tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953859816933862852024-03-05T19:33:56.987+01:00CatamaranpartsHigh performance A-class Vision & Raptor F16 catamaran builderCatamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-4948351709330331232013-03-26T08:33:00.000+01:002013-03-26T08:33:00.096+01:00Report from Chris Field about 1st UK event at Datchet<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1<sup>st</sup> event of 2013</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On the weekend of the 16<sup>th</sup> &
17<sup>th</sup> March the British A-Class association held the first Ranking
event of 2013. It was hosted by Datchet Water Sailing Club on a reservoir next
to Heathrow airport.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The fleet had 3 new boats racing along with
the regular competitors including myself sailing the new VISION from
CatamaranParts.nl and a new Hammer sail.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The conditions on the Saturday were around
10 knots on average but with sharp gusts around 18 knots the racing was
extremely tactical. Making sure you were in the correct position on the race
course was the most important factor in the racing. After Day 1 I was leading
scoring 3 firsts and a second with Sam Newton on a DNA second (3 x seconds and
1 first) and Bob Fletcher in third on his Flyer.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sundays conditions held the same pattern
with a slightly lower average wind speed and was even colder. The race officer
realised the sailors were still cold from the previous days racing and got our
4 races completed in quick succession, which I am sure all the competitors were
grateful for! Again I scored 3 firsts and a second giving me the overall win.
Sam Newton was always close to me on the course again earning 2 second places
and a first. In race 3 he had a collision which was not his fault and had to
retire however, managed to find the spare parts he needed and made it out for
the final two races.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For me it was a good start to the season.
All my equipment was new and I could immediately see the advantages in my new
sail and the boat, as always, was more than up to the task. Once again I would
like to thank the Marine travel company for continuing to support me through
the 2013 season and also to MarinePool who supplied me with the Clothing to
keep me race fit through the freezing conditions of the weekend.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Off to Minnis Bay now for some much needed
training for the next couple of weeks aiming towards the defence of my French
title at the beginning of May.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chris Field</span></span></div>
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Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-51872125437510643902013-03-07T08:59:00.003+01:002013-03-07T08:59:17.770+01:00Interview with Chris Field during the RYA show<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When and where did you learn to sail?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I was 7 years old and my father had a Unicorn A Class. He took me sailing </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">on it at Lake Bala Catamaran Club and we did some races together on it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">About 6 months later he bought a Dart 18 and then a Prindle 18-2 where </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">he taught me how to sail, although his teaching was always more about racing rather than just learning to sail!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And when did you first become aware of the A Cat and what attracted you to it?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As I said I got the basics of sailing from the Unicorn so my early memories </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">of sailing are always brought back to the A Class. This being said I have </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">only sailed the A since 2005 as for a long time I raced with my brother on </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">an F18 and Tornado. When my brother and I decided to stop racing together I decided to give the A Cat a chance as I liked how cool they looked!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Now, we can't help noticing that you are not the smallest of sailors. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>How can do you configure the boat to accommodate if you are not </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>built like a jockey?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The beauty of the A-Cat is that the rules are so open they allow you to adjust the boat for your weight and sailing style. It is very easy to get a rig to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">suit your weight and all manufacturers of masts and sails offer products aimed at different weight categories.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The A Class has suffered from a reputation for being fragile and expensive. Do you think it is deserved?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The A-Cats are not fragile boats. All A-Cats are now built from carbon </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">which is an extremely strong material and I am happy to race my boat in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">any wind strength without fear of breakage. Of course if you have a collision with an F18 the A-Cat will come off much worse. This is not because it </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">is fragile, but it is a function of being built to withstand the loads applied to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">it when racing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Regarding cost they are expensive boats however, carbon fibre is an expensive material. This being said the second hand market is very healthy </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and you can find an A-Cat to suit whatever budget you have. It is the same </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">with all things in life, the more you pay the better product you get!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Over the last few years, the British A class scene has witnessed a bit </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>of resurgence, what do you think is responsible for this?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When I race overseas I find the A Class a very well attended class with an </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">extremely high level of competition. I think use of social media has played a </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">key role in making sailors in the UK aware of this and I am sure that Americas Cup teams using the A-Cat for training make people in the UK want to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">be part of the action. The other main reason I hear frequently is that sailors </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">do not need to find a crew whenever they want to get out on the water </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">especially as the number of good value second hand boats has increased </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">making the class much more accessible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>You have been sailing the Saarberg Vision prototype for the last year or so, moving from the DNA. What are the key differences between the two?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The key difference between the two is that the Vision gives you the feeling </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">of having lower drag when compared to the DNA. This is down to the hull </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">shape, which is more rounded, and the daggerboards. The DNA, has a very </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">flat underwater section behind the daggerboard which although makes the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">boat feel like it has more drag, allows to boat to be very stable when sailing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">To look at, the bow would appear to be a major difference however, in reality both boats pierce the waves equally as well. The benefit of the Visions </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">bow is that in lighter winds the bow can be used to gain height upwind if </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">pushed further down into the water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Within the last 12 months we have seen at least half a dozen new A </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>cat designs appear. How do you think the Vision fits into this?