advanced racing catamarans

Cat in the Olympics

2012-02-14T17:08:00.002+01:00

Many polls on the internet to see what boat should be selected or what boat will be selected.

From a sailors point of view the Viper, the Nacra 17 and the Tornado are worthy candidates.

The Tornado does not really suit ISAF's criteria but should not be overlooked, The Viper has proven itself over the last 2 years and the Nacra 17 fills a gap with its curved boards.

It is interesting to see that manufacturers like NACRA ad AHPC push their boats for the Olympic bid. I fail to see how they think they will benefit from becoming an Olympic class. The new Olympic class will be a micro class with just a few topsailors which will eventually drive all clubsailors out of the class.

The Viper class does pretty well on its own and will probably grow bigger without Olympic Status.

The Nacra 17 is aimed at a mixed crew, so I expect her design crew weight to be under that of an F18. If it becomes Olympic it will hurt the F18 less than some would expect as it is not meant to be an alternative for the F18.

Unfortunately catsailors have not the last vote about 'their' Olympic cat. The mixed in mixed multihull is silly as it is, but predicting what boat it will be asks for some advanced 'Kremlin watching'.

As multihull community we are still overlooked by the ISAF as the ISAF is dominated by countries (MNA's as they are called) who have invested in the more traditional classes. ISAF did a good job with the 49'er and a women's skiff is another step but ISAF should have become more high performance oriented and have either selected Multihull open or both a men's boat and a women' boat (I prefer open).

The Tornado has been bashed within the ISAF for the wrong reasons, it was an expensive boat but one should look at the cost of a complete campaign and the T's were durable and up to their task.

I hope that the Viper is not selected and that F16 class embraces its simplicity (and its minimum weight). An F16 class with an 130 kg limit will be thriving and attract many new manufacturers. There is room for such a class and I hope the class will blossom. As catamaran community we will grow due to the new sailors we attract of which many will be yougnsters.

Selecting the T, will hurt no existing class, but it will not attract many new sailors to catsailing either.

The Nacra 17 as Olympic class might wake up the F18 class, which may not longer be considered a box rule class. Too many silly restriction as we saw on the sailcloth gate and silly things as minimum weight for complete rudders.

I think that the F18 should allow curved boards else it might become obsolete as so many standard classes before. It's minimum weight should not drop too much. It is great that both the Viper and the F18 can be durable boats built in low cost materials. Carbon F16's and F18's would cost over 30.000 euros which will introduce a pretty steep entry barrier for new sailors.

There is a realistic chance that either the Hobie 16 or Hobie Tiger will be selected. This will not hurt us as a community but will make Olympic sailing hardly relevant for us. As said before, we get more excited about the America's cup and much less about Olympic sailing. We should not forget though that many of our cat heroes did do Olympic campaigns (Bundock, Ashby, Outerridge, Slingsby, Lange, etc).

As beach cat community we are pretty small compared to the windsurf community and the kiteboard community. I hope that we can attracct many new sailors to our sport by offering them interesting classes and exciting boats. (F18, F16, A-class).

As A-class we might profit from the turmoil in F18 and F16 class in the short run but in the long run we need those classes as well to be a blossomming community.

ISAF does little to popularize our sport and does not really promote high perfomance sailing. I hope that the AC can attract a big audience and that the (youngs) viewers will find their way to beach cats.

Two years Advanced Racing Catamarans

2012-02-07T20:12:00.001+01:00

December 2009 PJ and I started Advanced Racing Catamarans. Easter 2010 we introduced the DNA in Cesenatico. This Easter we will have sold and delivered DNA number 100. We are doing 50 boats a year now and are very happy with the support we got from so many sailors. Our aim was to make a competive A-cat available within the A-cat community and to attract new sailors to that community.

We succeeded with the first part but I think that we can and should attract more new sailors.

The pro sailors have discovered us now, but apart from some Moth sailors we do not attract many from other classes. We do think that the A-cat is the ideal boat for many others. It is a simple boat, very refined and suitable for both the pro and the middle aged clubracer.

People who sail a Finn or Laser could sail an A-cat as well. It is even suitable for the sporty yachty who spends now a fortune on his boat and crew while he could have more fun with less effort on a DNA. Perhaps we should tell others more about our love for the A-cat and its wonderful simplicity.

The latter both in rigging the boat and sailing it. We hear that people are afraid that they will not be very competitive but what we see is that a good helsman becomes competitive pretty quickly. You do not have to be James Spithill or Dean Barker to sail an A-cat smoothly.

As a company we want it to make easier for sailors to buy ready to play boats, that's why we will start making our own masts and will offer trailers as well.

As a company our aim is to sell at least 80 boats every year, this will lead to a more continuous production with lower costs and higher quality.

One objective is to double the installed base of A-cats in Europe within 3-5 years.

When we started we thought that we could make even cheaper boats due to declining carbon prices. What we underestimated was the amount of money needed to setup a state of the art composites factory. Tooling costs are significant and with our tooling we can make 200 hundred boats per year as well.

The first 2 years of a be company are not the easiest, financial pressures and time connstraints were huge.

Life is improving though, I will sail more races this year and we have a great crew of motivated boat builders. PJ and I are less bothered by operational stress and can put more effort now in promoting the class and the boat.

We welcome input from sailors about product improvement and product innovation. The class remains a development class and we are happy to learn from others.

Right now my garden is full of snow and the Dutch people are only talking about ice skating, but I am longing to go on the water again and do some serious trapezing downwind.

CU all on the water soon.

trapezing downwind can be fast but can also be slow..

2012-01-29T23:52:00.003+01:00

Nathan Outteridge on his DNA

Got the pic from sailing anarchy, don't know the photographer, but thanks for the cool shot!

Hey guys,we already know these boats are made for pushing hard...

2012-01-07T19:24:00.003+01:00

Nathan Outteridge said, "I was pushing the boat pretty hard to stay ahead of time, when I heard Tom’s bow go down. I was just about to get off the trapeze when a puff of wind came in and instead of getting in the boat I ended up going right around the front and ended up under the cross beam”.

from : sailing anarchy

Final race Aussie Nationals

2012-01-07T18:47:00.006+01:00

yo..oooo. Stevie loses control over his DNA and 2nd place in the championship...

Great championship concluded:
Glenn wins, Nathan Outteridge 2nd, Darren Bundock 3rd , Stevie Brewin 4, Jimmy Spithill 5

all on ..... DNA
Congratulations to all from Team DNA !
(and off course deep respect to Scott, GM, finishing 6 on his own boat....ok,ok, we can't have them all....)

from Sail-world.com

The final day of the Championships was another postcard day on Lake Macquarie, NSW. Blue sky and a light 10-12 knot sea breeze greeted competitors for the last race in the 2012 Australian Championships, hosted by the Wangi Amateur Sailing Club, with the minor placings to be decided in another race of 'champions'. After eight races Steve Brewin, (2011 A Class World champion) was three points clear of Wangi Wangi local Nathan Outteridge (three times 49er World Champion). It was a clean start and Darren Bundock (14 catamaran World titles, two Olympic Silver medals and member of Oracle's America’s Cup Syndicate) led at the top mark. Scott Anderson (1984 Tornado Olympic bronze medallist) was second.

Glenn Ashby Champion 2012.. btw : when is he going to skipper an AC ?

Tom Slingsby (four times Laser World Champion) rounded fourth behind Andrew Landenberger (1996 Tornado Olympic bronze medallist) and Brad Collett (2011 NSW and Queensland A-Cat Champion). Australian legend James Spithill (skipper of 2010 America’s Cup winner BMW Oracle) followed, then Outteridge with Brewin two places further back. On the next laps Bundock, Anderson, Landenberger, Outteridge, Spithill and Brewin battled for the placings. It seemed that Brewin could stay with the 49er champion. On the top of the upwind leg for the third time, Brewin was on the wire struggling with a jammed downhaul as he started to reach to the clearing mark. Suddenly he dropped his mainsheet, the boom swung away, he capsized - it was all over. Brewin took an eternity to right his boat. He was 17th when he finally passed the clearing mark and by that time the leaders were approaching the finishing line.

Down at the finishing line Bundock crossed ahead of Landenberger and a fast finishing Outteridge, who slid across the line four seconds ahead of Anderson. Slingsby was next, then Brayshaw and Collett. Spithill was ninth, Brewin 14th. Within minutes they were back in the boat park. It does not pay to get between a sailor and his trailer on the last day of any regatta. Nathan Outteridge was smiling. ‘Steve was staying close initially. I was keen to try to drop us both back into the teens and then have a drag to see who could best sail through the fleet. On the last run I was really pushing. Just stoked to get second overall against this fleet.’

Darren Bundock, the final race winner was third overall. ‘It was good to get out in front today. I won the race in the first gybe, just wish that Ashby bloke was here so I could have beaten him today.’ Steve Brewin was philosophical. ‘Oh well s**t happens!! I was really enjoying the battle with Nathan. He did it well - he was sitting on me. I made a mistake. I only had a little downhaul brake and I was trying to fix that and I shouldn’t have been and I let go of the main. Game over. ‘On the way out the sail fell down and then the downhaul went. Then I was in the water, so trouble comes in threes

‘I could have sat on the beach and done what I did here. But you know what? There is another regatta soon, then another Worlds. ‘I will look forward having learnt by my mistakes. Sure I was beaten into third place overall but it was a great, great regatta.’ Jimmy Spithill finished fifth overall. ‘A really impressive fleet, 70 boats, and a wonderful regatta. With the curved (dagger) boards, trapezing, Glenn and Nathan are on another level downwind; they are real naturals on the wire while the rest of us look like a bunch of teabags. ‘Myself, Dirk (de Ridder), Tom and Darren are taking our boats to San Francisco. On the trapeze downwind in SFO will be a blast! ‘Just to be able to mix it with Steve Brewin, Scott Anderson and Andrew Landenberger, who have had so much time in these boats, was wonderful. ‘Lastly a special thanks to Tony Outteridge, who got every race away on some great courses.’ Scott Anderson, the 2012 Grand Master Champion, finished fourth overall. ‘It’s absolutely fantastic that these guys have committed to A-Cats. Now the AC on Cats and these are the perfect boats to learn the basics. If you stuff it up, the boat tells you very quickly. Good on the guys for coming.’

Stephen Brayshaw said ‘Brilliant, brilliant racing. Not being a professional I am just stoked to come eighth in this amazing fleet. We have really, really enjoyed having to top guns here.’ Tom Slingsby, still coughing gasped ‘Last night’s rum did not help my cold. But I am getting this boat figured.

If I started today I'd be looking OK, I just need more time in the boat. If I take it to San Francisco where there are strong breezes. I'll look for a 'kiddie’s corner' where I can venture out one day.’ John Kostecki (Oracle Racing tactician) laughed ‘OK, ok, I’ve done enough practicing, now I am ready to start the regatta!!’

Full results : here

Australian nationals : Best fleet ever says The King

2012-01-06T11:46:00.004+01:00

A-cat King And Australian Champ Glenn Ashby on his DNA

From Sail-World.com

After eight races in the nine race series, Glenn Ashby, seven times A Class Catamaran World Champion, has won the 2012 John Cootes Furniture A Class Australian Championships being sailed on Lake Macquarie, NSW.

First into the boat park after the completion of the day’s racing, Ashby was smiling. ‘Every National win is important but this field, with so much depth of talent and competition, is definitely the strongest fleet I have ever sailed against in the A-Cats at ANY level. ‘It’s fantastic, the top guys coming in from other classes, here giving it a go. The fact that these guys want to come sail in the A Class Championships is a giant tick for multihulls.' Ahead of the first race on day 4 of the Championships, there was a delay waiting for the breeze to moderate. Race 7 of the series started in a 16 knot south south easterly, under grey clouded sky.

At the top mark Ashby, Steve Brewin, Darren Bundock, Nathan Outteridge and Tom Slingsby were all close to each other. On the second lap Ashby was just eight seconds ahead of Bundock, Outteridge and Brewin, then a gap back to James Spithill in fifth. On the second beat Ashby fell off the back for his boat, just managing to hold onto the mainsheet and tiller extension but he recovered to retake the lead. It was Ashby’s tightest victory finishing just 12 seconds ahead of Darren Bundock, with Nathan Outteridge four seconds further back, then Steve Brewin followed by James Spithill. Outteridge was shaking his head. ‘I missed all the shifts on the last run’ he said.
For race 8, the breeze was 16-17 knots off the start line. Brewin and Ashby were fourth and fifth up the line at the gun. 95% of fleet went left. Heavy gusts hit the fleet, with lulls of six to seven knots between them but it was much softer at the top of the course. At the top mark for first time, Slingsby led by 21 seconds with Outteridge second, then Brewin and Simon McKeon. Ashby was ninth but fought his way forward to be third behind Slingsby and Outteridge. Down the last run Outteridge was on the trapeze, as was Slingsby just behind him. As the two leaders powered down the course leaping from pressure areas at hot angles, Slingsby suddenly put his bows in but recovered. Just a few seconds later Outteridge did the same then capsized and Slingsby sailed away. Shades of Qingdao and the 49er Medal Race for the World champion, but this time with nothing broken, Outteridge got his boat up and struggled across the line, just ahead of the fast finishing Ashby. Ashby said ‘Nathan and Tom certainly sailed very well today.

Darren and Steve had their time at the front but these windier conditions probably suited the bigger guys as they can accelerate better in the puffs, they can put the bow down and rip across to the next puff. ‘First downwind in the first race, I was sailing into a wobbly puff just as I was coming in off the wire to gybe and the rig unloaded and the hull came down quicker than I expected. I lost my balance and fell off the back but I had the mainsheet and the tiller in my hand. I flipped the boat back up quickly and I was still in touch and managed to get round the top mark in the same pressure band and get back into the race. ‘In the second race I was happy to let Tom and Nathan go. Anything can happen in these races and it nearly did. Down the last run, I consolidated ahead of Steve and Darren and I was happy to take a few on the chin and stay between them and the mark.

‘An amazing regatta - we will talk about this for years to come.’ Nathan Outteridge was smiling too. ‘The last finish was something else. I was trapping downwind, battling with Tom. I gained on each of the runs and on the last one I got ahead but he was pushing hard. ‘Downwind trapezing on days like today you can really work the modes - so many options. ‘I was bow forward but not far enough, so I jumped out onto the trap to go forward and then as I was coming out of the foot straps to go back inboard both Tom and I hit a big puff and the bows went in. I let everything off and hoped the boat would not go over - but it did. Luckily I managed to get back up and finish ahead of Glenn.’

