I agree Jack, and I've never understood how there are TWO 1 person boats, and TWO 2 up dinghys. Pick ONE for each and be done with it. They could have dropped both the Fin and the 470 and kept the Tornado or some other cat. Politics as usual.

And I'll bet if cats were in the X games Hobie and Nacra would sell more cats!

My memory is fading.
I recall a hundred boats of C class at a worlds in Darwin? Similar numbers in the B class events..
Im sure some were from the States..

Drop both the laser and the finn.. put in the bladerider.. drop the 470 keep the 49er.. Add a cat

A hundred C-class cats at a worlds in Darwin?? Are you certain? I thought that class had always been pretty small and never even ran a worlds.

C-Class was an ISAF class at one stage so fully entitled to hold a worlds event.

OK how about this for an idea.. instead of having a men's and women's multi event... just have a fleet of VX40's and the rules are you have to carry a min no of female crew members.

surely that would have to get some attention??

I would have thought that there have never been more than 10 c-class together at a time.
Any time that there have been a ton of b-class together, they were all Tornados.

When we say C & B class, i hope we are talking boats designed to the rule and not a fleet of Hobie 16s that happen to fit both rules!!!!!!!!!!

Sure, but did they ever run an official worlds and how large was the fleet? Huge digression but very interesting.

When those ISAF classes were set up, it was just a way of loosely categorizing all the catamarans so they had a way of racing together, boat for boat. But very soon, early 1960's in the U.S., the Portsmouth system was established for the cats, so the ABC classes became irrelevant, except as a way of generally dividing up groups of boats in a regatta.

I think the ABC classes were based more on sail area than on boat size. That is why the Hobie 16 limited its sail area to B-Class size, which was the same as the Tornado.

They weren't like formula classes where peope build to the specs. It was kind of the other way around, where the classes were designated based upon the boats existing at that time.

A Class did go on to be a highly successful and relevant class. the rules have been updated over time, like the min weight and anti-foil limitations

a-class = a-cat

But the A-Class almost completely died during the 1970's and 1980's. It resurfaced in the 1990's and built into the great class it is today.

I think that is just your perspective Mary.

here in Oz the a-class has had a good following right the way through.

http://www.a-cat.org.au/history.html

you can see we have had national titles since 1965.

Obviously, my perspective is always based upon what happened in the United States.

Perhaps the 15years of secret a-class practice has paid off at the worlds...

Also, back when the international classes were formed ISAF was IYRU (International Yacht Racing Union) and USSA was USYRU. The name change didn't come until the 90's

Hey, Gordon, don't confuse the young people. The upper echelon of sailing changed the name, but the game is the same.

Nothing "secret" about the A-class during the past 15 years. As I said, it died during the 1970's and 1980's. It has had a huge resurgence since the 1990s, at least in the United States, probably partly or mostly because the Tornado sailors started racing A-class to keep in practice, since there were so few Tornado events here.

I, for one, was VERY happy to see the A class revive. It has been my favorite boat since I first saw one back in the 1960's.

I wonder what would have happened if the A-class boat (I think it was the Unicorn) had been chosen as the Olympic boat instead of the Tornado, way back when they were picking an Olympic catamaran.

You can Thank Ben Hall for a large part of that resurgence.

let me see..
There was a full fleet of Cs in Melbourne Australia in the 60s & 70s.. Miss Nylex sailed against at least 6 on a weekly basis when she was launched.. This was at the tail end of the Cs down under..


I recall seeing Quest 1, 2, 3 Miss Nylex, wildcat and that 20 footer that had the bit added to make her a C not a B.. all being rigged..

Definitely there were worlds.. The mast of the "Siska" C stood for years at Neddies as the flag pole.. The picture of "Rolly" winning the worlds was on the walls.. So there was a fleet in Perth at some stage..
Im also certain Bruce Proctor won the worlds in Darwin.. Could have been on a "Quest" prior to wing masts.