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When choosing a design to race I would suggest deciding which one best </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">suits your sailing style rather than which is fastest. At the top level there is </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">very little difference in speed between designs. The Vision is a very good all </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">-rounder, very stiff and very strong. I have never broken anything on the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Vision which for those who know me is an achievement, as I tend to push </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">hard!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>I know you have yet to sail this boat, it has been wet as a result of </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>the rain on the way to the show, but looking at this first production </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>version of the Vision, what are the key differences between this and </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>the prototype?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">If you compare this boat to the one I raced at the Europeans there are a </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">few differences. CatamaranParts and I have been working on winged rudders for some time now and I will be using them this season. In addition the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">finish is very smooth and it has a new paint scheme with non-slip incorporated into the paint where needed. The trampoline layout has also been refined to make the boat as easy to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">operate as possible whilst still looking clean and simple.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The other obvious difference between my 2013 boat and last years is the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">sail. Hammer Sails have produced a new sail for me which takes into account </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">all we have learnt from past seasons and is made from a new all carbon </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">cloth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>And, how much is it?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">22500 euro inc VAT</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>It is recognized that the A class has a two way relationship with the </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Americas Cup boats, AC 45 etc., both in terms of design and the </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>sailors, many of them in fact sailing these for fun and training. Do </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>you think that there are any current developments that we might be </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>seeing on the A class as a result of the latest design thinking? I'm </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>thinking mainly of foils.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The sailing world at present seems to be focusing towards foils in general, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">which extends further than the Americas Cup. There are the C Class titles coming up, the foiling 'Phantom' project and of course the A class itself, all of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">which will give more data in this area. Also the Moth and other monohull foiling projects already provide valuable information on foiling performance and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">methods. The issue is the A Class have rules in place to limit ways of implementing foiling however, with all the research being undertaken I am sure </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">we will see new technologies in the class, one way or another. Do bear in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">mind Landy had wings on his rudders before the A/Cs and the Moths before </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">that!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>How would you suggest anyone interested in this class could take it </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>further?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Get in touch with the association who can recommend the best boat for you </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and your budget. This is also the best place to find out where and when the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">racing events are. The best way to get going in the class is to start racing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Thanks to the BACA people for doing this interview. The original interview </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">can be found at http://www.aclasscatamaran.co.uk/articles.htm</span><br />
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Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-39460025888021152562013-01-30T10:55:00.003+01:002013-01-30T10:55:30.483+01:00Vision talk at the IACA website<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the IACA website there is published an article on the upcoming RYA Dinghy Show at 2th and 3rd March at the Alexandera Palace London.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Vision 2013 will be shown and Chris Field will be present to give answers and explanation to your questions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The article can be found at <a href="http://www.a-cat.org/?q=node/163">http://www.a-cat.org/?q=node/163</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Best regards,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Catamaranparts Team</span>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-40943645628696319172013-01-28T14:52:00.002+01:002013-01-28T14:52:14.563+01:002013 New-Zealand A-class Nationals<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">New Zealand Nationals finished after 12 races has been sailed with Dave Shaw on his Vision at 3th place. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Congratulations to Dave Shaw with the result and not much time on the boat yet. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Blair Tuke</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Murray Philpott</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Dave Shaw</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click here for the <a href="http://a-class.org.nz/results_2013_nationals.htm">results</a>. Pictures are <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/108667230867741815974/2013Nationals?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">here</a></span><br />
Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-66075723240712719922012-10-25T09:20:00.000+02:002012-10-25T09:20:01.275+02:002012 Worlds are overThe 2012 Worlds are over with Mischa Heemskerk as winner of this short event due to the hurricane Sandy. It is a shame that this is happening but mother nature can't be stopped and i hope that eveybody will have his gear locked away and prepare him self for what seems to be coming. I did understand from Piet that there is a lot of rain expected and the winds will increase a lot the coming 2 days. Hang in there and take care about your self.<br />
<br />
What can be said about this Worlds on what we have got reported from Islamorada.<br />
<br />
The whole week prior to the event the wind was light and the light boys where preparing themself to get a good result BUT it worked out completly different, on Saturday the wind started to come in and with the Hurricane on the move is was looking that it would be a more windy event then everybody would expect. Yes the wind came with more then enough.<br />
<br />
On the practice race and day 1 we did see a lot damage on mast break and daggers and rudders.<br />
I must proutly say that we did not had no breakage on masts, boats, daggers and rudders at all during the event and this means that we are on the good way.<br />
This event was not the event of Chris who sufferd with some bad luck on the practice race with hitting a lobster pot line what made him to come back in and on race 1 of the first day he did hit something else floating in the water what caused a damage on the hold down stick of the rudder. In race 2 and 3 he did well with a 7th and 5th place . The fact that his first race was a DNC and with the change that there will be only 5 races for the event his changes where dropped. Sebastiaan Moser on his Vision did it a bid more conservative and finished all races on day 1 with a 23th place overall at that time.<br />
<br />
On day 2 there was no racing possible and the whole day was blown out.<br />
<br />
On day 3 the RC did made the choice to start early on the day to get at least 1 or maybe 2 races in to get a valid event. They managed to do this but what we know is that the whole day was sailed above the class limits.<br />
Mischa was doing well and with his 2 first places he managed to take the title. Chris was doing better and finished a 10th and a 4th but he missed something and was getting a DNC on race 5. His story will be later in ofcourse.<br />
Sebastiaan did well and finished both races with a 21th place overall result. Well done for a second time on the boat.<br />
<br />
When we do know more and have any more story we will publish this here or at the <a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/">website</a>.<br />