A rueful Steve Brewin explained ‘The first race today I got fourth. In the second race I came round the mark doing well, into a hole and they gobbled me up … fourth to eighth and I ended up ninth. ‘Now I have a fight with Nathan on my hands tomorrow.’ Outteridge is keeping the pressure on Brewin, the 2011 A-Cat World Champion, for second place with Brewin three points ahead with one race to be sailed. Tom Slingsby was coughing and spluttering, fighting off a worsening cold, as he hosed down his boat. ‘I had a shocking first race, two swims. But the second race today was the best race of the series. ‘I was pushing Nathan and we got a big gust before the finish, we both put our bows down and I was the only one that popped up.’

James Spithill came over to apologise to Tom. ‘I smashed into Tom in the prestart before last race. ‘I will claim the credit, I gave him a little spark up, you know a love tap. I said come on mate get it all together and he did.’ Simon McKeon related ‘I was neck and neck with Tom for the lead 400 metres from top mark then I busted the centre board, it just snapped. Maybe I hit something, perhaps a shark? Definitely not a sunfish. And that was the end of my race but I had to go past the top mark anyway, on my way back to the Club.’
Darren Bundock summed up the day. ‘Amazing racing, just to have all the good guys from all the different classes get into the A-Cat is awesome.’ Glenn Ashby is the 2012 A Class Australian Champion. Steve Brewin currently lies second with Nathan Outteridge third.

One race is scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday 7 January to conclude the 2012 John Cootes Furniture A Class Australian Championships.

Full Results : HERE

Ashby vs Brewin

2012-01-05T20:30:00.007+01:00

stevie on the DNA flying in the light stuff

though fight on the light day... From Sail-world.com

The first race on day 3 of the 2012 John Cootes Furniture A Class Australian Championships, being hosted by the Wangi Amateur Sailing Club was delayed until 2pm, by which time Australia's cricket captain Michael Clarke had reached 300 runs. It was coincidence but by then the east south easterly had lifted to six knots. After a two hour delay and a general recall, PRO Tony Outteridge hoisted a black flag. A clear start for most of the fleet but not for Dirk de Ridder. His ‘need for speed’ was too great and he was black flagged. James Spithill was the clear leader at the top mark with Glenn Ashby second. Next time around it was Stephen Brayshaw in the lead from Grant Pellew, Tom Slingsby, Jack Benson, Pieter-Jan Postman, Chris Cairns and Steve Brewin. On the next top rounding Spithill sailed in on a long starboard lay line approach while Ashby came in fast on the port lay line and he grabbed the lead before the clearing mark. Behind them came Brayshaw, Nathan Outteridge and Brewin.

At the top mark for the final time Ashby led Brewin and Spithill. They finished in that order, ahead of Outteridge. The wind had built to 11 knots by the start of the second race of the day, Race 6 of the series. Ashby was on the pin. Outteridge just squeezed in one up from the pin, while Darren Bundock was four up the line. Ashby missed the first shift and at the top mark for the first time Lucas McDonald led Pellew, Outteridge, Jack Benson and Postman, ahead of Cairns. The second time round Brewin was leading veteran Scott Anderson, Chris Batenberg and Ashby.

First into the boat park was Steve Brewin and he was smiling. ’Happy to go 2, 1 today. Glenn had a brilliant first race; I guess I learned a bit watching how he sailed. 'In the second race I got out pretty well, with Outteridge and Spithill. Glenn was back a little, which made my life easier. I had a good first run and got the lead and disappeared. ‘I will have to win the last three races to have a chance of winning the 2012 title. One bad move, like I did yesterday, and the regatta is over.’ Glenn Ashby said ‘In the first race I managed to sneak away after two good beats and managed to consolidate downwind. In the second race I started at the pin and I had a beautiful start, but it went down about 10 degrees. Everyone got in a 15 degree lift and speared off. I took my medicine and was deep at the top. I finished fourth. ‘You needed to be much more aggressive and I was not, I should have gone for the corners. But I will take a four any day of the week in this high quality fleet. ‘Stevie (Brewin) and I always have a good tussle, let’s hope we can get some decent breeze tomorrow that we can sink our teeth into. It will be a lot of fun.’

Darren Bundock explained ‘It was a hard day. In the second race around the top mark I think I was back in the 40’s. On the first downwind I took 20 boats, in the next downwind another five and then slowly got up there. It was very patchy. You would just be sailing along and then completely stop and someone 50 metres above you was fully stretched on the wire.’ James Spithill agreed. ‘It was very shifty and pretty tactical. I wasn’t as fast as the other guys downwind but I was able to find a couple of shifts and just hang in there up the top. ‘For a while I didn’t even know if we would get a race in but I reckon Tony (PRO Tony Outteridge) is doing a great job. We got some great races and I am looking forward to tomorrow.’ Pieter-Jan Postman was second at the Finn Worlds at Perth 2011 and is enjoying his A-Cat experience. ‘I am new in the class and I’m a bit heavier at 103 kilos, about 20 or so more than Nathan (Outteridge). ‘The A-Cat is a great boat. It’s a totally different game (to the Finn) and you make different angles. Every day I learn a lot so I am really keen to get this boat under control. I only sailed it the first time six days ago. ‘I am having a lot of fun. It’s a great venue with good hosts. It’s fantastic and a really friendly atmosphere.’ Seven times A-Cat World Champion Glenn Ashby, dropping his last race fourth place, currently leads the series from 2011 A-Cat World Champion Steve Brewin. In third place is Darren Bundock, leading Nathan Outteridge on a count back.

Full results : here

LOTS OF COOL LINKS ABOUT THE RACING:

videos of the first few races :: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hovL91SoN6Y

and here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT_m8S7WfnU

and another here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa24YlmEP0k

pictures :

http://www.a-cat.org.au/2012-nationals/sail-world-photo-gallery-for-the-2012-nationals/

and here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73409289@N05

and here with stories and other stuff:

http://www.wangirslasc.yachting.org.au/

other good reads : what about advertising the A class in AC community ....

http://www.americascup.com/en/Teams/ORACLE-Racing/Latest/

good blog of Grant Pellew DNA sailor Team Harken :

http://harkenracing.blogspot.com/

A cat australians DNA's at the front

2012-01-04T20:42:00.007+01:00

A boat builders dream pic : 4 DNA's ahead at the first mark : Spithill,Slingsby,Ashby and Bundock.....

mmm ... what else can we wish for ?

A-Cat Australians - DNA' s Flying at the front
from SAIL-World.com

The 2012 John Cootes Furniture A Class Australian Championships are being sailed from the Wangi RSL Amateur Sailing Club on Lake Macquarie NSW and after four races have been completed, seven times A-Cat World Champion Glenn Ashby leads, courtesy of three wins and a second. Second overall is his long time Olympic class skipper Darren Bundock, with 2011 A-Cat World Champion Steve Brewin in third. Wangi local hero Nathan Outteridge, dual 49er World champion and Moth World champion is fourth, followed by America’s Cup skipper James Spithill and four times Laser World champion Tom Slingsby, fifth and sixth respectively. Andrew Landenberger, who finished fourth at the 2011 Worlds, is seventh ahead of the leading Grand Master, 56 year old Simon McKeon, 2011 Australian of the Year. David Loutit, the leading Master is 21st overall, while Adam Beattie, the top ranking Junior, is 22nd. Carolijn Brouwer the leading female sailor is 28th overall, an impressive performance as she has sailed on A-Cats just four times. Race 3 of the Series started in a light, seven knot easterly after two general recalls, under a black flag.

Tom Slingsby was first to the top mark, ahead of James Spithill, Nathan Outteridge, Bob Baier then Darren Bundock and Brad Collett. Steve Brewin was back in ninth ahead of Andrew Landenberger but on the second lap the leading group changed. Brewin was ahead of Baier, with the three first lap leaders now buried. Brewin had a solid light weather win finishing 40 seconds ahead of Ashby who powered past Bob Baier and Bundock on the last run. Slingsby, Spithill and Outteridge finished ahead of Landenberger, Olympic Tornado silver medallist Jack Benson and Scott Anderson, the 2011 A-Cat Worlds runner up. It was a big step forward for Brouwer in her third ever A-Cat event, finishing 18th behind McKeon. Oracle Racing’s Dirk de Ridder and John Kostecki finish 34th and 36th respectively. Race 4 started in a ten knot easterly. With a blistering start Outteridge led Spithill, Stephen Brayshaw, McKeon, Slingsby and Bundock, with Ashby two places further back. But Ashby, the downhill king, powered into the lead. Bundock finished second ahead of Outteridge and Spithill.

Glenn approaching top mark . You can see our new style daggerboards clearly..

Brewin was sixth, Slingsby eighth, McKeon ninth, ahead of Anderson and Baier. Brouwer was 20th. Kostecki was 33rd and de Ridder was OCS. Glenn Ashby was smiling (as you’d expect) as he signed back into the boat park. ‘We are almost at the half way mark in this regatta and it's looking like it might be light for a bit longer. ‘If that happens, Stevie (Brewin) is always the one to beat. He is the long-time, light wind specialist and Darren (Bundock) is light too and really consistent. ‘This is one of those places where both sides of the course are working, the middle is a bit wobbly sometimes. ‘Although you can rip off really fast one way and have good speed, if you don’t keep your eyes open you can get caught. I had some shocking beats today but getting a second after being fourth at the top mark on the last downwind, knocking Darren off and slipping through past Bob (Baier) at the finish behind Steve was a fantastic result. ‘I’m very happy with a two – it’s definitely a keeper in this fleet. ‘I managed to get off the start line well in the last race and had a clean line at the top mark. It’s a lot easier when you can have your bow in front and you can steer where you want to and gybe when you want to and tack when you want to. It was nice to come away with a win in the second race.’ Steve Brewin was pleased with his race 3 win. ‘I was ninth at the top mark and then sailed into the lead down the first run. These conditions suit me, I am a little lighter and I power up a bit earlier. ‘In the second race I went to the right and the breeze bent left. Massive loss, a couple of hundred metres - Goodnight Irene.’

Darren Bundock, now firmly in second place overall, was he usual relaxed self as he hosed down his Cat. ‘That last race I actually had a really good start and I crossed everyone and then I tacked and just parked and ended up tenth at the top mark. ‘Luckily I had an awesome downwind. I was third by the bottom and I had a little bit of pace on Nathan (Outteridge) and I got him on the second downwind.’ Jamie Spithill commented ‘Lighter conditions today, which was just a different set of challenges but I enjoyed it. It was very tactical and I had a couple of good races, but it was pretty tricky downwind. ‘It seems Tom Slingsby and I seem to have our own little match race out there. It’s the battle of the red heads. ‘The approaching storm kept the wind speed down and kept it right because normally it should get dragged left and kick. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.’

The 49er and Moth World champ stylish at the offsetmark..

Nathan Outteridge explained ‘In the first race I just got lost on the downwind and I missed a bit of a puff and then on the second beat I didn’t fly a hull for two minutes and everyone just went right around me. It was a bit tough but after that I caught up on the next lap to get a seven. ‘The second race was good. I just nailed the pin end start, tacked on the lay, ducked and weaved a bit and then the only ones who tacked in a good spot were Tom, Jimmy and Glenn. It was just a convergence on the top mark.’ Tom Slingsby was looking a little rueful. ‘I just haven’t practiced in light winds downwind and I was just losing five boats every downwind. I would gain on some of them back up the beat. I need more time in the boat. I am improving but not quick enough. ‘The first race was good. I led around the top and lost my usual five downwind and then gained two at the beat and then lost five, and in the end it was good learning.’

The 2012 John Cootes Furniture A Class Australian Championships continues until January 7

Full Results : here

2012-01-04T10:32:00.007+01:00

Glenn Ashby still King of the A-cat

6 DNA's leading after 4 races...

Report from from Sail-World.com

Postcard conditions today on Lake Macquarie, NSW for the start of the 2012 John Cootes Furniture Australian A Class Championships. After a general recall in the first race, Principal Race officer Tony Outteridge gunned the fleet away just before 12:30 in a steady 14 knot east north-easterly sea breeze.

At the top mark for the first time it was dual 49er World Champion and Moth World Champion Nathan Outteridge ahead of Tom Slingsby but Slingsby capsized just after the clearing mark. Bundock sailed into third, Simon McKeon was fourth and ahead of Glenn Ashby. Using his superior down wind speed, seven times A-Cat World Champion Ashby sailed away to a 300 metre win from Outteridge and Bundock. McKeon was run down by 2011 A-Cat World Champion Steve Brewin, who beat him by just eight seconds.

In the second race the breeze was beginning to lift. It was 16 knots from the same direction. Bundock had a perfect pin end start, won the drag race to the left hand corner and was first at the top mark. Down the second run Ashby sailed through his Tornado partner. Brewin was third and McKeon, the C Class pioneer who has done virtually no sailing in the last 12 months having attended some 300 functions and made 300 keynote speeches as Australian of the Year, was a strong fourth.

It was another impressive performance from Ashby who has a different trapezing style to any other A-Cat sailor. His body is much lower on the trapeze and his airborne hull seems to just skim over the waves, both upwind and downwind. His boat is therefore very flat and flat is fast. Ashby explained ‘It comes from the Tornado days. Darren (Bundock) was a low trapper and I needed to be lower than the helm, so I’ve always been a very low trapper. It provides maximum efficiency and I need that because of my lack of vertical stature. (Glenn is 5 foot 6 inches tall). ‘Today I did not quite get that first work right in either race. I did manage to get the downwind right and I got to sneak back past a few boats and then I was able to stretch out. ‘Tommy (Slingsby) got the glory at the top in the first race and then lost it. Boat positioning and speed from both Tom and Nathan (Outteridge) is very good and their boat handling skills are superb, they just need more time in the boat. ‘With a nice couple of Ashby sails they have plenty of speed. I have a new development Doyle Stratis sail - it seems to be performing really well downwind. ‘Today was some of the best racing I've ever had on the A-Cats. 16-18 knots and the earlier start time made for flatter water and really enjoyable racing.’

Darren Bundock, smiling after his excellent start in the second race, secured a second and a third today to be in second place overall. ‘It was nice to get around the top mark first for once, for a little fellow. (Bundock is very light). ‘Glenn is in a different class downwind, if I am going to make a move I have to get some guts and get out on the wire. ‘It’s a different thing digging these boats in downwind; you don’t get a second chance. I saw Tommy go in and I saw Nathan go in too.’

