Is the DNA really faster than the other boats?

In the USA there is still discussion about the new breed of boats. The same kind of discussion we saw in Australia after the 2010 Nationals and in Europe after the Europeans in La Baule in 2008.

The Aussies had missed the evolution of the Nikita with the second generation of curved boards (Glenn did not take part as he was preparing for the Olympics) and in Europe many discussed about if it was Bob or the Nikita.

Although I was already convinced in La Baule that it was the curved boards it did take some serious beatings by Nilkita sailors to draw me over the line. I lost the Dutch title to Matthias Dietz on a Nikita and was passed many times by Nikita's on raw boatspeed on Lake Garda, where Manoio still managed to win with straight boards though.

The first time I sailed on the Nikita I sailed away from PJ on his F2. I had put a similar rig on the Nikita and we were flabbergasted about the speed difference downwind and we saw that the Nikita was faster upwind as well but by a much smaller margin.

The first time Roeland sailed on DNA number 1 in the Vele di Pasqua last year he just flew over me (I was on my old F2) downwind and did win over 200 meters in one leg. When the same thing happened to Chris his jaw fell open and it only closed after he had ordered a DNA just before the end of the event.

The DNA incorporated the good things of the Nikita and took that philosophy further. It is a new generation of A-class and other builders willl follow. We already see initiatives in the States but we have not heard any stories about new boats smashing the old ones yet.

The best sailors get the best boats that is true. The results of Stevie and Glenn were not amazing. Amazing were the other 9 DNA's in the top 20 besides the top 5. Amazing was the result of Scott on his ASG/Flyer 2, but that result was the result of very clever downwnd sailing and not just raw boatspeed, though his new rig helped him too.

It was not Bob who convinced us to look for a Nikita no it were the less famous sailors who passed us who made so much impression.

If it s not about the sailors it could be about the rig. Stevie has used the same rig on the Tool and on the DNA. People who were as fast as he could no longer match his downwind speed.

I have scored my best results with a Glaser Lars 1 which is still the benchmark in the States. The new boats like much more power downwind, where the old boats dig in the new boats just shift up a gear. That is the reason Stevie, Chris and Roeland started to beat top F18's. Where in the past they lost in the lulls they could maintain speed and depth now.

The DNA and other designs suitable for the curved boards start to excell once they pop a hull. Not all curved boats do well, as it is not about the curved boards only but the whole package.

With two hulls in the water overall volume, crew weight and sailfullness are the critical succesfactors. The DNA is high volume but you have to sit in front of the forebeam downwind as Stevie showed in Cesenatico and Glenn did as well on his ASG3.

What is so nice about racing sailboats that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The eating will happen at the Worlds in Danmark August 2011. CU there or anywhere were the A-cat fun might be.

Remarkable: A-cat wih jib

Nice effort by Randy Smyth. Curious about the sailing test.

AUS nationals video

http://sailcam.tv/

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Moth wing discussion

It is good to see the discussion in the Moth class about the nature of the class and compare it with our discussions about the hydrofoil. I like the free thinker mentality as expressed in the video. The conclusion about the wing is inconclusive. Before this Championship my feeling was that if they could make it work it would work on an A-class as well and an AC72 too. It is a job well done by the developers because being almost competitive is quite an achievement. It also shows that a boat is no aeroplane and that we still know little about how wings work at low reynolds numbers. Maybe the AC72 designers will come up with new knowledge and deeper insights. I am happy that we didn't ban solid wings as I believe you should only ban things which are and damaging for the class ad have proven competitive.

A solid wing would not be good for the class as it is too complex to handle and will reduce the numer of competitors. Still if people are daring to follow this route I will be vey sympathetic to it.

Observations of Simon Nelson prior to the AUS nationals

I found this report on the forum of Sailing Anarchy (December 30) (see Simon's article published today at SA's home page too)

Simon says:

.......... (first part erased)

The first thing to do is to seperate out Glenn's sailing from the boat. Luckily, with a fair number of DNA's, that is possible. We tried to make each downwind a race in itself, so we all hung around the top mark and headed off downwind as a bunch. There was one boat that got to the bottom consistantly ahead or up there that wasn't a DNA and that was Scott Anderson. However, his performance was more about local knowledge than speed. He would often disapear off in a completely different direction and come out in front.

