A Cat on foils wins NZ Nationals/ Worlds Start Tuesday

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Doug Lord, Feb 8, 2014.

  1. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  2. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    A Cat Class Flies!

    Comments from the notable "Simon N" on MA:

    Just had a report from my man on the ground. Simply put, if its consistently 11 knots or more, those who have J or similar foiling configurations are too quick downwind and will win. Upwind, the top non foilers are doing OK. If it gets above about 18 knots, the foilers are close to proper foiling upwind. Consistently below 11 knots and the top non foilers (such as Stevie Brewin) will be the boats to watch. It seems there is no going back now. I just hope it doesn't kill the class.
     
  3. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    A Cat Worlds

    Seems like there may be light air for the Worlds-if so that may temporarily delay the Revolution ,EXCEPT: if the "foilers" do well even when they can't foil.
    In fact, that might just seal the deal since there is a lot of concern about their light air performance.
    Wouldn't that be cool!
     
  4. Doug Lord
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    NZ Nationals / Worlds Tuesday

    Excerpt from Scuttlebutt tonight:

    Auckland, New Zealand, (February 9, 2014) – Peter Burling’s golden run continues. Already seen as one of the great young sailing talents in this country -and earmarked as a future America’s Cup skipper – Burling added to his credentials with an impressive win in the New Zealand A Class Catamaran championships yesterday.

    It comes on top of his recent victory with Blair Tuke in the 49er class at the Sail Auckland regatta.

    Against a stellar field off Takapuna Beach, including seven-time world champion (and America’s Cup sailor) Glenn Ashby, the 23-year-old was in dominant form, winning three of the four races and finishing third in the other race.

    “It feels pretty good to be honest,” said Burling, who has limited experience in the A Class boats, having only sailed them over the last week. “I had a great battle with Glenn – he has won the worlds so many times and he is like the guru of this class. It was a pretty good experience out there and you learn a lot.”

    Burling was typically modest – and to the point – when asked about the secret of his sudden success in the A Class boats: “You just wind them up, put them under pressure and then hold on,” says Burling. “I have been going pretty quick in practice over the last few days, though I have also broken just about everything on the boat.

    “They are pretty fragile boats; you need to be quite careful.”

    Ashby finished second (one win, two seconds) and Andrew Landenberger rounded out the top three. Tuke and Chris Nicholson had unhappy days, both withdrawing midway through with gear failure.
     
  5. Baltic Bandit

    Baltic Bandit Previous Member

    Well Doug - given that you've been told by folks who sail A-Cats that there will be an AGM in which J-foils will be decided in the a-Class your claim that this is necessarily the start of a new era is simply not accurate.

    given that a foiling cat adds about 20% of cost to the already prohibitively expensive A Cats, I suspect its not nearly as done a deal as you make it out to be
     
  6. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  7. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    A Cat on Foils!

    Here are three good pictures of the future of A Class racing. In my opinion, the biggest problems that they have so far are:
    1) can't use the TNZ 3 foil configuration because it's too much hassle retracting the windward board so they're (apparently) limited to a 4 foil configuration,
    2) can't use the revolutionary TNZ/Pete Melvin pioneered curved daggerboard + up tip "L" foil with manual angle of incidence control --again because of limitations on the ability to control the angle of incidence manually-just not enough hands. And limitations on using a curved daggerboard + up tip "L" foil within the A Class rule-foil must be inserted from above. That has a visible effect on altitude control(heave stability) which is no where near as stable as Groupama and TNZ.
    3) So if a four foil configuration and be controlled with body weight movement AND be faster than the best seahugger versions of the A Class Cat, we'll be seeing history made in foiler design and foiler sailing and in the A Class!
    4) Question is: will the skills required put a damper on the class or will the rush of foiling wind up pushing the class to allow more effective foils and foil control systems?
     

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  8. Doug Lord
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  9. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member


    That's impressive... how he leaves the tiller and goes up to the bow, while foiling!

    :p
     
  10. Baltic Bandit

    Baltic Bandit Previous Member

    Doug responding to your own post with the comment is kinda tacky. particularly when making a joke that ...leaden.

    And you have not addressed the point that this may be the ONLY worlds in which the A class allows foiling.
     
  11. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Results from todays racing: http://www.sailingeventstakapuna.com/media/files/2014 A Worlds 1+2.pdf
    More here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/9709452/Team-New-Zealand-trimmer-early-leader
    And more: http://www.sail-world.com/uk/index....&rid=3&srcid=0&ntid=0&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0
    The big news is the performance of Nathan Outteridge and his "Exploder" foils in the relatively light air, even though Ashby got a 1st and 2nd-on foils, of course!

    Glenn Ashby(# 38) on foils! Richard Gladwell photo for Sail-World:
     

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  12. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    A Cat on foils!

    NewsFlash--for all practical purposes foiling is here to stay(at least until 2017) due to the fact that no changes to the rule passed the AGM.
    This means that all proposals to ban foiling or to make it easier to foil have been defeated. Foil cassetes that allow a board with a larger vertical lifting surface to be inserted from the top per the rules are also ruled legal*. That leaves foiling legal within the bounds of the current rule which means that only the most highly skilled sailors with the most time to practice have a chance to make it pay off-barring any dramatic developments in "ease of foiling"(which are definitely possible in this extraordinary Class).
    * From a design standpoint, this may be the most significant part of this Worlds in terms of what is possible: this ruling means that there is now a lot more latitude in terms of foil design than was known to be legal before this regatta.
    ============================
    Stories on todays racing:
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/9713943/Good-day-for-Peter-Burling-in-Auckland
    ---
    Results thru race 4-Peter Burling in first(Ashby in first if probable throwouts are considered)- http://www.sailingeventstakapuna.co...s World Championships Races 3 and 4 ,2014.pdf
    ---
    Breakdowns- http://www.mysailing.com.au/news/broken-gear-mixes-up-the-leaderboard-at-a-class-worlds
    ---
    Pictures from todays racing: http://www.sailingeventstakapuna.com/photogallery/test/day-3-of-the-worlds-12-02-2014
     
  13. Baltic Bandit

    Baltic Bandit Previous Member

  14. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    A Cats on Foils!

    No racing Friday-two on Sat. ,one on Sun.
    Results as of today 2/13/14 : http://www.sailingeventstakapuna.com...lub 2014.pdf
    __________________
    Great video from today: (fantastic 100% clear jump at 3:06 in! --Ashby comments at end.) Zero heave stability in these conditions. Appears that foiling in these conditions is pretty much not possible. The lighter conditions allowed much better foiling the other day.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4rchn_AWjc
     

  15. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    .

    Any engagement in an internet forum, where Baltic Bandit participates,

    is like being at a picnic, and finding a vulture at the table.
     
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