Steve Brewin, the current A Class World Champion, had a giant stack when his boat leapt into the air on the reach between the top mark and the clearing mark in yesterday’s practice race and he was unable to control it from two metres out the back. Brewin said ‘The curved foils just generate too much lift in strong conditions on the reach. My good mast broke in the capsize. Luckily I had a second mast rebuilt and was able to get going. I am thinking I might have to change to centre controls to get my weight forward. Anyway it’s good to be back in the hunt today with a three and a four and a third overall.’ Nathan Outteridge, the dual 49er World Champion and Moth World Champion is fourth overall after a second and a sixth today. ‘It was nice to lead the first race for a bit. I was never going to win it but it’s nice to have some speed. But it could have been a lot worse. Upwind you try to stay flat. If I try and get as low as Glenn I can’t get in again, or I hit the water and become slow. Downwind these A-Cats are a big challenge. I am still watching Glenn and trying to copy his technique.’

Four times Laser World Champion Tom Slingsby was back at 15th in the first race but was fifth in the second to be 10th overall. ‘I had two good stacks in the first race. I rounded second and was a bit cocky; I tried to do all the controls from the wire. I had not even practiced it and it did not work. ‘I can’t trapeze down wind. I am just not that good so I just sit there and lose ground but it’s a lot of fun.’ 56 year old Simon McKeon was also smiling. ‘A lucky day, my head was in the right space. I have been on holiday for three days and feel good. ‘I am an old guy who feels really fat and flabby. But I got two good starts, and then stayed with the good guys, who showed me the way. I just had to stay upright. I am very happy with a five and a four and I’m fifth overall. I think I should go home now’ he laughed.

The final words came from Ian Johnson, the A Class President. ‘The conditions were straight out of the A-Cat brochure. Just watching Glenn motoring downwind is worth the event entry price!’

After four races on day 1 and 2 of the 2012 John Cootes Furniture Australian A Class Championships, Glenn Ashby leads Darren Bundock with Steve Brewin third.

Full results here

2012-01-02T21:51:00.006+01:00

Glenn Smooth as always on the DNA...

Australian A-Cat Nationals 2012 – from Sail-World.com

Ashby fires the warning cannon

The last A Class Catamaran race Glenn Ashby sailed on Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney, was when he won the 2009 World Championship. Today he fired a warning canon in the practice race for what will certainly be one of Australia’s most competitively fought National titles, the 2012 John Cootes Furniture Australian A Class Championships being sailed once again on Australia's largest salt-water lake, the site of the 2009 A-Cat Worlds and the 2011 Moth Worlds. This is not a usual Country nationals, there are more medals clinking here than you can believe. These Championships will be a unique event on the world sailing scene bringing together a slew of America's Cup sailors along with three current World Champions; Tom Slingsby (four times Laser World Champion) from Gosford, Nathan Outteridge (three times 49er World Champion) from Wangi Wangi and Steve Brewin (A-Class World champion), all sailing these high performance, high tech A Class 18 foot catamarans. From the America's Cup arena come five sailors; Oracle America’s Cup Syndicate Australian sailor James Spithill (skipper of 2010 America’s Cup winner BMW Oracle) John Kostecki (ten World championships, U.S. Olympic silver medalist and tactician on 2010 America’s Cup winning BMW Oracle), Dirk de Ridder (Volvo Ocean racer, BMW Oracle and Oracle AC45 mainsheet trimmer) Darren Bundock (14 catamaran World titles and two Olympic Silver medals) and Glenn Ashby (Emirates Team New Zealand, with 14 multihull World titles and two Olympic Silver medals) and three former Olympic medalists Andrew Landenberger, Chris Cairns and Scott Anderson. Today 69 boats took to the water for the practice race. In many classes that means two general recalls while the fleet tests the mettle of the PRO and then a bunch of retirementes after the top mark.

Not the A-Cats. PRO Tony Outteridge(Nathan's Dad) gunned the fleet away from a clean start and the fleet headed hard left. James Spithill was first to the top mark ahead of Glenn Ashby. Behind them the fleet was pushing hard, in the case of the 2011 A Class Catamaran World Champion Steve Brewin, too hard. As Brewin accelerated from the top mark his hulls flew skywards to the right and then, as he fell off the back of the boat still on the trapeze, skidded hard left and capsized. As his mast hit the water there was that familiar crunching sound - broken mast and torn sail.

Down the run it was an Ashby ‘master class’. He sailed away from the fleet and extended on every run. Three windward leewards and 30 minutes later, Ashby crossed ahead of a smiling Darren Bundock. The two sailors won Olympic Tornado Silver in Qingdao, China and they have almost 30 World Championships between them in multihull classes. Third was Andrew Williams, then Brad Collett, Andrew Landenberger and Stephen Brayshaw, followed by four times Laser World Champion Tom Slingsby, America’s Cup winning helmsman James Spithill and dual 49er World Champion Nathan Outteridge. Just a few places back was Simon McKeon, for a long time the fastest sailor on the planet with Macquarie Yellow Pages. With just 24 days left as Australian of the Year, McKeon was having a blast back on the multihull scene. The fleet was quickly back on the grass in front of the Wangi RSL Amateur Sailing Club with giant smiles everywhere, after a fast 20 knot hit out under azure blue skies. Before the practice race Ashby had warned he was rusty - just two days on the water in A-Cats this year. Ashby smiled. ‘It was one of those days, pull on everything as hard as it goes and hit the left hand corner. One of those breezy days when its semi survival and semi pushing. I had a couple of good trapezing runs downwind and managed to pull away a couple of hundred metres. ‘A good hit out and I am looking forward to tomorrow.’ At the top of the boat park Darren Bundock was explaining some finer technical points to his wife Carolijn Brouwer after her very first A-Cat outing. He felt she had done well just to get round without crashing. ‘Not a bad practice race, a little breeze blew out the cobwebs. Glenn had it pretty wick'd up today. The guy is insane downwind. ‘A lot of guys pushing really hard on the practice run, which is a bit strange really. ‘I saw Stevie (Brewin) getting washed out the back still hanging onto the trapeze in mid air and thought ‘that is going to hurt’. ‘That was a good mast. He spent two days fitting it out and got half a race out of it so that's going to make for a long night.’ Simon McKeon said ‘It was a bit of a war of attrition out there. It was five to six knots more than I was expected and the forecast is quite a bit heavier over the next couple of days. ‘There are 20 full time professionals in this fleet and they will work overnight to make any repairs.’ James Spithill had a big grin. ‘That was great, just happy to beat Glenn around the first mark. He overtook me pretty quickly down the run. Tom (Slingsby) got me just on the line and Nathan (Outteridge) was just behind me. Had a swim on the second run, so that cost me a few places. Not sure what happened to JK (John Kostecki and Dirk (de Ridder). ‘But it was awesome, awesome, and just unreal. It does not get much better than that.’ Spithill was right - it was awesome racing and that was just the practice race. Watch this space!! 2012 John Cootes Furniture Australian A Class Championships commence January 3 and will continue until January 7 2012.

Event website http://www.a-cat.org.au/
by Australian A Class Championships media

New daggerboards

2011-12-06T20:35:00.001+01:00

Today PJ and I fitted the first set of the new daggerboards in one of the new boats (which have the same cases as the old boats).

The daggerboards are 10 cm longer than the old boards.

We think that the new boards will improve the performance both upwind and downwind. Upwind especially in the light to medium stuff and in big waves. In medium conditions it will be comparable to the old boards. In strong winds you an easily pull up the boards 5 cm as you have easily too much lift even upwind. The amount of lift created by the boards is the same, while the tipdistance remains the same.

The longer boards fit the new ARC mast very well. The thinner mast makes it easier to steer higher and the long boards help you to gain and maintain the extra height.

Downwind the boards will have extra grip, which means that you can trapeze earlier and easier.

Weight of the new boards is roughly the same. We changed to a much better glue, as we broke some boards due to spots of non-hardened glue. The new moulds ar every precise which has resulted in a better form definition and a highet surface quality.

The longer boards have a bigger area and that causes some extra drag, the induced however is lower due to the increased aspect ratio.

We first make the boards for the boats we sent to Australia and the USA. Boards will be available for sale in January. We had to postpone the production of our ARC masts to January due to the effort we had to put in the new moulds for the foils ad the making of the foils which are lagging the produced boats.

Just or Christmas we have reinstated our normal production order in a completely reorganized production facility and will do 2 boats and 2 masts per week. ( We can do 1 complete set of foils per day if we need too).

Pics will come later this week.

new rudders

2011-12-05T10:34:00.001+01:00

What you see are the first two new rudderblades before finishing (left an old blade). High gloss no pinholes straight out of the mold. The new rudders are 15 cm wide (was 17,5 cm), and are 8 cms longer.

We had quite some issues with the old blades, which could split. We have a one shot process now, with continous fibers and the blades are no longer hollow. The weight is much lower (700 grams vs 1100 grams) while the amount of carbon is even higher than in the old ones. The new blades can be fitted in the existing rudderstocks, if you replace the pushrods as well. We first have to make the blades for the boats we send to Australia and the USA, early January others can buy these too.

Australian Nationals Preview

2011-11-24T09:28:00.001+01:00

PREVIEW 2012 A CLASS CATAMARAN AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: THE BATTLE OFTHE WORLD CHAMPIONS

The John Cootes Furniture Australian A Class Catamaran NationalChampionships will be a unique event for the Australian summer of sailing . Theevent will bring together three current World Champions to race at Wangi, onthe waters of Lake Macquarie.

Tom Slingsby is the current World Laser champion (2011 now making threeWorld Titles), and he is continuing to win virtually every International Laserevent in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics.

Nathan Outteridge is the 2011champion in both the 49ner and International Moth Class, and is also lookinggood for a medal at the London Olympics. These two will be pitted against SteveBrewin, whom recently secured the 2011 A Class Catamaran World Crown in Aarhus,Denmark.

The form guide for this regatta will also be complicated by the infusionof a number of the AC 45 sailors who will be heading down under for theChristmas break in their AC 45 campaigns .

Team Oracle will be very well represented. James Spithill will bringalong his tactician John Kostecki, and trimmer Dirk de Ridder. Darren Bundockand Tom Slingsby will represent the other Oracle AC 45.

Glenn Ashby and Adam Beashel will fly the flag for Emirates TeamZealand. All these sailors will be sailing on DNA A Cats, recently importedfrom the Netherlands.

Life at the top will be tough, as these sailor will be racing againstother Australians whom filled the top six places in the Danish Worlds. The Aussie Titles will be a true"Champion of Champions " contest.

Around 70 boats are expected to contest the event ,which will be hostedby the Wang (RSL) Amateur Sailing Club , under the direction of PRO Tony Outteridge, during the first week inJanuary Zhik will be the other major sponsor,in addition to John CootesFurniture.

Simon McKeown, a long time A Catsailor and current Australian of the year has indicated that he is very muchlooking forward to competing in the regatta.

Interest in the regatta is very strong and we have received numerousenquiries from people who sail other classes of boats seeking to charter boatsfor the event.

Report by Bob Griffits

Video German Open

2011-10-31T20:48:00.001+01:00

Great video. beautiful HD material. An example for other organizers.

DNA fun in Spain during ISAF 2011

2011-10-31T13:20:00.000+01:00

Worlds topsailors will meet in next Australian Nationals

2011-10-31T11:49:00.001+01:00

Last Friday we shipped another six boats to Australia. For Glenn, James Spitthil, Dirk de Ridder, John Kostecki, Tom Slingsby and Nathan Outeridge. Darren Bundock has bought an used DNA in Australia so he will be present in the Australian nationals too (and Steve Brewin, Jack Benson, Andrew Landenberger, Brad Collet, Scott Anderson, and many other local aces). Rumours are that Bob Baier might be present as well on a chartered DNA.

It is great for A-class and for the sport in general that so many topsailors show up in an A-class event and that they choose the A-class for practice and fun. The boats are not bought by the syndicates, just private boats to have fun with other topsailors.

At the end of November we will ship 7 boats to the USA. After Ben Moon did so well in the last Worlds the Americans got hungry for European boats. We expect so ship more boats for people who want to particpate in the next Worlds to be held in Florida (Isla Morada) October 2012. This event will be the first event which will and can host more than 100 boats. Essentially it will be an open event. We have not yet taken a decision on how many charter boats we will do this year.

After the shipment to the USA we will start our deliveries in Europe. New boats will go to Spain, France, the Netherlands and the UK.

The 2012 boats will get new rudders (slightly longer and smaller) and new daggerboards (radius 1,45m instead of 1,20m). We not only changed the shape but also the production method as we had our fair share of problems especially with the rudders. The appendages will sitill be made in carbon-prepreg but the rudders will no longer be hollow and the stainless steel 'ear' will be replaced by a carbon lip. Ruddernoulds will be aluminium cnc milled moulds and the daggerboards will be made in heat resistant carbon.

With the new rudders and daggerboards the DNA's will be both faster upwind in light to medium conditions and downwind in light to medium. The 10 cm longer boards will give just that extra little grip to be able to trapeze sooner downwind. In strong winds you can easily pull up the boards 10 cms as you easily have too much lift.

Other changes are; new paint manufacturer (Alexseal, better coverage) and some changes in the hull laminate to make the hulls stiffer and slightly lighter.

Many 2012 boats will be delivered with the new ARC masts. The new masts will be delivered form January onwards. We have made some changes in the laminate and changed to another pre-preg manufacturer to get a both faster and stronger master. The tapered top section gives you an extra gear upwind as PJ, Roeland, Mike and Mischa showed in last races of the 2011 Worlds (see GPS data).

Worlds review

2011-08-23T17:56:00.001+02:00

We had a good championship which was very well organized by the Danes. The livetracking and live video coverage is something we defintely need for next championships. Both for the competitors and the spectators (on stage & online).

It was a difficult spot with big windshifts.

The good guys did handle the shifts better even after a bad start. Stevie and Jack often rounded the mark around place 20.

Scott did handle the start better than the other top 10 guys and was often in front at the first mark.

Stevie used his amazing speed downwind to come back and once he was in front he was unstoppable.

The first days he struggled a bit with his rig as he used a slightly softer mast then he used to sail with. Once he sorted that out he became again the favourite he was on beforehand.

Jack and Stevie did well with their Saarberg/Brewin rigs which had slightly fuller bottoms ocmpared to their Cesenatico rig.

Everyone is using the soft foreaft mast now, but some including myself went a bit too far in that direction and were compalining a bit. Brad and Landy did exceptionally well downwind in the light to medium, when they were trapzeing while others couldn't.