<br />
The Catamaranparts teamCatamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-34272837481968744182012-10-24T08:51:00.000+02:002012-10-24T08:51:01.024+02:00A-cat Worlds day 1 and 2Tuesday evening finally we managed to talk to Piet who is at the event . The conclusion what can be made that it was a real survival day on Monday.<br />
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The wind in the first 2 races was from 18-22 knots but the 3th race was between 20-25 knots and this changed all the sailors going into survival mode and hoping for the best and luck. The amount of sea grass seems to be numerous and when you hit this then you are gone and to lift all the boards in these conditions seems guite an issue. The seagrass seems to have quite big influence on the races and the combi of wind and waves makes it difficult to see where it is. The wind and shallow water gives big steep waves and the angle of the wind makes it not better.<br />
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We understand that there are around 5 people needed to launch the boats otherwise the change of hitting the pier next to the launching ramp is a major risk, and we undertsand 1 boat was already hitting the pier during launch.<br />
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On Tuesday the first 15 boats where on the water when the RC made the choice of sending eveybody back to shore and with the major damage on Monday this was a wise call. A lot of people are already out of the event because they did break major components and are not able to get replacements, we also understand that at least 20 boats stayed on shore and they didn't want to take the risk of getting damage.<br />
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On wednesday the RC is planning to launch the field at 9 am to try to get at least 1 more race on the score board, the reason is that on Thursday the change is big that there will be no sailing at all, the tropical storm Sandy is passing the coast of Florida and it depends on the direction it goes if there will be any sailing possible, this is the same for Friday. The travel speed of Sandy will makes the difference.<br />
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We also did recieved info on the turtle what should been hit by Chris Field, the turtle seems to be ok and was just missed. Chris was caught by a lobster pot line what made a big groove on the leading edge of the rudder board and to prevent more damage he returned to the beach.<br />
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The Catamaranparts team<br />
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<br />Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-30939627073221291532012-10-23T08:34:00.001+02:002012-10-23T08:35:21.665+02:00A-cat Worlds day 1<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It seems still difficult to get hold of some information from Islamorada but what we have heard it is a windy and high seas event with more wind to come.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The usual people are on top of the ranking with Steve Brewin doing a good job in race 1 and 2 with 2 bullets.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The consitency of Mischa gives him the lead with 2 seconds and a thirth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chris Field on his Vision was out on race 1 and scored a DNC but on race 2 and 3 he was in the top again with a 5th and 7th what looks like a good recovery. Sebastian Moser for the second time on his Vision is also sailing contstantly and finishing all 3 races with a good 21th place as result after day 1.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Funny to see in the results is that on place 24,25,26,28,29 are people who all seemed to have some issues what dropped them back in the ranking at this moment but they will recover as they will not have more issues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I will try to get more info from Islamorada today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Catamaranparts team.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The wind forcast for coming days shown below</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-16557307306401382552012-10-22T11:01:00.000+02:002012-10-22T11:01:10.465+02:00Latest news A-cat WorldsThe last news recieved is that Andrew Landenberger will be the new IACA president because Stefano Sirri was retiring as president.<br />
A special IACA meeting was made to get this job change done before the AGM on coming Wednesday.<br />
Stephano has been thanked for his work and congratulation to Landy as new president and good to see he is willing pick up this work.<br />
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The fleet will be also not split up in to seperate fleets , the reason is that there are high winds expected and to give everybody the most fair change in the regatta the choice was made. The RC said if we can start 100 boats we also can start 105 or 110 boats and they expect because of the high wind prediction that the fleet will be with less boats.<br />
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More follows, so stay tuned.Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-61836584806868850022012-10-22T08:37:00.000+02:002012-10-22T08:52:55.832+02:00Practice race A-cat Worlds 2012We did not get in contact with Piet,Chris or the others but hope this to do today , so for he moment a copy of an article from the event website.<br />
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The initial plan, given the tremendous size of the 2012 Ronstan A-Class Catamaran World Championship, was to split the fleet into four divisions and have each division race each other in a round robin group stage, with the top half of each group moving on to the championship round on day four and the bottom half racing in the silver division. It was an idea borrowed from the F18, a class that Principal Race Officer Billy Richnow of The Great Texas Race fame is very familiar with. However with the forecast for the event looking aggressive and high winds expected to bring fleet numbers down somewhat, regatta organizers have decided to go back to the traditional fleet racing format. <br />
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“Well if the breeze does what it is expected to do the numbers should come down to a more manageable level” said Regatta Chairman Ben Hall, “and the idea is that if we can run a 100 boat regatta we should be able to run a 105 or 110 boat regatta.” The forecast for the event is winds of 15 knots or more all week with Tuesday looking particularly nasty, and the idea that this could compromise the quality of the qualifying races ultimately turned the race committee against the idea. “The number one goal is to have a good regatta” said Hall, “and the last thing we want is people feeling like they got short changed on the qualifying races. <br />
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The event practice race went off on Monday afternoon following the conclusion of measurement and registration, with Australia’s Jack Benson winning the first beat and holding off Steve Brewin and Mischa Heemskerk to get the gun. However there were also some significant casualties. American Mark Skeels’ mast broke after his spreader bracket ripped out, Australia’s Nathan Outteridge didn’t make it to the race course thanks to a rudder and dagger board blowing up on the way out, and Great Britain’s Chris Field also lost his rudder when he ran over a turtle on the first beat. When asked if he had killed the offending reptile the unapologetic Field replied “I hope so.” <br />
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Whether the conditions will effect the outcome of the regatta is unclear since, though the A-Cat fleet does get spaced out when the breeze comes up, it is hard to say that the conditions actually work in any one competitors favor. “As in any other class you see guys around the top in heavy air that wouldn’t normally be there, just like you see guys at the front in light stuff who wouldn’t be there if it were breezy” said Regatta Co-Chair Ben Moon. “But in general the fast guys are fast regardless of what the wind does.” There are sailors in the fleet with a history of good results in difficult conditions. The current World Champion Steve Brewin took home first place in 2011 by catching Scott Anderson on the final day in extremely aggressive conditions. But if the practice race is any indication the gaps will be bigger and mistakes will be magnified, but the top sailors will be around the top no matter what the weather does. Only now the variable of the qualifying races has been removed.<br />
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When we do know more we will update here and at the site http://www.catamaranparts.nl in the news section.<br />
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We have attached a forcast for the wind the coming week, it is going to be a windy event.<br />
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the Catamaranparts teamCatamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-86118759350960257792012-09-17T12:46:00.002+02:002012-09-17T12:46:34.612+02:00F16 Dutch Nationals 2012<br />
