Yep; same as on a Spi boat; Go high; get the appearent moving forward and then drive down on it; I'd bet the increased speed thru the water makes the cureved plates work better too to give more lift.

I believe this has a lot to do with curved boards.

While there has been power and apparent angle to trap out downwind, the a-cats just haven't had enough buoyancy to support it. Heck, that's part of the reason the wild-thing is so important to do well on the a-cat downwind. In moderate breeze, the wild-thing helps to unstick one hull and make it quicker...more apparent breeze at deeper angles. When the wind is up, wild-thing is a survival technique. With your weight in the middle of the boat, righting leverage is decreased which reduces the amount of pressure the leeward bow has to support. Less pitchpolling is faster.

With the introduction of curved boards, the sailor gets a chance to manage the amount of lift the leeward hull/foil is generating with his weight position fore/aft and now trapping downwind is possible. It's no different than trapping downwind with a spinnaker really.

Very nice reporting Qb2. Thanks for the details.

Glenn Ashby needs one more high score to claim the nationals but with 45 minutes from now to the start of the final 3 races there's little or no wind. 15-20 knots is predicted by about midday (2.45 hrs from now) and while the breeze is filling in here in Brisbane there's little at the Lake which is 120k's north. The lake is close to the ocean so hopefully the breeze will quickly kick in and make the final events red hot for the competitors and the photographers.

Glenn Ashby has convincingly won his latest Australia A Class Nationals after taking out the single heat able to be held today.

Competitors started in 12 to 15 knots but faced huge wind shifts and variable winds from 6 to 20 knots around the course.

Race officials tried to start heat two but couldn't set a course as storms cells which passed through led to wind shifts of 60 degrees.

All this in horrendous rain with reduced visibility. All starts were followed by abandonments and lengthy delays because of the shifts and deteriorating conditions.


Winds peaked at 31 knots as sailors headed for shore.

Full results should be on the lake cootharaba sailing club website soon.

In A-cat fashion, yes a heap of boats are redundant overnight. that has always been the nature of the beast though.

this comment on SA from matthew watching from a safety boat summed up the event

From watching the different rigs around the course the only conclusion we came to was that everything is inconclusive.

Separating the DNAs from the guys that sailed them was impossible. The same could be said for rigs and sails. The keys were in how each sailor got the best out of the rig that was suited to them. Downhill the fastest boats were those were they were still on out on the wire the whole way down. Some kept boards down for the downhill, while others pulled them up. With so many options and combinations within the boats it is impossible to say this one is faster because"...

I wonder what the result would have been if Ashby, Brewin, Bundock, Barker etc sailed older models with straight boards.
Certainly because they are pro talent you would expect they would be in the top places still.

I don't agree with you on that one Dazz.
As the organisor of this regatta, a competitor in the event and an A sailor for the last 30 years I've seen plenty of changes with more impact than what we saw in the last week.
The move to wing masts and composite hulls in the early 80's, flat top sails in the late 80's,carbon masts in the early 90's and wave piercing hulls and high profile foils in the late 90's all were very significant steps forward. Through all these eras I've always been able to sell my old boats for good value. There are always people wanting to get in to the class with boats that are well set up and maintained. The class is already the largest OTB cat class in AUS and has very strong numbers in Europe. The US is seeing strong growth and will only get better as their sailors compete overseas more. Hosting the 2012 Worlds will also be a boost.
Of course a development class will see change, but the redundancy factor doesn't seem to restrict interest. The top sailors seem to use new boats in the limited or one design classes too when they compete at the highest level. I don't think world class sailors would use 5 or 10 year old boats in a Hobie 16 event or a Capricorn in a F18 Worlds if a C2 was available. Are they redundant - maybe by your definition, but still very attractive to the mid fleet sailor. I felt very comfortable on my Geltek II with canted straight boards in the event. I sailed next to DNA's many times and didn't feel outclassed. It's just incremental improvement.

Cheers
John Dowling

Not sure I follow your drift John, you dont agree there is redundancy then you do.

It actually quite good for the class, top end laser sailors are changing boats 6-12 months because they go soft and the sails stretch. 160,000+ boats now the formula must be good!

The same principal has worked wonders for the f18 class, my own Capricorn for example was less than half the new price and still quite competitive. no complaints about built in redundancy here.

p.s. I was sailing a-class about 26 years ago... yeah have seen many changes, but i would suggest that if it were only slight increase then the best sailors would have saved their pennies and stuck to their existing platforms.

Dazz - my point was you seemed to be suggesting it was just an A cat thing when I believe it happens in most classes.
My observation is that the top sailors do buy new boats regularly in most classes. They either believe changes may have some benefit or a fresh boat may be a slight advantage. Agree that it is a good process to feed the second hand market.
There are some real bargains in F18's in AUS with the current slump in numbers sailing. It's just a cycle though and with enthusiastic class members pushing the class it will come back.

Some pretty good videos of the AUS Nats here.
http://sailcam.tv/

A cats are about the most photogenic boat on the water. Those are good.