Scott's rig looked beautiful; slightly fuller in the top than most and gettting a relative flat bottom if he needed one while going upwind.

Next year we will even see more people who have sorted out their rigs and match good upwind sails with full downwind sails.

Downwind Jack, Manolo, Stevie, Scott, Landy and Brad were the guys with the best boatspeed. They have good rigs and special downwind skills.

Mischa was the only one who trapezed downwind in the 20 knot plus winds and he got the topspeed of the week; 23 knots (see tracking data).

Team DNA

2011-08-22T14:06:00.001+02:00

Steve Brewin, AUS World Champion

Jack Benson, AUS, third & Junior World Champion

Manolo Calavia, ESP, 6th, best European Sailor

Stephen Brayshaw, AUS, 8th

Mike Drummond, NZL, 9th, Master World Champion

Mischa Heemskerk, NED, 12th, best Dutch and best Rookie

PJ, NED, 15th

Roeland Wentholt, NED, 16th

Eugenio Calabria, ITA, 19th, best Italian

All pics by KristofferWest for Sailing Aarhus,

The World Champions

2011-08-20T16:33:00.005+02:00

DNA sailors Jack Benson and Stevie Brewin finished 3rd and 1st At the Ronstan A class Worlds 2011 in Denmark. Jack is junior World Champion too.

Steve Brewin World Champion!

2011-08-19T17:14:00.000+02:00

Stevie made the almost impossible today by scoring a first and a second today. Congratulations to Stevie, gerat comeback in this series and his second World Championship after winning in Casteldelfels in 2001.

Scott Anderson did a fourth in the morning and had to retire in the second ace after a capsize downwind.

Jack did win the last race and is third overall.

Mischa did great today and scored two thirds on his blue DNA.

It's DNA's forst World title after just missing it last year.

The DNA's did win 5 races out of nine and won races both in the light stuff and the tough stuff.

23 DNA's were present. 5 in the top 10 (Stevie, Jack, Stephen, Manolo, and Mike Drummond.

In today's GPS figures the DNA's with the new ARC mast showed excellent speed, Roeland, Arno , PJ , Mike and Mischa are using this mast. The low drag of this mast leads to high speeds combined with good height.

Nexy year we weill go to both Lake Garda and Florida. CU all there.

Aussies dominating the fleet, Scott Anderson leading

2011-08-17T17:22:00.003+02:00

Today we had a race with light wind in the morning won by Scott and a medium breeze race in the early afternoon won by Jack Benson on a DNA and Stephen Brayshaw second on a DNA too. Mischa Heemskerk is improving every race. He scored a 5 and 6 today. (see his facebook page)

As predicted it is not a boatdesign championship, Scott with good speed up and downwind leads by mastering the shifts the best. Stevie is making a good comeback and is second on the ranking list now. Andrew dropped to third and Jack is doing great with a fourth place.

We have three boatdesigns and and three different sailbrands in the top three.

The Nikita (Scott) did win three races, The DNA 2 (Stevie and Jack) and the Scheurer G6 1.

In the top 10 we see 5 DNA's now. In the stronger breeze more and more DNA's are in the top 10 as Calabria, PJ, Mischa, Stepehen Brayshaw and Roeland Wentholt are going quite fast both upwind and downwind.

In the more fickle circumstances the Nikita does it it very well, but we see that Manolo Calavia, Jack and Stevie score top three positions in those circumstances too.

Downwind Brad Collet and Andrew Landenberger show superb trapezing style even in just 10 knots by going as deep but much faster. Andrew with a very full Pentex Maxx sail and Brad with a full Ashby sail.

The organisation of the worlds does a great job in promoting the event by having livetracking, pictures and videos on the internet.

See: http://2011ronstanacatworlds.sailing-aarhus.dk and the reports on http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/

Worlds preview, sailors are getting ready

2011-08-13T10:51:00.004+02:00

The event's logo with the sponsors

The ramp this morning

Mayfly's adjustable L- foil rudder

Adjustable daggerboardslider in Mayfly

Sailors are getting ready for the start of the worlds. Measurement process is in full progress. Based on the traing the last couple of days we already see some aces up too speed.

Top favourite is Steven Brewin, who sincerely regrets that Glenn Ashby will be absent this year. Stevie wanted his revanche after finishing second behing Glenn last year in Cesenatico.

Stevie uses a DNA, Saarberg mast and Brewin sail. His contestants are Manolo Calavia (DNA, Fiberfoam Ashby), Jack benson (DNA, Saarberg , Brewin), Scott Anderson & Bob Baier (Nikita, FF, Ashby), Sjoerd Hoekstra & Chris Field (Vision, Saarberg, Brewin), Andrew Landenberger (Scheuer special, FF, Landenberger) & Brad Collet (Scheuer special, FF, Ashby), Matt Struble & Lars Guck (Evo, Hall spars, Glaser).

F18 ace Mischa Heemskerk will take part on a DNA, who might be very competitive in medium and strong breezes.

Most interesting boat is The Mayfly of Martin Fischer sailed by him and Chris Cairns. The boat with its L- shaped rudders looks very fast downwind, but it remains to be seen if the extra drag makes it competitive over the whole race course and in different circumstances.

In training we saw big windshifts, lots of small windlanes and big lulls in the bay where we will be having our races. The sailor who handles that best will win here, so boatspeed differences will not be that deciscive. Watch for remarkable race results of Scott, Sjoerd and Landy, all former Tornado campaigners.

The Aussies are the big favorites once again but we hope to see at least one European on the podium.

PJ, myself, Roeland, Mischa and Mike Drummond are using our new double tapered ARC mast. The mast suits both the the Ashby and Brewin sails. The Dutch are showing remarkable speed upwind, but their lack of hours on the water diminishes any hope to be close to the podium.

More reports tomorrow

Charterboats for sale

2011-08-11T11:52:00.002+02:00

We have four new charter boats for sale after the worlds. Shipping to Australia is possible. The Aussiecontainer has place for 4 other boats. If you are interested please call or mail me:

arno@racingcats.com

+31647605986

Sail development

2011-07-18T20:12:00.002+02:00

The new masts have become softer fore aft and stiffer sideways.

Saarberg uses lower hounds to get a softer top, Fiberfoam makes the top softer with traditional hounds and ARC makes the mast softer by tapering it.

The sails have got both more luffcurve and more broad seam.

Where my two year old Ashby sail has 10 cms of luffcurve, my latest Ashby the 21has almost 16 cm luffcurve. (measured flat on the ground)

Ashby, Brewin, Landenberger, L&R are using Maxx cloth which can be used in crosscut sails. It is my experience that you flatten out the top lof the Maxx sails easier compared to radial sails. In the radial sails, especially if these are not brand new you always see some shape at the first horizontal batten even with maximum cunningham.

The advantage of radial sails is that you can sheet these hard in 2-3 beaufort, for extra power and height.

The new Ashby sail has quite a knuckle (full entry), where the Brewin has lost of shape more in the back of the shape, which you can remove by pulling the sheet. Brewin prefers the Pentex cloth where Ashby prefers the more stable carbon-aramid Maxx.

Landy goes well both with his radial and with his Maxx sail.

Sails do not only differ in the amount of luffcurve but also in the position of the max. depth of that curve.

Moving that point downward makes the sail more twisty and up give you more control over de leech.

My 2009 Glaser and the standard Brewin have that point slight above the midde of the mast, the Ashby sail almost in the middle and Chris used a very twisty sail last year where the max depth of the curve was clearly below the middle of the mast.

We see the wdith of the top vary between 85 and 100 cms.

Wider tops do particularly well downwind, but the smaller Ashby top is quick too because it twists so well and has great acceleration due to its big 'knuckle'.

In this article I put most focus on the sails of the sailmakers who do well themselves as sailors, Landy, Glenn and Stevie are bignames in the class. Together they have 80% of the market (wild guess, no official data available)
Other sailmakers who make winning sails are Glaser (USA), Pink Hammer (Spain), Bimare (Italy), Oxo (Italy), Challenger (Italy), Ullman (Italy), L&R (AUS), Cairns (AUS), North (Spain) and some French sailmaker who I do not know so well.

Choice of asail is quite personal, it depends on your style, weight and your favourite windconditions.

One strategy is too look at the weight of the champions and if you have a similar weight just copy.

Be aware that it takes time to get the best out of a new rig, in most cases it did cost me a season to understand a new sail or rig. If you are new to the class, see what the fastest guy in your fleet is using and copy him (sail, mast and set-up!). It helps you to get the right feel for the boat.
If you want to buy a second hand boat, look for a seller who does well in the regattas and who has your weight .

The latest innvoation is to make sails wider at the hounds instead at the top. Those sails will have a smaller foot and will have a ouline closer to that of a rigid wing. Both on Switzerland and Australie sailmaker are experimenting with this. We will probably not see this in the coming Worlds yet, but the first signs are very promising.

Even with lots of saildevelopment we still see the same guys win the races. So be prepared to make hours on the water and do not purely focus on choice of materials. If you lack time just copy the top dogs both in materials and not the least in set-up (spreader rake, diamond tension, batten choice).

See U in Danmark.

More pics

2011-07-14T11:36:00.000+02:00

Ingmar on his DNA

PJ leading

Great start by Guido and Sjoerd

Dutch Nationals

2011-07-12T13:03:00.002+02:00

Roeland tacking in front of Sjoerd, the 2011 Dutch Champion

Having fun

More curved foils fun

Making a jump for Mark

Chris full concentration down wind in strong gusts

PJ leading the fleet

Great style by Frank

Eric, Hellecat's chairman crossing the finish line

All pics (copyrighted 2011) by Mark Cole/Eye for life.

The Dutch nationals are won by Sjoerd Hoekstra, Chris Field was second and PJ was the last man on the podium.

Two days of strong wind and one day of light to moderate winds.

Sjoerd and Chris sailed the new Vision and were competitive with it. They did win by smart sailing, better boathandling (Sjoerd!) and more consistency than the others.

PJ and Arno showed great speed uwpwind with their new ARC masts. PJ was very fast in the moderate conditions and Arno in the 18 knots plus breeze.

We learned that keeping the daggerboards down in the big breeze (while going sort of flat) gave more control than boards up. The DNA is fast downwind if you can keep the bow up.Working the gust right is key to topspeed. Pushing the boat while it is ploughing is definitely not fast. So ease in a gust and pull in hard shortly after that. If you keep the traveller far out you can both steer very deep and have flow over the back of the sail

The conditions were not ideal for trapezing downwind, either too much or too little wind.

Trapezing downwind in 12 -18 knots is quite common now and is both fun and fast. A footstrap on the transom is too far back for those circumstances. Trapezing above 18 knots is for the experts only at this moment. It makes only sense if you keep the bow up, else you are sailing higher with the boat in displacement mode. It is tricky to handle the big gusts , if you steer up the boat shoots in the air, if you do nothing it will nose dive, come up again and accelerate agressively. Steering up will lead to a capsize, bearing away too much will haveyou fall in the water along side the boat.

If you ease the sheet a little bit, the sail will only become fuller, which will make your problems bigger instead of smaller. A big ease or complete drop of sheet is not practicable either else the weather hull will drop in the water and you too. If you can all overcome this and keep the boat in the groove you are rewarded with 3-4 knots extra boatspeed. We need just to practice more in those conditions and see which style our champions have made work.

Up to Danmark now, where we will see the first World Champion boat with curved boards, as the straight boards will be almost extinct at that event.

Jack Benson wins Kieler Woche

2011-06-29T15:05:00.000+02:00

Jack Benson from Australia did win the Kieler Woche on his DNA last weekend. Hours on the water really matter as Jack trained hard a couple of weeks in Holland after he had picked up his boat.

It will be hard for the Europeans to prevent another Aussie dominated Worlds. The Aussies are racing their DNA's hard since Christmas.

Andrew was second on a DNA ( with T-foil rudders) and Roeland with very good upwind speed scored a great third on his black DNA.

Full results in the cat sailingnews blog: http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2011/06/class-at-kieler-woche.html. The link also includes a link to a short videoclip.

At the Worlds we will see three new A-class designs, the Vision of Saarberg (raced by Sjoerd Hoekstra in Cesenatico and Kiel) and two Polish boats: the Nano (from the Wingfox guys) and the Fischer designed May-Fly.

The last two boats have extreme daggerboard configurations, the Nano has big J-boards and the May Fly has rudders with lift and daggerboards which have an even smaller radius than the DNA. Articles to be found at catsailingnews.

New ideas and developments are part of a development class and we will see who is right at the Worlds! The proof of the pudding is in the eating, our British friends tell us, though the best sailors will still win in the end.

We happen to have the same favourites as last year : Ashby (if he catches the plane in time) & Brewin as top favourites, Landy and Jack (who did so well in Cesenatico last year) as podium candidates, Manolo who was absent in the last Worlds is a podium candidate as well. He is probably the only European who can match the downwnd skills of the best Aussies.

Other guys who are potential top ten candidates are Bob Baier, Mischa Heemskerk, Roeland Wentholt, Luigi Blancato, Sjoerd Hoekstra, Chris Field, PJ, Scott Anderson, Stephen Brayshaw, Matt Struble, Brad Colett, Lars Guck, Luc Du Bois and Gustavo Doreste. (not in that order...)

If we have lighter conditions (not again .....) we will have some others in front too: Sasha Wallmer, Georg Reuter, Mathias Dietz and Thomas Paasch.

In medium conditions I expect little surprises and the guys who master the trapezing downwind thing will do best.

I am curious how the Americans will compete against the Europeans and the Aussies, as the Europeans and Aussies are using the new rigs with the full sails and soft masts now.

Taming the beast

2011-05-23T11:11:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I was practizing in Muiderzand in 18- 25 knots of breeze. In the morning I just managed to do some trapezing downwind.

Standing on the back the boat accelerates very quicky to speeds over 20 knots with the nose 20 cms out of the water, the next moment it slightly dives and the footstraps saves you, if you make the mistake to luff the boat shoots into the air.

Under 18 knost you have lots of control and just walk over the side to keep the right longtudinal balance with the leeward nose just out of water. Over 18 knots life is a balancing act. When I was in the toestrap on the transom the boat felt very light and quicky accelerated away, but it feels that the boat can come agressively out of the water too. Taking a step forward and leaving the footstrap does not feel like the right option though (maybe an extra toestrap?).

If the boat lifts you bear away and you try to control the boat with the sheet, a long sheet is certainly helpful here. In these conditions the margin for errors is small. One moment the boat slighty dives and you hang with yout toes in the footstrap and the next moment you speed away. If you do not control your rudder perfectly the boat will move like a wild horse.