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">On 15-16 September the first real Open Dutch Nationals F16 has been sailed at Hellecat under almost perfect sailing conditions. We had from Belgium 5 boats . With 2 Raptors , 1 Viper, 6 Falcons and 2 Nacra’s on the startline the mix of the boats was good. On Saturday the briefing was at 11.00 and after some confusion the first signal was given at 12.15. The wind was around 11-13 knots with gusts to 15-16 knots. The level of the class has been increased and that was visible around the course.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">DAY 1<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;">Erwin Kerstens and Jaap Straakenbroek did sail on the <a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/"><b>Raptor</b></a> for the </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 125%;">first time ever </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;">and showed the potential of the boat. They did win all 4 races on Saturday and specially race 3 was remarkable . A major shift brought them on 6th place at the first mark and the leaders far away. During the race they manage to sail thru the fleet and did win race 3 finally. An outstanding performance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Results after day 1 <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; unicode-bidi: embed;">1.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;">Erwin and Jaap 1,1,1,1 4 points<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; unicode-bidi: embed;">2.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;">Gill and Kathleen 2,2,6,3 13 points<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; unicode-bidi: embed;">3.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;">Arnout and Gilles 3,3,3,6 15 points<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">DAY 2</span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">On Sunday the wind was increased to a 15-16 knots with gusts reaching 20 knots. At around 11.00 the firstsignal was given and again the increased level was showed on the water. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The planned 3 races where sailed and with some issues for a few teams no big problems happend. Erwin and Jaap showed that they want the title and sailed the Raptor to an almost perfect serie. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In race 2 they hit the anker line of the bring away mark which was drifting away after loosing its anker and this costed them the lead that race and they finished second.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The result of day 2 was<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; unicode-bidi: embed;">1.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;">Erwin and Jaap 1,2,1 4 points<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; unicode-bidi: embed;">2.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;">Gill and Kathleen 2,1,2 5 points<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; unicode-bidi: embed;">3.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;">Cees and Gert-Jan 4,4,6 14 points<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">3. Geert and Raymond 7,3,4 14 poins<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Final score</span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After 2 days of perfect sailing and good support from all voluenteers from catclub Hellecat the new Dutch champions are.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 125%;">Erwin Kerstens and Jaap Straakenbroek on the Raptor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="nl"> <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; line-height: 125%;">Final score</span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1st Raptor Erwin Kerstens Jaap Straakenbroek 1 1 1 1 1 (2) 1 8 6 <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2nd Falcon Gill de Bruijne Kathleen Vandenbulcke 2 2 (6) 3 2 1 2 18 12<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3rd Falcon Arnout Victor Tas Glees 3 3 3 6 3(12 DNF) 3 33 21<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4th Viper Cees van Asselt Gert-Jan van den Eijden 5 (8) 2 4 4 4 6 33 25<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5th Falcon Anton Coppens Eily Olyslager 6 6 7 2 (8) 7 5 41 33<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6th Falcon Geert Ruesink Raymond van der Haas 7 5 (9) 7 7 3 4 42 33<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7th Nacra Teuntje van Es Tina Vercouteren 4 4 8 (12 DNS) 5 5 8 46 34<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8th Nacra Sanne Wielenga Samantha.Kruijf 8 (9) 4 5 6 6 9 47 38<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">9th Falcon Alec Baque Denise Hillebrand 9 7 5 8 9 (12 DNF) 7 57 45<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10th Falcon Mathieu Serroels Thomas Frank 10 10 (11) 9 10 9 11 70 59<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">11th Raptor Hans Klok (12 DNS) 11 10 10 11 8 10 72 60</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 125%;"><b>The Catamaranparts team congratulate Erwin and Jaap with this outstanding performance.</b></span></div>
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Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-54460919245883270552012-08-29T12:50:00.000+02:002012-08-29T12:50:10.978+02:00Report from Chris Field about the 2012 Dutch Nationals<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>2012
Dutch National Championships</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From
the 24<sup>th</sup> to 26<sup>th</sup> August Hellecat sailing club in
Hellevoetsluis, Holland hosted the 2012 Dutch National Championships.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As I
was using the same kit as the Europeans (Vision platform, Hammer Sail and
Saarberg Mast) I was confident with my speed for this event so the focus, as
usual, was to sail a clean and consistent series.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The
intention was for 10 races to be sailed however in the end only 6 races were
completed, 3 on Friday and 3 on Saturday. The conditions on the Sunday were to
extreme to venture out onto the race course.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Day
1</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The
planned start was 12:00 however racing only got under way around 2pm due to a
flat calm start to the day. Three races were completed with the wind ranging
between 6 to 10 knots. The direction of the breeze was coming directly over the
dam which meant it was a very tricky course to sail on with varying shifts and
pressure all over the race course. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In
race 1 I reached the first mark in 1<sup>st</sup> place with a good start and
picking the correct way up the course. It paid to tack more often than is usual
in the A-Cat up the beat to keep in the pressure. On the downwind it was best
to take a conservative approach and sail the boat flat to minimise risk. This
being said Sjoerd Hoekstra did well to find some extra pressure downwind on the
1<sup>st</sup> lap to get into the lead which he maintained to the finish where
I came in second and Jaap Straakenbroek 3rd. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The
second race I again lead to the 1<sup>st</sup> mark and indeed all the way
round until 300m to the finish where, again, Sjoerd found a knot or two more
breeze and sailed hull up to the finish with me coming in second. I was a
little disappointed in this however, as consistency was the goal I was sticking
to the overall plan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Race
3 saw a lot of confusion! With the breeze decreasing we were sent around the
course for 3 laps where as the previous races had only been 2 lappers. A lot of
sailors missed this and went for the finish on lap 2! I was one of those
sailors and when I realised I found myself on 7<sup>th</sup> spot. On the final
lap I hit a hard left shift upwind dragging me up to 4<sup>th</sup> and by the
finish I had passed another 2 boats ending up 2<sup>nd</sup> again! Jaap sailed
a superb race getting 1<sup>st</sup> by more than 10 minutes and with my main
rival Sjoerd scoring a 6<sup>th</sup> I was leading after day 1.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Day
2</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The
complete opposite to Friday! After a night in my tent worrying whether I would
be blown away in the night I got to the club with a good breeze blowing. It was
a stable breeze however due to the surroundings there were definite lines of
breeze over the course gusting up to 18 knots, averaging 15.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All
three races this day followed a similar pattern where both Thilo Keller and I
were battling at the front of the race with a fair gap to the 3<sup>rd</sup>
spot. Thilo showed very good pace upwind in the stronger breeze and I had the
legs on him downwind. This resulted in very close racing between us where Thilo
scored 2x1st place and an OCS. I scored 2 x 2<sup>nd</sup> place and a 1<sup>st</sup>.
