A-cat with spinaker (video)

[Seafarer24]

A link from a recent post on Catamaran Sailor:

A-Cat with spinnaker

[DSmith]

It would be interesting to put it up against a hyrdrofoil moth to see which would be quicker on a windward leeward course. My uninformed guess would be the A.

Dave

Rohan Veal says on his site that he figured he was about 15% faster off the wind than a "normal" A class cat and about even upwind. This would change that some for sure...

[John ilett]

There is a short video on the Italian Moth class website http://www.moth.it/Index.htm moth v A class. Not sure of the angle relative to the wind though.

[mattotoole]

So they're close enough in performance that even you guys aren't sure...

With that in mind, which is simpler, and/or cheaper?

[Andy P]

Which is more efficient?
an 11 foot boat, 8 sq m sail
or 18 foot, 30 sq m sail ?

[CT 249]

or a 9' board, 11m2 sail which is half the price of the Moth???? Rohan said recently that the FW boards were about his pace upwind and faster downwind - but of course in light and shifty the foilers are not at their best but FW boards are just slow-moving targets for Sabot sailors, and the As can still move impressively.

Rohan says he's slower than FW boards but 15% faster than As, but when the FW boards dragged against the As on Botany Bay they seemed to be very similar in speed downwind IIRC. At the Brass Monkey, in appalling conditions for foilers when they were clearly sailing well under their enormous potential most of the time, the As and F16s were vastly quicker. But given the right conditions the foilers are great. So surely this is an almost impossible question to decide, isn't it? It all depends enormously on conditions.

[Seafarer24]

Another thing to consider- the A is a more versitle machine. You can take a friend out on it, and sail it right up onto the beach. You can lounge on it, camp on it, and string a hammok underneath the trampoline while at anchor (particularly useful if that friend is of the opposite sex).

I suppose what I'm saying is you can do more than just sail/race it. As mentioned above- it will beat the other two in light airs, and keep pace with them in heavier wind. That was, of course, without a spinnaker. With a spinnaker or reacher added the A should surpass both the Moth and FW board in almost any condition.

Now if they would just put some foils on the A!

It should be noted that Rohan Veal( Moth World Champion), who has done more than anyone else to show what is possible with a small monofoiler, now also sails an A-Cat!
The problem with foils on a cat is that you have to have twice as many as you do on a monofoiler. But an A class cat with some sort of retractable set up so that it could sail on just two foils on the lee hull (and get rid of them in light air) would be an awesome machine to behold!
Three foil setups with the foils contributing to RM are much more suitable to square or over square trimaran platforms than to cats, in my opinion. The extra beam allows the main foils to be significantly unloaded as compared to the same setup on a cat.

[CT 249]

Camp and anchor on the A? Not a nice carbon Flyer, I hope!

[DSmith]

Is there anybody out there experimenting with foils on A Class Cats?

Rohan was making noises about putting his A Class on Ilett foils. Any progress there Rohan/John?

I have successfully tow tested my old and overweight A Class with a set of Trifoiler foils. I hope to have it sailing within a couple of months.

Joddy Chapman has recently finished his new lightweight platform Demeter (not A Class). http://homepages.rya-online.net/ejcchapman/

I also heard that the 'No Hydrofoils' rule came about from someone in the US putting foils on their A. If anybody knows about that, I would be interested to hear.

Dave

Interesting work by the Chapmans; thanks for the link! I know that Steve Clark tried "banana" foils with rudder t-foils on Patient Lady and on the since ruined(most all posts deleted) Aussie A class forum advocated trying them on A class cats surmising that they might be simpler(and lighter) than altitude controlled foils.