However, the rest of us tended to stick together with tight gybing and trying to work each gust, and it was very variablke and puffy. You could easil sail an extra 50 metres and lose the gust. This is where Glenn was in his element and I suspect he would have been as good in almost any boat. Because of the way he made better use of every puff, it is hard to tell if the DNA has a speed problem downwind in light air. However, judging by all the other boats, I would say not but I think one would need more consistant conditions and some real lining up to be sure.

However, once hull up, the DNA's are quicker than straight boarded boats. I have no doubts about that. However, while it is quicker, the hullshape and boards don't change physics. You can still pitchpole the boat if you get it wrong. So, quicker than Flyers and Tools with straight boards but what about Flyers and Tools with curved boards. Well, I feel that my Flyer 1, with DNA boards in, is truly competitive downwind on flat water. Stevie Brewin asked me, on the basis of how my boat is going, whether I therefore think that the DNA is more about foils than hullshape. My view is that the DNA is a complete package - the hullshape, the curved boards and the platform stiffness. I would have liked to change boats with somebody to see just how good the DNA is, but didn't ask because I didn't want to be demoralised! here was a Tool with unknown curved boards in and that didn't seem to be able to keep up downwind.

"

I should add that I did a lot of experimenting with my boards. I have a large amount of adjustment - I can move the top of the board 35mm and as my hull depth isn't as great as the DNA, that gives me close to double the adjustment of the DNA. And I think the boat likes lots of angle of attack on the boards, more than the DNA's can carry. Darren Bundock also sails with max AoA and the only issue is upwind at speed you have to keep your weight forward or esle the bow simply climbs to an alarming angle. My last run yesterday was done with the foils set to the minimum AoA because it was fairly light and I was slow, reminding me of the issues I had downwind when I first got my boat (with straight boards).

We were not sailing with any GPS so it is hard to give any figures. In addition, it was so puffy and variable I am not sure how much it would have told us. Angles were determined as much by pressure and th need to either stay in it or get to it than anything else. And this seems to me to be the big thing of trapezing downwind. I got the impression that Glenn was using it as a tactical weapon, to get to where he wanted to be quicker in terms of when he saw gusts. I got the feeling that when there was no tactical reason why you needed to get to one particular spot, trapezing was of marginal benefit in terms of VMG.

Upwind is really interesting. I believe you can point as high as anybody with the DNA boards, but, by way of exampl, you cannot simply sart off in "high mode". Coming off the line next to Scott Anderson, who points as high if not higher than anybody, I was unable to live there and he sailed past. However, I then ducked his transom, got a bit of clean air, gained speed and flow over the boards and then climbed. Doing that I was able to come out from under him and end up dead in front of him. So you need a bit of runway, or at least I do. I believe that this is the same for the guys on the DNA's, although I would guess the top guys would get away with less runway than I need, so this will be a real issue for me at the nationals. If I can work a small gap, fine, but otherwise..........

However, I do think that the DNA's have an advantage upwind over straight c/b boats. (bold and uderscore added by me) Maybe I am kidding myslef that I can live with them, but if so some people are being too kind and polite! The real "moment" is upwind in about 18 knots when there is a groove that feels almost magical. Darren gets the same feeling. It is almost like the boat jumps in speed by 2 knots. I think it is the boards finding a sweet spot. I am unsure if others experience the same thing and I wish I had the skill, time and experience to find that spot more often and for longer.

So, to sum up, I am convinced that the DNA's are a significant step up from the Flyer/Tool designs, both up and down wind. If I had to buy a new boat today, it's a no brainer! However, only time will tell exactly what factors make the biggest difference. I personally am convinced they have got the radius of the curved boards more right than others. I am convinced the platform is stiffer than anything else even though I personally haven't seen some of the other platfroms and rely ion comments from Glenn and Stevie in this regard. Those 2 factors alone would make a huge difference, so it is hard for me to comment on hullshape. To be able to do that I would need to build a new Flyer, to the same standard as the DNA.