Once again my game plan held and my consistency was rewarded with the overnight
lead once again, especially as Sjoerd was behind me in all 3 of the races that
day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As
it turned out Day 3 was cancelled and the overnight standings held which gave
me the Dutch National Championship title for the second time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As
always I would like to thank Hammer Sails.com, Catamaranparts.nl and The Marine
Travel Company for their support with this event and indeed for a very
successful 2012 season. Now it is time to focus on the final event of the year
which is the World Championships in the middle of October.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chris
GBR007<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_aQ2kP39FHO5XyoVr5te7cbK90EP30CjcVXuw-qrgr2utLQOn5PSG-v1pxZ8QBK6DpgLWrKqIfg_sZ9w9KC75N4NCXcX36oLOvibNQ8c00cWWC-D5B4YK3fHZaMz7qKMi4jkLDRWTEmk7/s1600/nk2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_aQ2kP39FHO5XyoVr5te7cbK90EP30CjcVXuw-qrgr2utLQOn5PSG-v1pxZ8QBK6DpgLWrKqIfg_sZ9w9KC75N4NCXcX36oLOvibNQ8c00cWWC-D5B4YK3fHZaMz7qKMi4jkLDRWTEmk7/s320/nk2012.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.hellecat.nl/25/08/2012/onk-class-a-dag-2/"><span style="line-height: 115%;">http://www.hellecat.nl/25/08/2012/onk-class-a-dag-2/#</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.hellecat.nl/25/08/2012/onk-class-a-dag-2/"><span style="line-height: 115%;">http://www.hellecat.nl/25/08/2012/onk-class-a-dag-2/#</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.hellecat.nl/multimedia/fotos/"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://www.hellecat.nl/multimedia/fotos/</span></span></a></span>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-34918621310476749992012-08-27T11:20:00.002+02:002012-08-27T11:20:15.943+02:002012 Dutch A-cat Nationals<br />
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">At 24-25-26 August the 2012 Dutch A-cat Nationals have been sailed in light and strong winds over 2 days. The Friday gives us a light wind with shifts all over the place and max 10 to 12 knots. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: bold; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">DAY 1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">Sjoerd Hoekstra took the bullets at race 1 and 2 and in race 3 a 6th with Chris on his </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: bold; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">Vision </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">3 times second place , Jaap Straakenbroek did take the bullet in the 3th race, this makes the top of the board after day 1 . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">Chris 1st with 6 point , Sjoerd 2nd with 8 points and Jaap Straakenbroek with 8 points 3th.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: bold; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">DAY 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">The Saturday was completely different with strong winds reaching the 20knots easy and gusts above 25 knots. Thilo Keller was on the move with his extreme flat sail and did take 3 time a bullet for that day , unfortunally for him he was OCS in race 2. Chris Field was 3 times 2nd again for this day and Sjoerd on 3.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: bold; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">DAY 3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">The Sunday was blown out with wind reaching easy 30+ knots. The final result is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">1.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">Chris Filed 9 pnts Vision—Saarberg—Hammer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">2.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">Sjoerd Hoekstra 12 pnts Dna—Dna—Brewin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">3.</span><span style="width: 17.5pt;"> </span><span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">Thil Keller 15 pnts Arrow—Fiberfoam—Landenberger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">Congratulations to Chris with his title and the next success this year.</span></div>
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<span lang="nl" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; language: nl; line-height: 125%; mso-ansi-language: nl;">The Catamaranparts team</span></div>
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Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-85088834125187171312012-07-06T10:32:00.000+02:002012-07-06T10:32:53.905+02:00The Vision analysed after the EC at Lake Garda<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a></b><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Analysing the A-class Vision after the EC 2012 at Lake Garda, Italy.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <b><a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/Vision.html">Vision</a></b>
sailed into the top ranks at the EC and the basis for this great result was
analysed which underlined what we hoped to find in the design stage. After the
fine tuning done in the first year of its existence the Vision’s potential was
shown in the German Championship with a 2nd place in light conditions and a 1<sup>st</sup>
place in the French Nationals with more wind and high waves at La Rochelle
leading up to this event. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <b><a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/Vision.html">Vision</a></b>
was having good speed upwind in all conditions and was a treat downwind. It
allows you to have a wider choice of sailing. Of the starting line you can
accelerate in a straight line, you hardly ever have to bear away to pick up
speed and then to start pointing. This gives you an obvious advantage. After
that you can go for speed or height. The balance of the <b>Vision</b> is very good on
the curved boards. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tacking and
gybing is very easy and quick in all wind conditions. And again the
acceleration out of these manoeuvres gives an extra edge.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The hulls
run clean through the water which is often well visible in the trail you leave
behind. This gives you also the possibility to use a flatter sail trim as the
hull resistance is lower giving you better top speed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Downwind the platform of the Vision gives you a lot more
choice either to sit and go deep, or trapeze and go fast. You do not have to go
to trapeze early to keep the bows clear. This is due to the non-fashionable bow
which does not have a negative component of force pushing the bow down further
once pushed into a wave leading to a pitch pole. <b>This makes life a lot easier
for the average sailor and helps safety.</b> It is ever so easy to lose your
balance trapezing losing control over steering and being thrown off the boat by
sudden direction changes. This has happened to the very top sailors recently.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We know the
platform is very stiff, the stiffest we have measured by a factor 2 or more.
This is very well visible in a number of photos taken at the latest EC.
Together with the foils we have developed this attributes to a fingertip fine
steering, without a trace of spinout. This cuts out sudden steering reactions.