Practizing will be the key to master it and to feed your confidence that you control the beast and not the boat you. If you do right you will sail away form the others but if not the guys who will just sit on the side will pass you.

Maybe it would make sense to sail with somewhat less boardrake as we do not need that much lift in those circumstances.

Later the wind picked up and I even had problems to keep the nose in upwind! Once the speeds is over 14 knots the boat wants to come out of the water too especially on the short waves of the Ysselmeer.

Over 22 knots trapezing downwind didn't feel like an option and I sailed the boat flatter with a very loose sheet still reaching amazing speeds. If you powerup the boat too soon it starts digging in and you are slow, once you can free the boat it speeds up and can be controlled with the sheet and rudder, even in the big gustst. There seems to be threshold which you have to pass. At a certain moment you cannot control the boat completely by fully hiking out; the nose will start to dig in . If you switch to a more light footed mode you pass the threshold and you can sail very fast and very deep. The fast guys are the guys who stay out of the slow zone and have the best skills to switch modes to pass the threshold and they will even hike out again.

In pratice I use a GPS to see my speeds. It can help you too because you will get a better understanding of the boat and it will improve both yout trim and steering.

Manolo wins Spanish Nationals

2011-05-19T11:09:00.002+02:00

Report by Manolo:

Last weekend we held in La Manga del Mar Menor de Spanish Cup 2011. 20 A Class were there including Luc Du Bois (DNA, Fiberfoam 2011 and Ashby model 20).

We raced on Friday with 11 to 13 knots and I won each race with more than 200m over the second. Gustavo Doreste (Nikita, Fiberfoam 2011 and Micky Todd sail 2010) did 2-2-2.

Second day we raced 3 races with 7 to 10 knots. In first race it was Gustavo that passed 1 at first mark, Luc 2 and me 3, all in 30m. In the down flat style downwind I passed Gustavo and Luc and manage to win the race with more than 100m. Gustavo second and Luc 3.

Second race, I start at the pin to go left but a shift to the right obliged me to tack and go to the right but Kike just tack front to me and I needed to carry out 2 more tacks. I passed the 1 mark 5. Gustavo 1 and Luc 2. I started my comeback to finish second after Gustavo by 30m. Good performance.

Third race I did a good race and finish 1 with more than 200m over Gustavo with 10 knots.

Last day, no races, +25knots.

I did 1-1-1-1-2-1 and Gustavo 2-2-2-2-1-2. Luc was 3 but with more than 20 points just closed with Kike that finished 4º.

Next step for me will be French Nationals ate the first weekend of June in Montpelier (300 km from Barcelona) and after the 17/18 June the Spanish Circuit Regatta in Barcelona.

Comments Arno:

Manolo told me that he improved his light weather performance by sitting more forward while going flat downwind (as Stevie did in Cesenatico) and my moving the daggerboardslider more foward under 8-9 knots. He feels now that he is competive is all conditions and that he has superior speed downwind in anything over 10 knots.

Manolo is one of the few guys he masters the trapezing downwind thing. He practiced all winter and he shows us that hours on the water make the difference.

Tarpezing downwind with quite a loose sheet, traveller on footstrap and walking over the side to keep the boat flat (slightly nose up but not too much as that adds drag).

Manolo did use a fFberfoam 2011 mast and an Ashby 20.

Luc Du Bois wins New Zealand Nationals. Loic second in Maubuisson

2011-04-27T16:39:00.000+02:00

Luc on Deans boat

The podium in France with Loic second, Jean Louis first and Gilles Escarret third

Lots of A-cat racing at Easter; New Zealand, France adn Italy.

For a report form France see: http://www.acatsailing.blogspot.com/ (use google translate)

No report from Ne Zealand yet

I just returned from Cesenatico, where we had some marvelous sailing days before the event, only the windgods left us with little wind during the Event which was won by Theo di Batista on his Bim V1r, Sjoerd Hoekstra second and Georg Reutter third, Francesco Marcolini fourth and Bob Baier fifth.

We did see some new boats enter the the scene, the vision of Saarberg and the Carbon Lab A-cat sailed by Vincenzo Sorrentiono who finished in the top 10 as well.

In the light winds the light guys did best, only when the wind picked up a little bit we saw the heavier guys in front too. Of the80 plus kghuys only Bob was consistent. Sjoerd sailed a remarkable series with some very sharp and brilliant tactical sailing, but Theo managed three wins in six races. Georg was clearly the fastest guy on the water with his Nikita and OXO sail. Sjoerd used a brand new Aramid Maxx Brewin (looks very powerful) and Bob was using an Ashby 21. Both Theo and Franceso used Bimare sails and masts.

The light winds were a boat equalizer again as seen before in the last Worlds. Great starting and going for undisturbed air where the key success factors.

PJ and I used the new ARC mast . We were quite happing with it, though it does not show in the results. Especially PJ was very fast downwind once the wind picked up a little bit. I was slightly faster upwind but only in the breeze (slightly overweighted for the light stuff)

Return of the Jesus bulb and other news

2011-04-06T11:40:00.000+02:00

Twenty years ago when we still had those lovely reaches in our triangles some Aussies used 'what they called Jesus bulbs (from the Oh, Jesus in a cartwheel).

Now with the trapezing downwind we can use some support for our front leg, as you will not always use the footstrap on the back. As Contender and skiff sailors may tell you, it is the support of the front leg which improves balance and which prevents ' the walking on the side before the capsize' effect.

I have not tried it myself yet as we had no wind in Muiderzand last Sunday.

Friday I will make our first mast with PJ. We will it make stiffer sideways than the prototype mast and overall bend will be quite even with the deepest point of the curve somewhat higher than on the non tapered Fiberfoam and Saarberg masts. We will test the mast April 16 and 17 in Muiderzand and take it with us to the Vele di Pasqua in Cesenatico at Easter. If we are satisfied both with the performance and its strength we will make it available to new DNA buyers after that event.

Congratulations to Brad Collet for winning the NSW nationals on his Scheurer with 5 DNA's in the top 6.

We agree with Brad that a boat with a smaller transom is easier to sail in over 22 knots of breeze. We optimized the DNA for medium conditions and are quite happy with its square flat transom. Chris Field showed us last year in the Dutch nationals how to sail a DNA in 24 knots of breeze, so no worry about the performance in those conditions. Manolo told us that over 20 knots of breeze he stops trapezing downind and that he prefers to sail it more traditional in those circumstances. Trapezing is fast downwind if you can sail in straight lines and does not have to steer around waves too much or if you have to adjust too much for the big gusts.

If you can keep the boat on its boards it is fast, if a big gust blows you off your boards you have to steer up quite agressively. Making such drastic moves is easier hiking out than in the trapeze (see Chris action pics in the gallery).

One year DNA; our market view

2011-03-30T10:05:00.000+02:00

Almost one year ago the DNA made its debut at the Vele di Pasqua. We wil have producec and delivered 55 more before the coming Vele di Pasqua. This time our new mast will make its debut.

We will start making masts because people who want to enther the class prefer to buy complete boats and availability is a problem nowadays. It also helps us to keep the price of the boats reasonable.

It is not our intention to dominante the market just to have a healthy business model.

As manufacturer we have a marketshare of about 40% know, our aim is not to grow beyond that but to grow further because the A-market itself becomes bigger. A bigger market is good for all of us. Past years and past winter not only have been good to us but also to the mastmakers and sailmakers. The sailors have more choice and will get better products as competition both speeds up innovation and improves quality.

The A-class is both a community and a commercial platform. It is not a manufacturers class. We love the A-class and have no intention to transform it into a DNA class.

Bimare showed us the way. Bimare makes almost all parts by themselves. If you are in a small market you need enough value added to have a healty business. We expect to see 2 or three big manufacturers and some smaller. The smaller one will focus on the platforms and buy more parts and the bigger firms will make more in house.

We will see some strong part manuafacturers and some smaller too. Although Fiberfoam and Saarberg dominate we also see good masts of Bimare (in house producion primarily used on Bimare's boats) and Hall spars.

The A-class as a class has a huge potential. We started our business to make competitive boats available to our friends and to new entrants. Once we have the new mast we can sell complete boats which is essential to attract new sailors. Sofar only a few new sailors entered the class and those were often facilitated by an A-class sailor they knew.

Coming year we want to promote the A-class to attract more F18, skiff, Moth, Finn, Laser and other sailors who want to have a high performance cat.

We just attracted two Mach 2 sailors, who loved their Mach 2 but swapped to the A-class due to its simplicity and the huge weather window you can use it in.The A-class is still relatively unknown to the bigger sailing public and has only a small installed base in Europe of approximately 1000 boats. We think we can expand that to a few thousand the coming 5 years. From a traditional A-class perspective absurd, but if you see the unmet needs of sailors in their fourties with money and no time you might see the potential too.

Happy sailing.

Victorian Sate titles

2011-03-17T10:18:00.001+01:00

Dean Barker at the first mark

Glenn drifting

Report by Rober Griffits:

Australian A class Racing.

With the onset of Autumn in the southern hemisphere, the sailing season is moving onwards towards a close in mid to late April. However for the A class Catamarans, there is still a hectic regatta circuit underway, with the Victorian, New South Wales ,and Queensland State Titles organised in quick succession.

The Victorian State Titles have just concluded at the McCrae Yacht Club on the Mornington Penisula ,and the New South Wales Titles are planned for next weekend, at Kurnell, just south of Sydney. The Queensland Titles will follow on Brisbane's Moreton Bay on the Easter long weekend.

The Victorian event attracted 41 boats, and took on an Interdominion flavour with 5 New Zealand boats competing. Team New Zealand coach, Glenn Ashby arranged for 5 of his America's Cup sailing team pupils, including his skipper Dean Barker, to make the trip across the Tasman Sea.

The wind gods were not particularly kind on the first two days. There was little in the way of wind on the first scheduled day of racing and hence nothing in the manner of racing.

Day two dawned again with not much wind ,but eventually a light north easter prevailed to allow one race to be completed. In this race,the better wind was found along the eastern shore and provided power to tackle an adverse 2 knot current. The usual suspect, Glenn Ashby won, with Dean Barker taking out second, and Dave Brewer third. An anticipated south westerly front arrived a little later in the day, but at 30 knots plus, it proved too strong to allow any racing.

Day 3 was the decisive day. The Race committee planned to run 4 races. The boats left the shore in very light winds prior to 0900 and then drifted until a race was at 1000. The race started with the breeze offshore from the south East at around 6 to 10 knotes but very shifty. Following this race, the committee shortened the race legs and managed to complete all 4 races hence create a series. The wind increased steadily over the morning to around 15 knots by the end of the day.

Glenn Ashby won all but the last race, in which he finished 5th, He demonstrated great ability to master the shifty conditions, and seems to be able to dial up great boatspeed regardless of the wind strength.

Dave Brewer sailing a Geltek Flyer 2, sailed consistent races and recorded 3,5,3,5,2, to place second overall. David was the only competitor in the top 5 not on a DNA. Team New Zealand Skipper Dean Barker finished 3rd overall after a 2nd in the first race, and a win in the last race.

The other top 10 finishers (in order) were Steve Brayshaw (DNA), Graeme Parker (DNA), Scott Anderson (Geltek Flyer 2), Chris Cairns (Tool), Dave McKenzie (Bush Object), Brad Collett (DNA), and Adam Beashel (DNA).

The McCrae Yacht club are to be congratulated for hosting a successful regatta in very trying conditions.

The racing focus moves now to New South Wales. A different playing field , some different faces in the competion, and hopefully some consistency in the winds. The forecast is promising at this early stage, with projected 10 to 12 knot easterly breeze on the Saturday, and afternoon north easterly winds increasing to 18 knots on the Sunday.

Unfortunately, Glenn Ashby and his band of Team New Zealand sailors, are back to the "Land of the Long White Cloud" and will not be in attendence. The regatta favorite will be Steve Brewin, the current World number two. Kurnell is Steve Brewin's home turf, and he will be a strong opponent. He was unable to sail in the Victorian States due to illness, but by next weekend he should be fighting fit.

Bob Griffits/Julian Jenkins/Ian Johnson.

Are you ready?

2011-03-14T10:15:00.003+01:00

Glenn trapezing downwind

Stevie trapezing downwind

Dean trapezing downwind

Glenn in control

Stephen bow up downwind

Temperatures are rising in Europe and we are getting hungry again for our boats. The Aussies started the 2011 season with their nationals. They showed that trapezing downwind is the new norm. The idea is to trapeze downwind in anything between 8-18 knots. Often you go deeper and faster than the others.

The curved boards are beyond discussion now.

The curved board boats are both faster upwind and downwind. Slightly faster upwind and immensely faster downwind if doing the wildthing. Hiking out you are 2-3 knost faster than the straight board guys and trapzeing you can add another 2 knots. Where in the past it was very difficlult get an A-class over 20 knots you see it regularly know. Speedburst of 21-22 knots downwind are seen regularly. In flat water in big gusts amazing speeds are recorded (do not tell how fast as you would not believe me....)

The DNA is dominating in Australia with 18 boats send over to Australia in the winter. Another 32 are delivered to our customers in Europe. Manolo is already dominating the scene in Spain and others are following him. DNA's have been send to Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Danmark and Austria.

The DNA has changed the A-class scene; A-class sailors are beating F18's round the course now by minutes and people just love their superstiff racing machines. Robust and refined.

Are you ready too? Get yourself a DNA and be part of the action.

Order now and get your own DNA before Easter. Go to Vele di Pasqua and join the other DNA's in some fine Easter racing.

Test event on Mar Menor; the pure joy of the curved foils

2011-03-08T14:18:00.001+01:00

Ramp at Los Alcazares (southern Spain 2300 kms under Amsterdam)

Micky's blue boot with must to have footstraps.

Last week some Dutch, an Austrian Girl, one Englishmen and two Germans had their test event on the Mar Menor. The same place where the Europeans were hosted a couple of years back. Long drive but great club, sunshine and decent see breeze. Next year we will be back as it was a great opportunity to escape the cold in Northern Europe.

Last weekend the local Spanish sailors joined us for 6 races in 4-5 bft. DNA's (6 present) dominated the fleet and Manolo showed why time on the water matters. He showed superb style downwind trapezing, which will be the norm for the 2011 season.

I takes some guts to throw yourself over the side while already doing 17 knots, but you will be rewarded with 20 knot plus speeds. Once on the side it is easier than you would expect, though you need the footstrap if the wind picks up.