Of course, people might want to take all of this with a pinch of salt. I am new to the class and really know sweet FA compared with most. These are just my observations. Some of this could simply be that the top sailors are on DNA's. And just to make one thing clear. Some might feel after the nationals that my result supports the idea that I am delusional about the performance of my boat. Let me asure you I can judge speed in a straight line and therefore I know that wherever I finish next week will proably be more of a reflection of my inability and lack of experience than a reflection fo the boat's performance. And if do better than I think, it will be clear evidence the boat works! Whatever the result, I am having great time in A's and couldn't have wished to find a better group of people to go sailing against.

 

Very acurate observations of Simon and in line with my own. Good to have some input for an independent sailor.

AUS nationals wrap up

Our Congratualions for Glenn Ashby who sailed a superb series by not only going fast but by sailing smart as well. He must be happy with his new Maxx sails as Dean and Scott were using these too.

Stevie runner-up again. His downwind sailing capabilities are a mighty weapon. Most remarkable was his top 6 finish after being in the twenties at the first mark.

The battle for third was as tight as expected with only 2 points between number 3 and 5.

Darren dit a great job in his first A-classChampionship, I hope to see him return.

Landy had a solid series and came very close to the podium.

So three sailmakers in the top 5. Such competition can't be bad for us, the consumers.

Dean made a huge impression with his upwind speed and his steep learning curve. Being a podium candidate after jyst two weeks training with Glenn, shows his raw talent for cats and his polished professionalism. The other AC syndicates have reason to worry about the mighty Barker-Ashby combo, once they will get the beast up to speed....

Scott did hang in but could never threaten the top 5. What a pity he didn't use James Spitthil's DNA.

Will Howden same points as Scott and a great debut for this British sailor.

The dominance of the DNA in the top 5 is hardly surprising as the best guys normally have the best stuff too. The real dominance of the DNA is shown by the lesser gods who dominated the top 20. (2/3 DNA's).

We see alse a convergence in mast and rig philosophy. No longer a trend but alreay mainstream is the soft fore-aft stiff sideways mast. Stevie and Glenn use the Maxx clothe with horizontal panels and Landy sticks to the radial cut sails, though makng Maxx sails too. Upwind Andrew was quite competitive.

I expect to see more refinements in the downwind sailing this season. Powering up and trapezing is fun, but might lead to unfavourble angles especially midfleet. You can power up the DNA sooner than any other A-class but going deeper might still a good option in some conditions/circumstances.

The Aussies see that the curved boards are fast downwind as the curvies scored 9 out of 10. What was less noticable is that the curvies are quicker upwind too, something of which we are more aware due to Bob's dominance upwind in Europe the last two seasons and now matched by the DNA sailors.

The Australian A-class association did a wonderful club as did the organizing club. Special thanks to MatthewJohnson for his enormous amounts of pics (280 a day!), to Mia for her great shots and to Ronstan for spronsoring the topdogs.

We will meet most of the topdogs at the Worlds in Danmark, where the Europeans try to break the Aussie dominance experienced last year in Cesenatico. It will be a hard but fair battle with both the European contenders and the Aussie defenders on DNA's.

CU in Arhus

Final report by Bob: Ashby first Champion in 2011

Day 5 A Class Australian Titles

Glen Ashby is the new Australian Champion for A Class Catamarans. He sealed his victory today by winning Race 7 which proved to be the final race of the series, sailed on Lake Cootharaba.

Steven Brewin took out 2nd overall, Darren Bundock was 3rd, Andrew Landenberger was 4th, Dean Barker from New Zealand was 5th, and the veteran Scott Anderson was 6th .

Whilst the fleet enjoyed champagne sailing conditions for the first three days of the regatta, today's weather was more akin to a cheap botttle of red well past its useby date. Alas, we have no control of the weather. The flooding rains that have caused widespread havoc and floods to many communities in south east Queensland over the past month returned overnight and persisted throughout the day.

Three races had been planned for the final day in a bid to complete a 9 race program but this was not to be.

The only race of the day started without probems in an easterly breeze, which varied between 10 to 12 knots, and stayed reasonably consistent for the duration of the race.Glen Ashby led around the first winward mark and was never headed thereafter. Dean Barker was second around, closely pursued by Steve Brewin, then Andrew Landenberger and Darren Bundock.