The Vision goes where you steer it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
<b><a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/carbonmastmain.html">Saarberg mast</a></b> was developed to a new bending characteristic which gave the need
to develop the sail as well. Here especially Chris Field gets all credit as his
expertise and quick feed back to what was the feel and experience in boat
speed. We left the choice of sail completely with him. He and Micky Todd from
Hammer sails made the combination work. Andrew Landenberger was using the same
sort of mast getting the 1<sup>st</sup> place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the EC
Chris showed the possibilities of the Vision to be quick so even when he had to
pick up places he could have the speed to accomplish this. Getting from the
starting line with minutes lost he accomplished to get back to 17<sup>th</sup>
through this very competitive field of 95. Impressive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Vision
in short:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>-Clean
running<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>-Stiff
platform<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>-Well
balanced<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>-Can be
pushed downwind<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>-Forgiving<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>-All-round<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>-Perfect
steering<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>-Fast</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oBNHD1qh_y7EJ_wMu9Ggpc0zww0qrtJO8JbvudkXfQGh24AyVHqKF-vQcdR_NIKW365XqQmvMLYDfBYS4qh4Y1RYlLBwNFpxu459c8Hy7JYlgpg-6mEJhmBhnqcPbBOo6pfGYt57fv8E/s1600/euro20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oBNHD1qh_y7EJ_wMu9Ggpc0zww0qrtJO8JbvudkXfQGh24AyVHqKF-vQcdR_NIKW365XqQmvMLYDfBYS4qh4Y1RYlLBwNFpxu459c8Hy7JYlgpg-6mEJhmBhnqcPbBOo6pfGYt57fv8E/s320/euro20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks to
Chris we got the proof of the character we designed into the Vision.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-17894782576057317872012-07-04T15:10:00.002+02:002012-07-04T15:10:25.201+02:00Report from Chris Field about the Europeans 2012 at Arco<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">A Class European
Championships</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">From the 22<sup>nd</sup>
to the 29<sup>th</sup> June the A Class European Championships were held at
Circolo Vela Arco and the “windy” end of Lake Garda, Italy. In total 96 sailors
qualified for the regatta from all over Europe, Australia and the USA.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I set out from
the UK the Saturday before the event and after 24 hours of driving finally
arrived with 5 days of training before the practice race. I decided on one
training partner before the event, Micky Todd sailing for Spain, and we went
for the standard training programme which we used the last time I raced at
Garda and won the Swiss Championships. Stick to what you know!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Each day we were
on the water from 8.30 to 10.30 to sail in the morning breeze, return to the
boat park to make changes to my boat (<a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/Vision.html"><b>The VISION A Class from Catamaranparts)</b></a> and
have some lunch and then back out from 2pm until the evening to sail in the
more stable afternoon breeze. The conditions leading up to the event were fair
and we both made good progress with our settings and fine tuned the sails which
Micky (Hammer Sails) had made for the event.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">On the day of
the practise race a storm front came in and with gusty conditions and lightning
the organising committee decided not to send us out for the day. So with no
practise race to gauge our performance we launched straight in to the planned 2
races the next day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I had a good
first day. I scored a 3<sup>rd</sup> and 2<sup>nd</sup> place leaving me 2<sup>nd</sup>
overall 1 point behind the lead. With the size of the fleet I was happy with
this and made me realise that starting and consistency over the series would be
the key, and so it was. The second day I
posted a 5<sup>th</sup> in the first race however, Andrew Landenberger AUS (who was leading) secured his second win of
the series. I was all fired up for the second race of the day and came out of
the start clean. After 50 minutes of racing and with no more than 200m to the
finish I was leading and was sure I would secure my first win of the series
(and indeed my first win ever in a European championships) however, this was
not to be as the wind died completely and the race was abandoned. I was not a
happy man that evening!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The third day we
raced 3 heats and I made up for the previous days bad fortune posting my first
win in race 1 which I lead from start to finish. The final 2 races that day I
managed to secure two top 5 results also extending my lead from the pack
however, Landy kept his consistency and extended his lead over me by 7 points
and Brad Collett also closed the gap to me sitting 3<sup>rd</sup> by 1 extra
point.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Day 4 dawned and
the top 4 spots were close. I had a lot of work to do on Landy and also keep an
eye on Brad Collett. In the 7<sup>th</sup> Race I scored my worst result, just
at the critical point in the series. On the start of race 7 I had the right of
way but was forced to avoid a collision which ended up in me capsizing on the
start line. Needless to say this was the worst place for this to happen (!) and
when I righted the boat I must have been 5 minutes off the lead boat and last
by 500m. I decided to continue with the race (perhaps due to my emotions
running high!) and at the finish I ended up in 17<sup>th</sup> place. I was
pleased with the recovery however, the chances of me winning the regatta had
decreased substantially. The last race of the day I scored a 3<sup>rd</sup>
place again and with Landy sailing two 4<sup>th</sup> positions he won the
championship with a race to spare. I was expecting to see that Brad Collett
very close to me on the results however a collision at the start of the first
race of the day meant he could not compete.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">That evening
Brad was awarded average points for the remaining races he could not sail (as
the collision was not his fault) by the jury as his boat was no longer of any
use. On the final day Landy had won the championship and I was expecting to see
Brad on a borrowed boat to have a race off for 3<sup>rd</sup> spot as I could
finish no lower than this. Brad did not venture out for the final race securing
my second place overall however, I sailed the last race.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">My approach for
the regatta was to finish in the top 5 places in each race. With discards I
achieved this however, I must congratulate Landy for sailing more consistently
than I. His series was composed and
professional, well done.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">To sum up the
series was one that rewarded consistency and speed. Andrew Landenberger won the
open event however, as he was sailing for Australia I was awarded the European
Championship title and second overall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I must thank
firstly Catamaranparts.nl. They supplied the <a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/Vision.html"><b>VISION</b></a> design of A-Class and
SAARBERG mast that I used at the event and also helped me for the year leading
up to the event to develop the whole package. The effort on their part has
already shown at the German titles where I came second and also at the French
Nationals that I won. To both Piet and Hans, thank you for all your hard work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Micky Todd,
owner of HAMMER SAILS, deserves a huge thank you on my part. Micky over the
last year has not only made sails for me and guided the development process,
but in the time I have known him he has been my coach and mentor. Without his
help my European title would have not been secured.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.themarinetravel.co.uk/">The MarineTravel Company</a>, based in Canterbury I would also like to thank. Without their
support over the past years, the time needed to compete and train would have
not been available to me. Again thank you all for you help.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Chris Field</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiqazCmxLQuoEUsROA_BfE91ZE41RmOuSjWaGJd4q7vzENam3QK7DaQfy-gzQXS-uWYWiA4cQevmR9_raPfiJj7p6i-IlWF1eaq1bDsCe5cHH1dtUHPUr0iCw-XzeQcozGPSDJt45cP9E/s1600/euro21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiqazCmxLQuoEUsROA_BfE91ZE41RmOuSjWaGJd4q7vzENam3QK7DaQfy-gzQXS-uWYWiA4cQevmR9_raPfiJj7p6i-IlWF1eaq1bDsCe5cHH1dtUHPUr0iCw-XzeQcozGPSDJt45cP9E/s320/euro21.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Results: <a href="http://www.acateuro2012.ch/dp/sites/default/files/a-class_final.pdf">http://www.acateuro2012.ch/dp/sites/default/files/a-class_final.pdf</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Event site: <a href="http://www.acateuro2012.ch/dp/">http://www.acateuro2012.ch/dp/</a></span></div>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-50422749352754767072012-06-29T10:22:00.001+02:002012-06-29T10:22:34.245+02:002012 Europeans A-class are finishedThe euro's A-class 2012 are over and has been a great event with a lot of action and all kind of wind strengths.<br />
At the top it was close racing with Andrew Landenberger securing the first place at the event on the end of race 8. Congratulations to him with this good result after the major injuiry he had.<br />
Chris Field on his Vision secured also the 2nd place of the event after the jury verdict of giving Bratt Collett for race 7,8 and 9 a redress after he was hit before the start of race 7 and could not complete his serie.<br />
<br />