If you trapeze downwind the leeward bow comes up (see video on the left) and the boat balances completely on the curved boards, a special sensation, remarkably sensistive and light steering. It feels refined, fast and is incredibly fulfilling.

Manolo was using a new Ashby sail, Chris his new Pinkhammer sail, Thilo a Brewin sail and I was using a brand new L&R sail (Brad Collet's choice at the AUS nationals). All these new sails on soft foreaft masts have more power downwind, which results in both more speed and more depth.

Chris and Manol did use the soft Fiberfoam 2011 and I did use our tapered ARCprototype mast.

I was very hapy with my combo and showed good speeds both upwind and downwind, though I felt that the mast was still a little bit too soft. The tapered section which is both smaller and thinner has less drag and I could easily choose to go for either height or for speed upwind and could steer really deep downwind both in flat mode and wildthing mode.

We will start producing the masts in one month and will present it in Cesenatico during the Vele di Pasqua, exactly one year after the baptizing event of the DNA.

A-class is much more physical now, trapezing all the time and agressive bow up tacks (not fast but can happen...). The old men need to get fit before the 2011 season....

AC34 Sailing's F1 or A1GP?

2011-02-15T10:58:00.001+01:00

The AC is changed dramatically, but will it be enough?

We have seen two fundamental changes:

1. To turn it into a more permanent thing instead a three week event by adding many obligatory race events.

2. Allowing teams to co-operate in the design process (' the design pack')

The new format might offer better business opportunities by transforming the sport into a business (like the F1) in the longer run. The pressures it puts on the new teams at the start of this new cycle might be too much though as only 3 teams seem to have proper funding and where even Team New Zealand seems to struggle to get all the cash together.

The A1GP has taught us that a business model based on competition between countries is not viable, but that is exactly what the AC still is.

Corporate sponsors think globally and only a few countries are big enough to attract corportate sponsors for inner nation promotion (USA and perhaps France).

The AC was always a billionaires game and though some important changes are realized to change that, it might be not enough.

I sincerely hope that we get many new teams who are properly funded. For the first time there is a reciprocity between the AC and our sport. Small boat sailors are entering the AC teams and the AC teams are buying small boats and are incorporating smal boat knowlegde.

The good thing is that the AC45 and AC72 are basically simple boats and that designing and building these can be done on relatively small budgets despite all the budget figures the syndicates are showing us.

To be continued...

Great video on sailcam.tv

2011-02-14T11:50:00.001+01:00

http://sailcam.tv/videochannel_624.php

Mike Drummond interview by Martin Vanzulli

2011-02-08T15:55:00.000+01:00

Mike Drummond talking about Mutlthull design and AC developements. Must read.

see: http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2011/02/ac45-by-mike-drummond-oracle-racing.html

Bruno and Loick GO AC 34!

2011-02-04T16:09:00.010+01:00

The Yacht Club de France is the sixth challenger to be accepted.

This brings the current total to seven confirmed and validated competitors for the 34th America's Cup. The seven include ALEPH Equipe de France, Artemis Racing, Mascalzone Latino, ORACLE RACING, two undisclosed teams, and now the Yacht Club de France team.

There will be an announcement on Wednesday, 9 February, in Paris to reveal details of the challenging team.

"We're pleased to be able to announce that a sixth challenger has been accepted for the 34th America's Cup," said Iain Murray, Regatta Director for the 34th America's Cup and CEO of America's Cup Race Management (ACRM).

"This is the second entry from France, confirming the country's strong interest in sailing and the America's Cup. In addition to a rich heritage in the Cup, France has a strong tradition in multihull design and racing, making this edition of the America's Cup of particular interest."

In fact, France is the only nation to challenge in every multi-challenger edition of the America's Cup, a tradition which started with the inimitable Baron Bich in 1970.

PJ and I will visit the press conference coming Wednesday. A report will be published here.

See also: http://tracking.barcelonaworldrace.org/
Where Loick is leading the race with Jean Pierre Dick. I hope Loick will take part in the next A-cat worlds as well. He already impressed me when I saw him doing the wildthing on the DNA.

As you can see it is not multi's vs mono's but high perfomance vs slow boats.

Is the DNA really faster than the other boats?

2011-01-24T22:07:00.004+01:00

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

2011-01-15T11:00:00.000+01:00

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

AUS nationals video

2011-01-14T18:05:00.002+01:00

http://sailcam.tv/

A-cat market live!

2011-01-10T23:04:00.002+01:00

Just launched the new marketplace for all A-cat stuff in Europe, Australia and the USA.

You can place your advertisements for free.

Do find your new boat at http://www.a-catmarket.eu/!

Sell your boat at http://www.a-catmarket.eu/!

Find your spare rudder at http://www.a-catmarket.eu/!

Look in the shed at put anything at http://www.a-cat.market.eu/!

Update: In some browsers you could not publish your ad. Problem is solved, first boats advertized.

Moth wing discussion

2011-01-10T20:56:00.004+01:00

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

2011-01-10T17:29:00.003+01:00

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

2011-01-07T09:40:00.000+01:00

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

2011-01-07T09:07:00.001+01:00

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

2011-01-06T20:26:00.003+01:00

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

2011-01-06T10:42:00.000+01:00

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

2011-01-06T09:58:00.000+01:00

Just after the start

Stevie trimminng

Stevie, Landy and Dean Barker

Bundy upwind

Stephen Brayshaw

More Mia pics

2011-01-06T09:34:00.000+01:00

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

2011-01-05T13:19:00.002+01:00

foto by Mia , (c) Mia

Day 3 A class Aus nationals

2011-01-05T13:07:00.004+01:00

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

2011-01-04T14:55:00.002+01:00

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

2011-01-04T14:17:00.001+01:00

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

2011-01-04T13:41:00.000+01:00

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

2011-01-04T10:15:00.002+01:00

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

2011-01-04T09:39:00.002+01:00

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

2011-01-03T15:03:00.000+01:00

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

2011-01-03T14:28:00.003+01:00

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.

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.

2011-01-02T13:37:00.001+01:00

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)

Ashby favourite for AUS A-cat nationals on DNA (updated)

2010-12-31T15:52:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow 2011 starts with the start of the AUS nationals. 18 DNA's will take part. Glenn, Stevie, Landy, James, Darren, Dean, Brad and many others will sail on their new DNA's.

Rumours go that Glenn is the fastest guy on the water.The DNA's outpace the other boats.

Although there are new boats, new mast and new sails the expected podium candidates are still the old names. My prediction is 1. Glenn Ashby 2. Stevie Brewin 3. Andrew Landenberger 4. Brad Collet 5. Darren Bundock 6.James Spithill 7. Dean Barker

Dean Barker did a lot of training with Glenn and he is the outsider for a podium place. Battle for third will be very tough. Stevie will not be fastest upwind but will be fast downwind as he always is. The heavier guys need to be really away at the first mark if they want to beat Stevie.

Darren will be fast although he might lack hours on the water on the DNA, if he gets his DNA up to speed he might threaten Stevie.

Andrew and Brett will be very fast upwind with their new sails but we have to wait to see if they can match Glenn and Stevie downwind.

I am curious how soon Dean is up to speed after Glenn's coaching and sparring with Glenn and some others.

Glenn wil be superfast both upwind and downwind as he will have more control over his new rig than he had over his previous 2010 rig. He is the clear favourite and the battle behind him will be very tough where the whole top ten might be very close.

Boat handling will make a difference, because gybing coming form the trapeze will need quite some practice to master, that's were Brad and other early users might have an advantage.

It will be interesting to see how many DNA's will trapeze downind and when that will be competitive. In Spain Manolo already is competitive in that style with 10-12 knots.

Good luck to all competitors or Mast und Schotbruch as our German friends say.

Last day of the Year of the Cat

2010-12-31T15:36:00.001+01:00

2010 has been a great year for multihulls.

First we had the AC battle between Alinghi and BMW-Oracle which transformed the sailing scene.

Before this event the multihulls were not really accepted by the traditional (read ISAF) scene. A resentment against multihulls which already emerged at the appearance of the first multihull racer The Amaryllis of Herreshoff in 1876!

In 2011 multihulls will be the norm and half boats will be considered as the dinosaurs of our sport.

2010 has also been the breakthrough of the C-board cats, both the DNA and the new Nacra 20 were very succesful and all doubt about the curved boards has been blown away.

March 2011 is the closing date for AC34. Although Cup itself will take place in 2013, the activities of the syndicates on smaller cats will be great for the promotion of small racing cats.

Any sailor can use the same stuff as Glenn, James or Dean.

Happy New Year to all followers of this blog!

DNA colours

2010-12-27T15:03:00.000+01:00

The boats of Micky (white), Juanjo (white), Benjamin (black), Tjibbe (red), Jan Willem (Silver)

The blue one of Bob

Benjamin's, Tjibbe's (Torreador Red), Jan Willem's (Silver metallic)

You can order a DNA in almost any colour. See the colour card at the Awlgrip site

New DNA graphics

2010-12-27T14:54:00.001+01:00

In these drawings you can easily see the curved boards and the hight aspect ratio rig of an A-class cat.

Advanced Racing Catamarans one year!

2010-12-22T10:47:00.000+01:00

Exactly one year ago PJ and I took the plunge and became boatbuilders.

Just before Christmas we decided to design, build and market our own A-class.

We had a vision that in the best scenario possiible we could sell and build 40 A-cats the first year.

Yesterday I picked up boat 40, Bob's navy blue DNA, at Yachtpainting Lelystad!

So far we have only delivered platforms to the A-class incrowd and some America's cup sailors.

Coming year we will start to deliver complete boats, which is needed to attract sailors from outside the A-cat scene.

We believe that the A-class has the potential to become the most popular single handed international class.

Merry Christmas!

Arno & PJ

Press release AUS Nationals

2010-12-18T14:29:00.001+01:00

2010/11 Australian Titles , International A Class Catamarans.

The quiet Queensland lakeside village of Boreen Point, on the shores of Lake Cootharaba will take on a busy ,and International ambience during the first week of January, when a fleet of between 60 and 70 A Class Catamarans compete in their National championships.

A strong homegrown Australian fleet will be supplemented by an influx of at least 10 International competitors, many of whom are associated with America's Cup Teams and new to catamaran racing. Many of the aspiring America's Cup competitors are eager to gain multihull experience and learn the "seat of the trapeze " elements that can be gained by sailing the high performance and technologically advanced 18 foot A Class.

With sailing currently in hibernation within the ice flows of the northern hemisphere winter , a number of sailors from both Europe and the United States will seek out the warm waters and summer seabreezes of south eastern Queensland, and pit their skills against the hot Australian Fleet. Glenn Ashby, Steve Brewin and Jack Benson from Australian are the A Class current gold Standard ,having taken out the top three places in the 2010 World Championships held in Cesenatico, Italy, in July.

A number of Australia's foremost International catamaran sailing sons including Darren Bundock, Mitch Booth, and James Spitall will also be returning to our shores to compete in these championships.

The internationalisation of the Australian Titles began in 2009, when James Spithall, Mike Drummond, John Kosteki, and Noel Drennan, from the Oracle America's Cup group, found themselves with a few weeks hiatus in their America's Cup training schedule, and were encouraged by their coach Glenn Ashby to try their hand National titles in Safety Beach, Victoria. Apparently they very much enjoyed the thrills, the skills ,and new challenges of driving the boats.

It seems that the A Class and the America's Cup will feed off one another, with an interflow of personnel ,and exchange of technologies.

The interesting A Class platform to emerge in 2010 is the Dutch designed and built boat known as the DNA. This boat features curved centreboards, and a very rigid composite construction that features a little more volume than usual in the rear, and it is said to be very fast downwind. The World Titles were inconclusive in evaluating the design as the winds were usually less than 6 knots, but the design went on to win the Swiss, Dutch and German Titles. Will it add an Australian Title to its Curriculum Vitae ? The probabilty is good as 18 of these boats will be competing, and will be sailed by most of the top guns.

Article by Bob Griffits

Loick and Bruno Peyron training on their DNAs for AC72 campaign

2010-12-15T15:28:00.005+01:00

Loick & Bruno Peyron ready to rock (pic by Jean Marie Liot)

Loick, Arno & Bruno at Delivery in Le Pouliguen (La Baule )(pic by Jean Marie Liot)

Boys with new toys, ready to go out (pic by Jean Marie Liot)

Drifting in no wind at zero degrees (pic by Jean Marie Liot)

Loick playing with his DNA (pic by Jean Marie Liot)

Last Friday I delivered two boats to Bruno and Loick Peyron at the CNBPP, one of France's most beautiful located clubs at the Atlantic coast. They are in the process of launching another French America's Cup Challenge.

It is good to see guys which such a long and succesful track record in big multihulls enter both the A-class and the next America's cup.

It is another example how this Cup has a positive effect on the whole sport. We see A-cat sailors who join the AC syndicates, we see AC heroes enter the A-class and we see offshore around the world multihull sailors step on small boats and inshore AC multihulls.

I had very interesting discussions both with Bruno and Loick about developments in the big cats, the ORMA tris and other boats. So were the curved foils introduced by Loick in the ORMA tris many years before these showed up in the A-class. What really surprised me that there seems so little difference in their way to seek performance gains compared to what we do in the A-class and that the same lessons were learned despite the scale factor.

The challenges in terms of amount of rocker, C-foils, volume, etc, of an A-class designer appear to be not that different from a AC72 hull designer or a ORMA ama designer.

Before my visit to them I was convinced that we could not scale up the DNA to an AC72 as the crew in an AC72 does not weigh 7000 kgs (in A-class crew is usually heavier than the boat of 75kgs). The opposite might be true...

I think that these brothers have the talent and the knowledge to create a team that can develop, build and sail a competitive A72. They will use another design approach than the older teams wich I am convinced will be very succesful as no other team can rival them in empirical data about big multihulls.

It will be good for the sport and his country if Bruno will find the extra funding he needs for the campaign before the start of the AC45 cycle in March 2011.

ISAF clueless about the future of our sport

2010-11-29T16:41:00.000+01:00

The mixed multihull proposal for the 2016 Olympics sucks (it is a non existent category). You go either for multihull girls and multihull boys or for multihull open.

The high perfomance skiff is already in as are the laser boy and girl.

If the ISAF realizes that the future of sailing is high performance sailing; skiffs, multihulls, windsurfing and kiteboarding should be in. Keelboats and slow dinghies (including the Laser) should be out.