Steve Brewin moved into 2nd place down the downwind leg, a position of which he never relinguished. Darren Bundock later sailed through Barker and Landenberg to finish 3rd, whilst the other two finished 4th and 5th respectively.

Severall attempts were made to race 8, but by now the fleet was subjected to repeted rainsqualls which produced wind gusts associated with large shifts in direction. The fleet did manage to start, but the race was stopped after approximately 3 minutes, when a massive windshift occurred.

Attempts at a restart over the next 40 minutes proved unsuccessful, with a succession of rain squalls with attendant wind speed and direction instability

The day's racing was abandoned after a 30 knot wind system began to dominate the racing area.

Glen Ashby's win confirmed his dominance of the Australian fleet, and followed up his World A Class Champioship win in July 2010. Steve Brewin seems to have 2nd place reserved for his name , the position which he has also finished in the past two world championships.

Team New Zealand's Dean Barker has adapted well to sailing these small high performance catamarans, finishing 5th overall, and often exhibiting the best upwind speed of any of the competititors.

Scott Anderson's performance was also noteworthy. He sailed an older boat, without the benefit of the downwind speed advantage of the boats fitted with curved centreboards.

The DNA designed boats featuring vertical lift producing curved centreboards that were used by the top 5 competitors represent a design breakthrough for downwind sailing. It is now possible to consistently and safely trapeze the boats on apparent downwind sailing, significantly improving the speed, and enhancing the sailing spectacle.

Final top ten positions;

1. Glen Ashby 6.0 (DNA)

2 Steven Brewin 16.0 (DNA)

3. Darren Bundock 20.0 (DNA)

4. Andrew Landenberger 21.0 (DNA)

5. Dean Barker 22.0 (DNA New Zealand)

6. Scott Anderson 39.0 (Geltek, straight centreboards)

7 .Will Howden 39.0 (DNA)

8. Brad Collett 41.0 (Sheurer design, curved centreboards)

9. Grahame Parker 64.0 (DNA)

10. Wayne Mercer 76.0 (DNA).

Report by Bob Griffits.

We wish to thank Bob for his great reports, being in the championship himself he had the just feeling about what the followers would interest. Great example for other Championships organizers, as the whole class profits from such PR.

no pics yet

Bundy pics by Carolijn Brouwer

pics (c) Carlijn Brouwer (found on her twitter acount)

Great shots by Carolyn. You can see how low Darren's trapeze position is and how low he sails the weather hull.We als see quite some mastbend upwind in his foreaft soft mast. Another thing noticable is how full the Brewin sail becomes downwind especially if sailed with a lot of twist. Very full and deep entry.

You see that the sailors sometimes pull up the weather board and leave it down in other conditions.

Carolijn sailed on the DNA as well. She liked the the responsiveness of these light boats as she told us on her Twitter account. She might have been the first girl on a DNA actually. Maybe we can persuade her to race it too.

Dutch followers can also read a report on the AUS nationals in Dutch on sailreport.nl.

No racing today

Due to expected thunderstorms no racing in Queensland today. The region already battered by heavy rains in the past weeks does not need any more rain.
Tomorrow last race day.

Mathhew Johnson pics race 5 & 6

Just after the start

Stevie trimminng

Stevie, Landy and Dean Barker

Bundy upwind

Stephen Brayshaw

More Mia pics

 Dean Barker on his way to the offset mark

 Ashby in control

Tight racing in 73 boat fleet

Pics by Mia Hacker, (c) Mia

Glenn king of downwind trapezing

foto by Mia , (c) Mia

Day 3 A class Aus nationals

Glenn Ashby is relentessly tightening his grip on yet another major A Class event. After six races, Glenn has a solid overall lead, having won 5 of the 6 races, whilst capsizing when leading in other remaining race. A formidable record.

Today he added another two bullets . Analysis shows that whilst he may not always be first to the top mark,he has the ability to make his way to the front somewhere during the course of a race, with the skills to assume the lead either on a downwind or an upwind leg. His boathandling skills are a joy to watch both in grace and efficiency, sail trim is superb, he has obvious ability to steer the boat.