Chris is with his second place at the event the new European champion. We congratulate him with this outstanding result and strong sailing.<br />
<br />
Bratt Collett from Australia becomes 3rd in the overall ranking. Well done.<br />
<br />
There are a lot of pictures available at <a href="http://www.slidebox.it/CircoloVelaArco/Europeo-Classe-A/23782543_39HDpG#!i=1926777068&k=p7NbBQq">http://www.slidebox.it/CircoloVelaArco/Europeo-Classe-A/23782543_39HDpG#!i=1926777068&k=p7NbBQq</a><br />
<br />
The Catamaranparts team<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAY6v7MxtJ1eoGdOlQxm6oo-w8-rpeJ-rYqnN1K7a5EXy6NP2RwfVaIK7D5BTw4XRp3ow5yEZ-ktN9rtZWM6zy5poJunOrZU7R2e12kY3FyZBoXzh8_mxOq5Jq7oK7VHhH-rB5noyla8SV/s1600/euro20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAY6v7MxtJ1eoGdOlQxm6oo-w8-rpeJ-rYqnN1K7a5EXy6NP2RwfVaIK7D5BTw4XRp3ow5yEZ-ktN9rtZWM6zy5poJunOrZU7R2e12kY3FyZBoXzh8_mxOq5Jq7oK7VHhH-rB5noyla8SV/s320/euro20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYy88Es8FYTnlG9FQtnGdetsJJ1MQa2N8Pg9c2ZnmF0I1SXA74fLxgCK-_97SotZ-y0GL75qV3xjtbhDKNttiEGTkM9uimU3cwnZDb2KBUHBsPl_8AFbGn8khHXq2A9dAu34PpK3AYHkWr/s1600/europodium1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYy88Es8FYTnlG9FQtnGdetsJJ1MQa2N8Pg9c2ZnmF0I1SXA74fLxgCK-_97SotZ-y0GL75qV3xjtbhDKNttiEGTkM9uimU3cwnZDb2KBUHBsPl_8AFbGn8khHXq2A9dAu34PpK3AYHkWr/s320/europodium1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-57812139168106859052012-06-27T10:34:00.001+02:002012-06-27T10:34:08.251+02:00Day 3 Euro's 2012<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Day 3 has been sailed but we did not received to many info about this day. What we know that the wind was dropping a bit after race 1.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Race 1 was won by Chris Field on his Vision with Manuel Calavia 2nd and Bratt Collett 3rd.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Race 2 and 3 was for Brad Collett and made a good step forward in the overall ranking.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The overall ranking at the moment</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Andrew Landenberger 9 points</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Chris Field 15 points</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Brad Collett 16 points</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The strange thing in the overall results is the 6th place of Eugenio Calabria because he has a DNF what is not taken in the total point account. I will try to find out what happend .</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwuVHRzNocGd1lSMULgD4Ufh4ZmTh-i4zDv0SLsJkf1faRL1ivh3bRNdATudw3dXs6C_OTnStWyDXiQ1HsYFep4flXiDqhfQxWE-kXZxU6s9Xp8LO9wiSSiY0WPCgHmPa4G4Ixwt6egtT8/s1600/euro16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwuVHRzNocGd1lSMULgD4Ufh4ZmTh-i4zDv0SLsJkf1faRL1ivh3bRNdATudw3dXs6C_OTnStWyDXiQ1HsYFep4flXiDqhfQxWE-kXZxU6s9Xp8LO9wiSSiY0WPCgHmPa4G4Ixwt6egtT8/s320/euro16.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Catamaranparts team</span>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-28516219505332533622012-06-26T08:55:00.001+02:002012-06-26T08:55:18.711+02:00Day 2 Euro's 2012<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second day has been sailed with only 1 race this day due to lack of wind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Landy takes his second bullet, Chris is second with a fifth in race 2 and Thilo Keller thirth with a 12th. The overall ranking will shuffle a lot when the discard race will be on because there are some with 1 bad result.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have put the first 10 at the website <a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/a-cat%20euro%202012.html">www.catamaranparts.nl</a> and will be updating this every day after the race day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Landy seems to have the right combo with his Landenberger sail and Saarberg mast.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We will see what will happen today and if there will be more wind, this all depends on how sunny it will be to get the thermical wind starting to blow. When cloudy again no wind will be probably the case.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stay tuned.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Catamaranparts team</span><br />
<br />
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<br />Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-61452238405288539232012-06-25T09:25:00.004+02:002012-06-25T09:25:47.728+02:00First day Euro's 2012<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After the first day sailing at the European championship A-class at lake Garda we have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Andrew Landenberger</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Chris Field</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Euginio Calabria</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a 14 to 16 knots wind and seems to be challeging conditions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">25-06 .Just spoke to Chris.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He had a second and a thirth and told me he just was beaten by Scott Anderson in race 1 with a 2 foot difference. The gap for error seems to be small or you will lost right away some places. It is close racing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">TheVision is fine and the mast rig combo seems to be right. At the moment some clouds above the mountains and no racing before 13.00 hour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More after day 2 racing later today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Catamaranparts Team.</span>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-25607910436152541572012-06-20T10:18:00.000+02:002012-06-20T10:18:04.197+02:002012 A-class Europeans<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With in a few days the 2012 Europeans A-class will start.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Event date 22-29 June Lake Garda</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The entry list is impressive with top sailors from around the world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of the name who will be at the start line :</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2011 Worldchampion Steven Brewin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2012 France champion Chris Field</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2012 German champion Bob Baier</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2011 Worldchampion runner up Scott Anderson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Former Worldchampion from Germany Nils Bunkenburg</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sailors like Stephan Brayshaw, Mike Drummond, Murray Phillpot, Andrew Landenberger, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This promise to be a major battle for the title with some high wind forcasts when it is sunny.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This event is something where you should stay tuned to follow the action.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have Piet at the shore and he will report everyday ( if possible ) how things are going and will try to get some first minute war stories from the sailors. Stay tuned at this blog or our website to get the latest action reports.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We will also do some updates thru Twitter when we have news.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Please check</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Website- http://www.catamaranparts.nl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blog- http://catamaranparts.blogspot.nl/</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Twitter- catamaranparts_live</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The link to the event website is http://www.acateuro2012.ch/dp/</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Catamaranparts team</span><br />
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<br /></div>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-18399373803498585232012-06-13T10:22:00.002+02:002012-06-13T10:22:21.856+02:00Footage German Nationals 2012<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the following link you can find a film about the German Nationals held at Wismar.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nice film and interviews to give an idea about the event.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jwyq4XyYUM&feature=youtu.be">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jwyq4XyYUM&feature=youtu.be</a></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for the makers of the footage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Catamaranparts team</span>.Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-41954257389247880172012-05-24T11:53:00.003+02:002012-05-24T11:54:12.403+02:00Chris Field about the France Nationals 2012<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">French National Championships</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Event 2 of the international A Class
Catamaran Calendar has just been wrapped up. The French open championship was
held from the 17<sup>th</sup> – 20<sup>th</sup> May in La Rochelle on the
French West Coast.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last year at this event I achieved a 4<sup>th</sup>
place, which was the first event I sailed in for my new team,
Catamaranparts.nl. This year I managed to get the victory, testament to the
development that has been put in over the last year on the boat.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I managed to sail a very clean regatta
achieving only 1 result (7<sup>th</sup>) out of the top 3 with 3 race wins. In
the 9 race series I managed to claim the overall title after the 8<sup>th</sup>
race showing that consistency in a series pays off.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The competition was tight at the top with
Jack Benson (AUS), Arno Terra (NED) and Micky Todd (ESP) proving to be the
major competition at this event with good showing from the French team also.