The problem is that ISAF lacks a vision about the future of our sport and has made itself too dependent on the IOC. Too much money is involved and ISAF is already on her back and will do anything to please the IOC.

The IOC wants to turn sailing in a spectatorsport with stadiums (really! not my fantasy or suggestion) to make more money both form spectators and TV stations.

The future of our sport is not in drawing big audiences but getting more youngster as active particpants. (AC teams do something with this!)

We should not sell us out to the IOC or TV bosses and should realize that even without the Olympics the sport can prosper. Most TV and media coverage is not in the small boat scene but in the Volvo Ocean, America's cup, Extreme 40 and other mediadriven events.

It is true that only small boats get media attention if they are Olympic, but even that coverage is marginal and sailing will always be a side event in the Olympics.

The sailing enthousiasts will still be able to follow their heroes on internet. When I grew up I knew all the names of the catsailors and they were neither on national TV nor in national newspapers.

For us multhull sailors the AC has more impact than the Olympics especially if the ACtopsailors use beachcats for training purposes as most AC teams do with the James Spitthill/Glenn Ashby combo from the last AC in mind.

Kitesurfers be careful what you wish for!

Fortunately we didn't need ISAF in creating the cat community neither do we need it to grow further.

We will cooperate where possible and go sailing where others will be more active in politics.

Happy sailing!

DNA delivery times reduced to two months now

2010-11-12T10:25:00.002+01:00

We have send the third and last container to Australia. Which will result in a fleet of 17 DNA's in the AUS nationals.

As a result of completing these orders the delivery time for Europe has come down from 4 months to 2 months. We still produce 2 brand new DNA's per week.

Ordering now is having a boat in January.

Many European topcompetitors have ordered their DNA, we expect a new wave of orders after the Australian nationals from people outside the A-class. Sofar our main focus was to serve the A-class community with boats. Our next aim is to have that community grow by attracting new sailors to the class and to supply these sailors with ready to race DNA's.

Manuel Calavia on his new DNA

2010-11-08T13:17:00.000+01:00

The pics are blurry but give a good impression.

Manolo: 'I was very fast also upwind and especially downwind. My speed downwind is incredible The others couln't race against me'

On the pic Manolo uses his brand new DNA, a new fiberfoam mast which is softer foreaft than last years one and a Stevie Brewin sail which is cut for that mast.

Shitloads of power

2010-11-08T09:51:00.001+01:00

is what you need on the DNA downwind. Both Chris and Stevie are showing us the way. They beat F18's around the course by matching the speed of these gennaker boats downwind, wich is quite remarkably.

You will only beat gennaker boats if you can survive the lulls. In the old days (last year....) we couldn't because when the wind decreased you woud loose the wild thing or had to steer up too much.

Both Stevie and Chris are using soft fore-aft mast which are sideways stiffer. This gives them the flexibility in shape they need to excell downwind. Not only by hiking out but als by trapezing in the wildthing.

Chris as the heavier of the two likes a relative full sail in the bottom, which even helps him upwind.

he prefers to speed up the DNA first and then go for height (upwind) or depth (downwind),

Stevie uses a wider head and slight flatter bottom which works for him.

Glenn used a very full sail in Cesenatico too, which would have not worked over 10 knots, but he got away with it. With the new breed of masts you can have same amount of power but can still handle it upwind in the better breeze.

There will be quite some interesting developments in sail & rigdesign coming season.

I have a few predictions:

We will see some people go back to somewhat less ultra bigheads, while at the same time others will stay succesful with it.

The soft foreaft mast will be the new standard

We will see different sail& rig philosophies for light and heavy guys.

We will see more sails with a smaller foot on the DNA's.

We will go to straight foots (rectangular on the mast)

Alle developments will be aimed at getting more power from the sail and getting the center of effort up.

second container to Australia on its way

2010-10-14T09:31:00.001+02:00

Last monday the second container was picked up at our factory. Another 5 boats going to Melbourne.

There will be 18 DNA's at the Australian Nationals, where several AC aces will show up.

The third and last container with another 6 boats will leave within 2 weeks. After that we will serve the European market. Two boats for Spain will be delivered at Marseille end of October.

November and December will be filled with the boats for Germany, Italy and Holland.

Designers in action

2010-10-07T12:07:00.001+02:00

PJ and Arno sailing in the Oktoberbokaal last sunday. Finally some time on the water.

Sjoerd's feedback on DNA

2010-10-07T11:17:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago PJ lend me his DNA, after I lost the Dutch Nationals to Chris Field (DNA) and Bob Baier (Niktita). I used the PJ’s DNA to sail the open German Championships which I somehow managed to win – to thankfully use Scott Andersons way of putting it- before Bob Baier and Thilo Keller. The DNA was a real party to sail. I couldn’t help to think of a major development in ice-skating (which is pretty big in Holland) a few years ago: the ‘slap skate’ (which uses a new type of blade with a bolt and hinge mechanism that enables the skater to maintain permanent contact with the ice). This slap skate totally reformed speed skating. Much higher speed was possible and old records were broken. There were skaters who accustomed themselves easily into a new way of skating and others who wondered if they ever would succeed in using these new skates. I think to some extend this will also be the case for A-class sailing and the DNA. During the German Nationals for instance it was obvious that, in some races, you could sail faster downwind while being on the wire! It was great fun doing this together with Thilo Keller, but imagine a whole fleet going round the marks this way! But even apart from this I believe the boat to faster and easier to sail then the “old stye” boats. So I pleaded PJ to just give me his boat and stop making more boats…how easy life would be!

Sjoerd Hoekstra

Tweaking and tuning your DNA

2010-10-05T10:35:00.000+02:00

The DNA is very sensitive on the position of the daggerboards, on mastrake and bodyposition.

The daggerboards can be adjusted in the horizoantal axis by the glider in the hull and in the vertical axis by adding or removing filler or tape.

Horizontal adjustment can be done on the water. If the screws are not too tight you can move the slider by pulling a board up and then by using the board as a lever to move the slider forward for less lift or backwards for more lift.

If the wind is above 18 knots the boat is faster and more controllable if you use less lift (= less rake in the daggerboards). In medium conditions you use maximum lift (standad configuration). In light winds we are not sure yet, though you have to pull up the boards while going flat downwind.

In stronger winds you are faster downwind (about half a knot) if you pull up the luff board.

The amount of toe-in (vertical axis) differs between 3 mm and 5 mm (both boards combined). 3mm for minimum drag and 5 mm for some extra lift and height. The rule of the thumb here is that lighter guys use more toe-in. In really strong winds extra toe-in gives better control downwind , but there is a penalty upwind. More than 5 mm toe-in feels draggy.

If the wind picks up more mastrake seems better. You keep he bows out and the boat is both upwind and downwind significantly faster. The optimal amount of mastrake depends on the type of sail and/or the battens you use.

The flatter the top of the sail the more mastrake you can use. Chris Field has used this principle to his advantage and has designed his sail so he can use maximum mastrake if the wind picks up. He uses a twisty sail with a relative flat top and a full bottom. Many other sails get very full if you ease the sheet a bit.The fuller head moves the center of forces too much backwards which leads to too much pressure on the rudders.

The amount of mastrake can be measured by holding a trapezewire on the deck at the forestay and then you look were it touches the deck at the back.

In light winds the best position is just behind the hatch, in medium conditions on the transom and in strong winds 10 cm down the transom if the top of the sail is not too full and the battens are not too soft.

If you use a lot of mastrake steering may improve if you put the rudders somewhat less under the boat. (standard 15 mm)

This weekend PJ sailed in Hellevoetsluis in force 5-6 in such a set-up (increased mastrake, striff battens) and he could easily beat a Nacra 20 carbon and the F18's upwind by saling both higher and faster (downwind the Nacra was a rocket). Downwind he struggled a bit due to very nasty waves. In such waves you easily loose the rhythm, where the spinnaker boats just glide on.

A few weeks ago Chris Field could match the speed of a M20 in medium to strongwinds on flat water after increasing the mastrake on his DNA.

Body position on the boat is critical as well. If you stand too far behind the transom sinks and you will be slow. The boat will saill at 9-10 knots upwind. The fastest way is to play with your weight a little bit; you step forward if the boat is picking up up speed and once it is up to speed you step a bit backwards and get the boards working for you. (speed 12-13 knots) If you step back to early the boat is too draggy and you cannot get the boat over the threshold of 10 knots.

Downwind the same principles apply. It is easy to get the nose out of the water, but the fastest way is to get the nose just touching the water. Troubles (steep waves) are circumvented by increasing the heel of the boat, though generally the boat is sailed flatter downwind than the previous A-cat designs.

The boat asks for a more active (fysical) style. You really have to work the mainsheet to get the best out the boat and you have the move your body as well. You can see that style used by Chris in the pics taken at the Dutch Nationals. Sailing the boat in medium conditions is quite easy, but in strong winds you really need to master the boat to get te best out of it. The reward is huge though because Chris reached amazing endspeeds and downwind he sailed away from the others both in Garda and in Hellevoetsluis.

It will be interesting to see which sails Landy, Glenn and Stevie will use in the Australian Nationals and how they will sail the boat to get the most out of it. Three sailmakes which differ both in bodyweight and in rig philosophy.

Olympic multihull event

2010-10-01T14:01:00.004+02:00

The ISAF has to decide within one year which events (classes) will be in the 2016 Olympics. The return of the multihull event is most likely.

Two questions are to be answered

- Do we want a multihull event in the first place?

- What class should it be?

Multhull sailing is flourishing so we clearly do not need the Olympics to bring the sport to half boat sailors and the general public. So the answer for the first question is ' be careful what you wish for'.

In my opinion there are not too many good candidates for a new multihull class. If a F18type is selected that would ruin the current F18 class. The Tornado as a design looks outdated.

The Tornado would be suitable for the sailors but is no longer the best boat to promote the sport.

If we want a multihull in the Olympics I would like to see a state of the art design with the same or better building quailty as the Tornado. A lighter better looking boat built in carbon-nomex with curved foils and an up to date wing profiled mast (not a wing). Carbon beams, composite rigging, double trapezing suitable for both boys and girls, fast in light and strong winds, suitable for lakes and seas.

I think the class is best off with a Marstrom like builder. A boat builder who builds a limited amount of boats for the class each year. A high tech economic boat. Economic because it lasts at leasts two campaigns.

For manufacturers as Hobie and Nacra such a class does not make much sense because sales are limited and the class will not grow much outside the sailors who want to qualify for the Olympics.

If a new class will enter the Olympic arena depends heavily on what the ISAF wants and more important what ISAF does. Time is limited for a trial and a trial only makes sense if there is some consensus about the parameters of the new boat. To set these parameters ISAF has to do its homework, comparable to what BOR did in selecting the new AC multihull.

Sloppy homework by the ISAF can lead to the selection of a Hobie Tiger or Wildcat for the Olympics. That is neither in the interest of the sport or the manufacturers themselves. Vanity might lure Hobie (or another manufacturer) into this trap though.

ISAF is still convinced that the sport is best promoted by spreading olymnpic boats over the globe.

The reality shows that the number of sailors in the Olympic classes is low and that Olympic classes seldom grow outside the traditional sailing countries.

To promote the sport you have to focus on growth of the international classes.

The relevant distinction for ISAF is not cats vs dinghies, but high perfomance vs boring slow and outdated.

On its way to Melbourne

2010-09-28T12:28:00.001+02:00

Boats 4-7 going to Melbourne Australia. In two weeks another 5 and in four weeks another 6 of which 2 are for New Zealand sailors who will compete in the Australian Nationals. So 18 DNA's will compete in the Australian Nationals, which will be a great regatta with al the big names present. Landy, Glenn and Stevie will use their special and latest rigs and in Europe sailors will follow the races with a huge interest.

Aussie boats assembled

2010-09-25T12:02:00.000+02:00

Five DNA's ready to be shipped.

Best A-class video sofar

2010-09-24T15:20:00.006+02:00

No DNA's in it as the DNA was not born in 2009. The video shows the grace, the smoothness, the speed, the thrill and the fun of sailing an A-Class cat. A-Class is on its way to become the singlehand sailing class. No longer 'the best kept secret in the sailing word' (Seahorse magazine) but the ideal boat for the clubsailor, the weekend racer and America's Cup helmsmen.
Apparent wind sailing is king, no more slow boating. The era of the 'half boats' is over.
It is light, it is fast, it is fun. You can do it too!

A-Cat promotion by others

2010-09-24T11:32:00.000+02:00

http://www.rule69blog.com/archive/2010/september/1312/

Nice blog with an article about the A-class. Nice effort of Charles of the SACA (Swiss A-Cat Association).

Veersemeer regatta 2010

2010-09-24T11:12:00.000+02:00

Three shots of Jaap Staakenbroek last Saturday. Photographer unkown.

Jaap uses a Saarberg mast and a Landenberger Maxx sail.

Tech talk: PJ on DNA materials and DNA construction

2010-09-20T16:58:00.003+02:00

When we started the project we had a clear vision on the quality of build:

We wanted to produce topboats, just under minimum weight, which would keep their stifness and strength for many years even after years of racing in tough conditions.

The Marstrom Tornado’s were our example of ‘best-quality-for-money' 'best-buy’ racing boats.

Compared to other Olympic classes that boat was (and still is) an unique product.

We all know the stories of top teams sailing more than one Olympics on the same boat.

We asked our self the following questions:

- What would it take to achieve such quality standard in the A class?

- How to build a strong and durable boat, even when used in though conditions?

- How to build a boat that transforms the image of nice-but-fragile boats into an image of great plug-and-play lively racing machines?

75 kgs is the mininimum all up sailing weight. Aftter substracting the weight for the rig, appendage, fittings and trampoline, we are left with the ideal weight for a bare but painted platform of 40-42 Kgs.

- How to construct a platform on target, which is as stiff, as strong and as durable as possible?

Basically the stiffer the boat, the faster (less loss of energy).

Extreme stiffnes has usually one downnside , that’s durability. When you make the construction a bit more forgiving , then certain flex can reduce peak loads, which increases durability. It's a tricky engineering area, because we did not have an AC budget to do the necessary strain gauge testing .

Fortunately we have plenty of experience in sailing A class boats of all different constructions. So the design decisions were made intuitively but based on a thorough empirical base. We felt that flexing boats were not durable at all, and that stiff boats were more durable as long the materials were in the right spot .

- What are the most flexing areas in an A class platform?

Three main areas: flexing in hulls, flexing in the beams (both torsion and bending) and panel deflection of the hull shell itself .