Sailing conditions today were again ideal, with the weather gods one again smiling on the fleet, and providing winds in range of 10 to 14 knots.

The first race of the day was underway in the shadow of another black flag , in a 10 knot breeze from the east, a little lighter than conditions experienced on the first 2 days. Dean Barker once again put on a command performance on the first windward leg to round the top mark in first place. The downwind whizz Steve Brewin assumed the lead on the first downwind leg, but Ashby exploited a shift on the 2nd upwind leg to pass both, to assume the lead.

By the time of the last downwind mark rounding, Ashby and Brewin were together. However, on the next windward leg,Ashby worked out to establish a 100 metre lead at the rounding of the last upwind mark. Downwind Brewin was faster, closing to within 4 boat lengths of Ashby by the finish. 3rd place went to Australia's 2008 Tornado Olympic silver medalist Darren Bundock, 4th to Team New Zealand's Dean Barker, 5th to British Olympian Will Howden, and 6th place to Australia's Olympic bronze medallist, Scott Anderson.

By the time of the start of the second race, the wind had strengthened to 13 to 14 knots, and had shifted to the northeast. The Queensland sea breeze had made its way across the sand hills and had arrived on the lake.
Steve Brewin who is currently in second place overall in this regatta , with a score card that includes four 2nd places, did not enjoy good boatsspeed upwind due to a broken cunningham eye system, and rounded the first winward mark somewhere in the mid 20's.
The upwind ace this race was Andrew Landenberger, rounding the windward mark ahead of Dean Barker, Ashby then Scott Anderson. By the first leeward mark it was Barker leading Landenberg, ahead of Ashby.
Positions amongst the leading boths went through a number of changes of permutations during the remainder of the race, but the seemingly inevitable happened with Ashby once again assuming the lead.
The other performance of this race of note was that of Scott Anderson. Scott sailed very well upwind in the race, and moved into 3rd place up the last windward leg. Scott's performance in this race and over the regatta has been remarkable,He has been sailing one of the older boats with straight rather than curved centreboards. He has always rounded the first winward mark somewhere in the top ten, but he has been unable to hold onto the most recent designed boats fitted with the curved centreboards. The curved centrboards are clearly faster downwind in the conditions experienced so far in this regatta.
The final positions for this race were Ashby 1st, Landenberger 2nd, Anderson 3rd, Barker 4th, Bundock 5th, with Brewin largely overcoming his upwind speed difficulties with excellent downwind speed.

Three races remain in this regatta. Ashby is looking solid for first place, and I think that we can pencil in Brewin.

Tomorrows forecast is for moderate winds, the return of the rain, and thunderstorms late in the day.

Report by Bob Griffits.

Pics by Matthew Johnson day 4

Hard battles in big fleet, Stevie taking all risks of the world

Scotty hanging in, Barker in background (NZL8)

Offset mark adventure

 Good old Mitch

 Dean Barker tacking

Bundy rolltacking

Bundy in smooth style

Hitting the mark

Focused till the end

Ronstan promotion

Stevie showing us the way

Full results at: http://results.lcsc.org.au/Nationals/SGrp3.htm (12 DNA's at first 17)
More info at: http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2011/01/class-australian-nats-day-2.h

Pics by Matthew Johnson day 3

Downwind king Ashby

Scott old style on Geltek Flyer, Glenn hot style on DNA

Landy powerd up downwind

Stevie smoking down

Old world vs New World

Ashby, preparing for the gybe

Bundock in superb style

Landy upwind

Stevie, the other downwind emperor

Finally we got the prove about trapezing downwind. In a big fleet with many DNA's you must do it to win.

  Great pics from Matthew.

Official update day 2 Aus nationals

Once again Lake Cootharaba turned on ideal sailing conditions, with a 12 to 15 knot south east breeze.

The breeze was well established even at todays 11:00 am start time.

The day belonged to Glenn Ashby who won both races.Steve Brewin and Dean Barker also had a very consistent , finishing 2nd ,and 3rd respectively in each race. Andrew Landenberger had a 5th and a 4th, whilst Darren Bundock had a 4th and a 5th. These five competitors seemed to have established a morgage on the top five positions.

