIFICA%20DEFINITIVA.HTM