There is an optimal balance between the beam stiffness and the hull stifness especially at the conjunction of these parts.

In the DNA design we tried to achieve the most integrated construction possible. We chose not to use‘beampockets‘ as most builders normally do, but designed special shaped beams, which exactly fitted into the hull, which made it possible to bond and laminate the beams directly to the hull skins and bulkheads, which saved weight and increased overall stiffness.

For building the hull shells we decided to use the best practice building method : 100 C curing carbon pre-preg combined with a 10 mm Nomex Core.

Nomex honeycomb has high panel stiffness and good processing capabilities.

A 10 mm nomex core weighs 480 grs / m2 . For comparison a common used 80 kgs/ m3 pvc Core of 6 mm weighs the same , but the higher thickness of the honeycomb gives a quadratic increase of stiffness,which means 2,7 X higher panel stiffness if the same skins are used. You can't beat that .

Another advantage over foam is the higher sheer stiffness of the core.

Everything stiffer leads to less deflection, less fatigue and increased longevity.

Choosing nomex honey comb as core is a choice for extra process control as well :

It is of paramount importance that the fine honeycomb cell walls are bonded 100 % to the skins. The resin in the prepreg skins should form small fillets to all cell walls during curing. This sounds simple, but you need the exact right resin type and content, the right resin viscosity, the right curing schedules and the right vacuum pressure. Besides perfect core bonding, we were looking for an excellent, pinhole free outside surface quality

and a 100 % porosity free inner skin. Finally we tried to create an impact resistant outer skin, to prevent the pinching of the outerskin by small stones and shells.

All this requirements may sound logical and straightforward, but getting the exact right materials is normally quite a challenge. By closely co-operating with Holland Composites' long time prepreg supplier we werre able to develop a custom formulated pre-preg.

Pretty unique, because most pre-preg companies are not interested in developing a custom product for such a small application area as building multihulls.

Our prepreg has exellent bonding and flow characterics, with results even Holland Composites did not see in 20 years of advanced composites building.

The outer skin is 300 grs sqm 3K standard modulus twill weave cloth pre-preg , the inner skins is a 200grs sqm twill weave pre-preg which results in a good impact vs overall stiffness performance .

On certain spots the outer skin is reinforced with UD tapes of different weights and some lightweight surface layer of 48 grs sqm E glass weave .

On high stress areas the skin thickness is increased up to 6 times the standard skin eg. areas around the beams , trapezing area, shroud attachment points, rudders and daggerboard bearing areas.

The hulls are oven cured at 1 bar vacuum pressure and a staged curing cycle leving the parts on ‘flow temperature’ for some hours before kicking it to 100 C for the final cure .

A special designed and CNC cutted assembly frame is used for the assembly of the hull shells, beams, bulkheads, subdecks, deck frames and daggerboard cases into the DNA platform

After the bonding of the parts, the platform is postcured at 50 C for 24 hrs to make sure the secondary bondings are 100% too.

Next article on this Blog by PJ will dig deeper into the construction method, and design of the curved daggerboards, rudder blades and rudderstocks.

From shed to factory

2010-09-17T11:35:00.002+02:00

Hull moulds, one of the 4 ovens and the cutting table

Hulls in the oven

Rudder moulds

Daggerboards ready to be finished

The daggerboard moulds

Designing a new A-class is one thing. Producing is a whole other ballgame. Fortunately we incorporated our production filosophy in our design process from the start. That's why we were able to scale up production when demand increased so dramatically.

Building pre-preg boats has many advantages but you also need high tech tooling. We had to build ovens, buy freezers and make temperature resistant carbon moulds.

We choose to build the number of moulds to be able to build a complete boat parallel. So a double set of hull moulds (4), 2 sets of daggerboard moulds, two beam moulds (fore and rear beam) and two sets of rudder moulds.

With that amount of moulds we can either build one boat a week or theoretically one boat a day (without paint).

A pre-preg boat has to be painted afterwards which is more expenisve but als gives a better finish and it can be renewed after some years of extensive sailing.

Without PJ's background in composites and without the support of his company Holland Composites this would never have been possible.

In another posting PJ will explain his choice of materials.

AC vs A-cat

2010-09-14T10:53:00.002+02:00

From the America's Cup site:

AC72 approximate dimensions:

LOA - 22.0 meters (72 feet)

Beam - 14.0 meters (46 feet)

Displacement - 7,000 kilograms (15,500 pounds)

Wingsail area – 300 square meters (3,229 square feet)

The catamaran will be able to fly a hull in 5 to 6 knots true windspeed. The target boatspeeds in winds under 10 knots were set at 1.2 times the true windspeed upwind and 1.6 times true windspeed downwind.

This performance is pretty close to a modern A-cat. In 10 knots we do 12 knots and downwind 16 knots. (or are the target speeds maybe in VMG?, in winds above 10 knots the AC will be faster and we will see speedbursts opver 30 knots (one of the design parameter))
The wingsail area is not that big. To have the same sailarea/weight ratio as an A-cat you have to double the sailarea by adding jibs and gennakers.

The whole thing is pretty straight forward and certainly not a an Alinghi style lake racer. The design issues are; who builds the most powerful hulls and who builds the thinnest wing.

My predictions: The winning hulls will be closer to a DNA than to the latest C-class designs. The best wing will not be the most powerful wing but the most efficient wing. (VMG is king not sheer power)
In medium to strong breeze conventional rigs might be competitive too.

The balance issue Alinghi had will not be that big this time because in this boxrule we will not see hulls with overhang.

If big boats do not outperform small boats, I prefer smaller boats.

Though would really like to see a Dutch Challenge. We can build it.

America's Cup goes A-cat!

2010-09-13T18:39:00.007+02:00

The 34th America's Cup will be sailed in wingmasted catamarans. This is good news for all multihull enthousiasts and for the A-class in particular. Many A-cat sailors are active in the America's Cup syndicates both as sailor and/or designer.

Glenn and James have set an example for the other teams by building their skills by sailing small cats and especially the most refined ones the A-cats. The most amazing of the last America's cup for me was not the sheer size of these beasts but the fact that both James and Loick could sail such a machine as if it was an A-class or F18.

James, Glenn and Luc will sail on DNA's which will attract others to the class as well. Even America's Cup teammembers have their spare time and love to go sailing when they are ready at 'the office'. Especially if they see how much fun their helmsmen and sailing coaches are having by playing with the fun boats. So our finest go America's Cup and America's Cup finest go A-class.

40!

2010-09-11T11:44:00.004+02:00

40 was our magic number when we started our ARC/DNA project. 40 boats have been sold now and will be delivered in 2010 (AUS, USA, NED, GER, ESP, UK, SUI). We are delighted about this and wish to thank all our partners and especially our first customers who bought the DNA when it only existed on paper.

We thank Roeland for his grant debut, Stevie for his vice-worldchampionship and his incredible come back race, we thank Chris for doing do well in Switzerland and Holland and his thrill with the new boat, Sjoerd for doing so well in Germany.

We wish to thank Roeland,Michel, Jaap, Rene, Jons for their trust in us and their support during the development of the boat and the firm. We thank Wouter and his late wife Lea for their perseverance and craftmanship. Jons for his effort in mounting the boats. Martin for the assistance in producing the daggerboards and rudders. Sjoerd for his assistance in building the first hull halves.

We wish to thank HOCO (Reinout, Ron, Sven, Sander, Bas, Nico, Koop, Mohammed, Joey, Erik) for the support, effort and incredible waterjet cutter. Jan Ilmer for his feedback and his models. Rudo for his superb modelling and designing. Jan van der Staaij for painting the appendage models. Monique and Erwin for excellent painting of the platforms and for keeping deadlines. Felix for the tramp design, Micky for his covers and his belief in our project. MartinVanzulli for his enthousiasme on his blog. And last but not least we like to thank our partners and children for their support and understanding.

It all started in autumn last year with a test sail of the Nikita. We were impressed how much quicker that boat was compared to our Flyer 2 which we took with us as the reference boat. We tried to buy two boats but Nils was fully booked and could not guarantee a boat in time. We contacted Glenn to buy two ASG3 instead but he couldn't deliver either and the rest is history.

The combined experience of Arno and PJ led to the DNA which is more than just a new boat, it is philosophy with integrates boat design, composite materials engineering, lean manufacturing, business strategy, class promotion and sailor's passion into the new benchmark for the class.

Keep on sharing your passion with us and let's have fun on the water,

Arno & PJ

Refitting boats, solution or wasted money?

2010-09-10T13:09:00.001+02:00

We do sell refit kits for transforming straight board boats into curved board boats.

A kit contains two boards, two daggerboards cases and two sliders to make the boards adjustable.

Cost aproximately 1900 euros including covers for the daggerboards but excluding the labor for the upgrade.

Does it make any sense to invest so much money in your boat?

It depends on what you expect. It will improve the perfomance of some boats (The Tool, Marstrom) significantly and will have less impact on performance on a Flyer 1, 2 or ASG3.

Though it will make some boats faster it will not make these boats competitive in the big championships. We have seen some refitted Tools, which were quite good but not as good as the new curved board boats (Nikita, DNA).

It makes sense to refit a boat if you do not want to sell your boat and prefer to have an upgrade.

If you can sell your boat, the upgrade makes only sense if it adds 2500 euros to the value of the boat.

It is my experience that sailing new boats and selling these after 1 or 2 years is the most economic thing to do. The only problem is the initial investment which can be significant especially for younger sailors.

Upgrading older boats does not add a lot of value, that's why the depriciation of a new boat is often less than the depreciation of an old boat plus the upgrading costs and( the annual new sail).

The paradox of the new carbon boats is that the boats became more expensive but the cost of sailing actauallly declined. (more durable, higher reselling prices)

The transition from straight boards to curved boards can be a good thing for the class; the improved performance of the A-class catamarans will attract people from other classes and the availlability of reasonably priced secondhand boats will attract new sailors as well.

DNA light weather performance

2010-09-07T10:23:00.002+02:00

pic by Megan Brewin

Pic by Fredirico Rafaelli

I got a few questions about the light weater performance of the DNA which will be answered here.
Most people have seen that the boat is fast in medium and strong breeze, but how does it in the light stuff?

In Cesenatico we had sometimes very light stuff and Stevie did great but not better than Glenn.
In those conditions the rig really matters, the more power you get from the rig the better you go especially downwind. Both Glenn and Stevie did use very powerful rigs. Both boats have the fore beam behind the middle of the boat and both helmsman where clearly in front of the fore beam while drifting downwind. The DNA has quite some volume and can be sailed without wake that way.
In theory the DNA has some what more wetted surface due to its square bottom and transom, but in reality if you can get the transom out of the water is the same as the Tool or other high voulme boats and still better than a Flyer 1 or 2. In the ligt stuff you have to pull up the boards downwind, the boat is slow if you don't. If you do it the boat wil glide very smooth over the water with no wake and no noise.

Upwind you would expect that the straight boards boats are quicker, but we have not seen that to our surprise and that of others. Once you pop a hull the boat is fast. Due to its flat bottom the boat has a bigger resistance for going down and therefore you can pop a hull just a bit earlier than on the 'older' designs.
If you sit or hike out in front of the shrouds, the transom is out of the water and boat is longitudinal stable and feels very light. The lack of noise is quite amazing, so little wave drag and low induced drag.
We are not sure what the best setting is for the boards, if you add rake you will get more lift (and height) but that will be cause more drag as well. Somewhat less rake is less drag which should be faster theoratically but we have not seen that in races. What makes a difference is pull up the windward board once you can foot to the first mark.

The ligh weather performance is one of the reasons we did not further reduce the amount of rocker. The boat has less rocker than the Nikita, but also has a bigger overall volume to compensate for that.

The wind limit as stated in the Championships Rules has gone up from 4 knots to 5 knots. In 5 knots you certainly can pop a hull upwind so no more drifting in the big Championships.

Sjoerd Hoekstra beats Bob Baier in German Open

2010-09-05T20:54:00.003+02:00

Last week Sjoerd finished third behind Bob on his Tool in the Dutch Open. This weekend Sjoerd convincingly beat Bob on PJ's DNA.

After the first day Bob was leading Sjoerd by one point. That day Bob had a slight edge upwind with his Ashby Maxx sail, but Sjoerd was already quicker downwind. Sunday Sjoerd scored three bullets in 3-4 bft where he had the upperhand both upwind and downwind.

Other people complimented Sjoerd with his boatspeed and Sjoerd replied 'I just couldn't help it.'

The DNA scoreds with this result the third consecutive win in a National Championship; Chris the Swiss and Dutch Open and Sjoerd the German Open.

Next year will be tough for everyone with so many people on a DNA.

Full results at:
http://www.ycso.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=298&Itemid=230

Remarks on VDAC forum:
http://vdac.okbb.de/viewtopic.php?f=2&p=594&sid=33b79737ee606d9a29590e56542e82ad
Unfortunately no pics of the event

Dynamic New A-cat

2010-08-31T14:56:00.001+02:00

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

2010-08-30T13:25:00.000+02:00

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

2010-08-30T12:03:00.004+02:00

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

2010-08-25T09:16:00.004+02:00

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!

2010-08-19T18:11:00.000+02:00

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

2010-08-19T15:34:00.001+02:00

(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

2010-08-14T22:13:00.000+02:00

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

2010-08-02T10:41:00.000+02:00

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!

2010-08-01T17:59:00.002+02:00

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

DNA rules on Lake Garda

2010-07-31T21:06:00.002+02:00

After two days of great racing in windy conditions Chris Field (UK) and Roeland Wentholt (NED) are leading the pack. All six races are won by a DNA (Roeland one and Chris 5). Bob Baier on his Nikita is third overall trailing Roeland by a margin of 4 points after one discard.

The first race yesterday was won by Roeland who was ffith at the first mark and sailed away downwind powering his DNA. The second and third race were sailed in survival conditions and in those conditions a slightly more light footed approach paid for Chris (two firsts and Scott Anderson )one second).

Chris had a perfect score today, while Roeland was once passed by Bob and scored a 3,2,2. The last race Roeland passed Bob downwind coming from behind on raw boatspeed.

After the light winds in Cesenatico finally the conditions which suit the DNA so well.

I haven''t spoke to Chris yet but especially he must be delighted after all efforts he put in his rig development and his new boat.

Thumbs up for Chris and Roeland with three more races to go tomorrow.

For full results:http://www.circolovelaarco.it/immagini/allegati/201007211103428_76RISULTATI%20PROVVISORI%2031.07.2010.HTM

Pic of Chris, courtesy of http://www.a-cat.nl/