The first race was underway after one general recall. Dean Barker showed excellent speed upwind, and  rounded the top mark with handy lead from Ashby and Brewin. Barker who seems to have quickly mastered the skills of driving these boats upwind, could not withstand the downwind speed of Steve Brewin, who rounded the leeward in first place. Brewins lead however was shotlived. He found that he was soon on the wrong side of a shift, which well exploited by Ashby and Barker, who both slipped back into 1st and 2nd positions respectively . Ashby was never headed thereafter, but later in the race, Brewin passed Barker and bagged second place, with Barker finishing 3rd.

Ashby had the second race of the day claimed soon after the start. With a brilliantly timed pin end start,he quickly established a good lead and was never headed. Brewin finished 2nd, Barker 3rd, Landenberger4th ,and Bundock 5th.

After 4 races, Ashby is considered that fastest overall around the race track. Brewin is the clear downwind specialist, and on todays performance Dean Barker was judged to have the best upwind speed. At this stage Ashby has the overall lead. There are 5 more races planned over the next four days. Will Team New Zealand's skipper Dean Barker find a bit more speed downwind, and start beating Ashby and Brewin?

Report by Bob Griffits.

Comment: You see that in the lighter breeze some old boats could keep up with the DNA's but are left behind once the wind picks up. The same we have seen in Europe.

Ashby smashes fleet, no official update yet

Glenn Ashby sailed away from the rest of the fleet trapezing downwind.

I hope we will get a report of Bob soon and some pictures or even a video.

Glenn showed once again his special talent for downwind sailing, even in a fleet with so many aces he just slips away.

Trapezing downwind will be the distinctive change in the A-cat scene in 2011. In 2010 we saw already some glimpses of that.

The A-cat has become a spinnaker boat without spinnaker.

A happy Landy

picture by Mia, (c) Mia

See artcle on: http://www.sail-world.com/Europe/Amazing--Australian-A-Cat-titles----The-New-Kids-did-well-on-Day-One/78777

Pics by Matthew Johnson

 Fierce battle just after the start.

Ashby leading

Stevie to the offset mark

 Bundock on his DNA

Ashby focused

 Landy leading the fleet

Dean Barker on his DNA

 Stephen Brayshaw up to speed

Bundock and Ashy battling

How cool can you be

First day racing AUS nationals

Race Day 1 Australian A Class Championships.

Lake Cootharaba turned on champagne sailing conditions for the 73 entrants in the 2011 Australian A Class Championships which commenced today. The two races sailed today, were blessed with clear blue skies, a steady south east breeze of between 12 to 15 knots ,and flat waters.

With the addition of the 6 sailors from the America's Cup scene, as well as 7 former Olympic medallists, this fleet represents a pinnacle in Australian A Class Catamaran history, both numerically, and in quality.

The first race started clearly at the first attempt ,with most of the acknowledged top skippers away at the pin end of the line.

Glen Ashby, seven time World A Class champion, and newly appointed coach to Team New Zealand, stamped his authority on the race, and assumed the lead during the second windward leg, and was never thereafter challenged for the lead.

The challenge for the minor places was intensely fought, and was not determined to near the end of the final downwind leg. Darren Bundock rounded the final windward mark behind Ashby, pursued closely by Andrew Landenberger, and Steve Brewin. Brewin is an acknowledged downwind ace, and true to form, he overtook Bundock and Landenberger to finish second overall, relegating Bundock to 3rd, Landenberger to fourth,with the Queenslander Brad Collett taking out fifth position.

Dean Barker, the skipper of Team New Zealand and new to multihull racing has given notice that he is a fast learner, finishing a very credible 6th place.

The start of the second race began with a general recall. The Principle Race Officier, after the multiple general recalls at the start of yesterday's practice race, indicated that her patience with overly aggressive starters is over, and promply produced a black flag for the second attempt.

Once again, Glenn Ashby soon revealed his dominance by taking an early lead which held onto until to the second rounding when he befell an uncharacteristic and really totally unexpected error, with a sudden capsize. Unfortunately he also impaired the performance of his boat ,by severing the tiller extension, a very desirable piece of apparatus for steering from the trapeze. Amazingly, he was able to promply upright his craft, sail the remaining 4 legs, and finish 8th overall.

Following the capsize demise of Ashby, Bundock and Landenberger became the contenders fighting for the lead. Landenberger when on to win. Brewin ,with his noted downwind skill ,once again passed Bundock downwind to finish second across the line. Unfortunately, Brewin's efforts were in vain, as he had been seemd to be over at the start line, and disqualified. This left Bundock with the 2nd position, Brad Collett inishing 3rd, Dean Barker 4th, and the veteran A class competitor Scott Anderson in 5th position.

We are clearly in the early days of this 9 race regatta. Discounting today's capsize, Ashby appears to be the inform favourite. Steve Brewin, with two 2nd's across the finishing line today also indicates good consistency, but a disqualification this early in the series is a significant problem as he will be forced to sail the remaining aceswith a degree of conservatism.

Landenberger, Bundock, and Collett also clearly sailing well. The dark horse at this stage is Dean Barker.

So far he has a 4th and a 6th, but he is the one most likely to improve as the regatta progresses.

Bob Griffits.

see also: http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2011/01/class-australian-nats-day-1.html

 

and http://picasaweb.google.com/HumpybongYachtClub/Day1InvitationRace#

and http://www.sail-world.com/Europe/A-Cat-----Who-is-who-at-the-Australian-Nationals?/78727

2011 International A Class Australian Championships.

A record fleet of 73 competitors has entered the 2011 Australian Championships for the International A Class Catamarans, to be sailed on Lake Cootharaba, just inland from the Queensland Sunshine Coast.

After several weeks of torrential rain, the clouds are lighter, and the winds have moderated from 25 plus knots that have prevailed over the last week.

The normally brackish water of the tea tree stained water of the lake, is decidely at the fresh end of the scale, and is approximately one metre high than usual with the rainwater run off which has submeged the beach rigging areas.

The strong Australian fleet has been supplemented by an influx of sailors from a number of the America's Cup teams, including Dean Barker, the skipper of Team New Zealand, Noel Drennan and Philippe Presti from Team Oracle, and Will Howden from Team Origin

Unfortunately, James Spithall was a late scratching, so the the Dean Barker/James Spithall clash of the America's Cup skippers will not eventuate. Glenn Ashby,Spithall's team mate in the recent International C Class Catamaran World Championship ("The Little America's Cup") and seven times World A Class Champion should be able to capable substitute .

The Invitation race was sailed today in light to moderate, and somewhat shifty conditions. The start was a very intense affair, particularly so, given that it was a practice race, with three general recalls before discipline was imposed with a black flag. It was certainly a good pratice race for the starter, and given the size, quality and competiveness of this fleet, it is likely that the black flag will be feature of this series.

The racing started in 6 to 8 knots of south east breeze ,which held for the first windward leg before fading during the first downwind leg down to 3 or 4 knots with the fleet now consumed by the "mild thing" The wind picked up again on the second uphill tract, and held to allow the "wild thing" during the second downwind . Steve Bradshaw sailing a new "DNA" design boat lead around the last leeward mark rounding with Chris Cairns, Glen Ashby, and Steve Brewin in close pursuit.

The wind shifted significantly to the left at this point, disadvantaging Bradshaw and Cairns who had held on a bit too long on the port tack, allowing Steve Brewin, and the regatta favourite Glenn Ashby into the lead.

Steve Brewin prevailed to trigger the finishers gun, followed by Glenn Ashby, and Steve Bradshaw.

The forecast of the week of 10 to 15 knot winds for the week should provide for excellent sailing conditions.

Final Positions:

1. Steve Brewin (DNA)

2.Glenn Ashby (DNA)

3. Steve Brayshaw (DNA)

4.Scott Anderson (Geltek )

5. Chris Cairns (The Tool)

6. Graham Parker (DNA)

7. Will Howden (DNA)

8.Darren Bundock (DNA)

9. Ron Howell (Geltek)

10. Dean Barker DNA)

Report by Bob Griffits

Photoalbum (click on it)