Each race was hotly contested with close finishes in the majority of races.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The racing area saw a variety of conditions
from 4 to 18 knots and large waves with no real pattern. All of the new generation boats are of the
same pace however, over 15-16 knots I believe I have an advantage using the
<a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/Vision.html"><b>Vision</b></a>. Over the winter the focus has been to make the boat fast for the
European championships where higher wind speeds are expected and I believe,
along with Catamaranparts.nl and Hammer Sails, I have achieved this without
sacrificing overall performance.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I guess we will see if this is true at the
European championships in 1 month!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once again thank you to all of those who
have supported me in winning back the French title but particularly
Catamaranparts.nl, The Marine Travel Company and Hammer Sails.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.afcca.org/">http://www.afcca.org/</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://acatsailing.blogspot.fr/">http://acatsailing.blogspot.fr/</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/">www.catamaranparts.nl</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.aclasscatamaran.co.uk/">www.aclasscatamaran.co.uk</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All the best,</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Chris</span></div>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-28300878307833211772012-05-21T10:03:00.001+02:002012-05-21T10:03:43.686+02:00Good result at France Nationals 2012From 17-20 May the France A-cat Nationals has been sailed at La Rochelle and Chris Field managed to take the crown in, what we understand ,challenging conditions .<br />
Chris was able to keep the pace after the second place in Germany 2 weeks earlier and was a happy man on how the <a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/Vision.html">Vision</a> did go thru the whole event.<br />
The full report follows later on , so stay tuned.<br />
<br />
The Catamaranparts team<br />
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<br />Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-34558779870310292782012-05-20T12:24:00.000+02:002012-05-20T12:24:02.761+02:00Good result on Day 3 France NationalsSaturday 19th the 3th day has been sailed with a good result for Chris Field on the <a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/Vision.html">Vision</a>. The exact details are not in yet but we know that Chris sailed a 7,2,2 and cannot be passed and is the new France champion 2012 what we understand.<br />
When we know more ofcourse we will report this on this blog and the <a href="http://www.catamaranparts.nl/">website</a>.<br />
<br />
The Catamaranparts team<br />
<br />
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<br />Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-57122559400036147882012-05-18T07:57:00.002+02:002012-05-18T07:58:57.341+02:00French A-cat Nationals 2012<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On 17th May the first day of racing in the France Nationals has been sailed and we have just a little info so far .</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Race one seems to be in moderate wind conditions with a choppy sea, race 2 and 3 had more wind but wind and a sea what seems to be more challenging. Exact details follow later ofcourse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Standing after day 1.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Name Score Total</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1. Chris Field ( Vision ) 3,1,1 5</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2. Micky Todd ( DNA ) 8,9,2 19</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3. Thierry Boisbouvier (DNA ) 4,11,4 19</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4. Claude Laluque ( ????? ) 1,5,14 20 </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">5. Jean Louis Le Coq (????) 12,4,6 22</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We try to get more info in on the end of the day, so stay tuned.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Catamaranparts team</span></div>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495385981693386285.post-26584710118284171102012-05-08T17:29:00.004+02:002012-05-12T13:48:27.364+02:002012 German A-classNationals report by Chris Field<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The first major international regatta on
the European A-Class Catamaran Circuit has been completed.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The German international regatta was held
from the 4<sup>th</sup> to 6<sup>th</sup> May in Wismar, on the Baltic coast in
northern Germany. Myself along with another Englishman, Nigel Lovett who also
sails a Vision, decided to make the 11 hour journey to the event and challenge
for the title with the 53 other entries. We left the UK on the Wednesday and
had 1 day of training and preparation at the event site on the Thursday before
the first race on the Friday.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The practice went well. Conditions on the
water proved a challenge for boat set up as the Brackish water and shifting
breeze meant that the boat needed to be biased towards a flexible, low drag set
up. The vision is a very low drag shape compared to other A-Classes and I
managed to tune the rig to suit the expected conditions just in time on the
Thursday night.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Friday saw all the planned races being held.
My strategy for the whole 9 race series was to be consistently in the top 5 in
each race as the conditions were so unstable a bad race result could easily
happen due to shifting breeze or different pressure lines over the course. I
achieved this goal and this left me in 3<sup>rd</sup> spot overnight.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Saturday again all races were sailed and I
had a better day than the Friday. Overnight I made some changes to the mast set
up and managed to get the VISION to perform better up wind and the results
reflected this. If I had not been over the start line early in the 3<sup>rd</sup>
race I would have moved up to 2<sup>nd</sup> overall.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sunday dawned and 2 races were planned. I
got a 2<sup>nd</sup> in the first race race narrowly missing out on 1<sup>st</sup>
and the second race saw my only race out of the top 5, a 7<sup>th</sup>. This
was enough to put me 2 points ahead of Thomas Paasch in third and behind Bob
Baier who won the event for the third year in a row.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This event was the first of the season for
me in Europe and I am satisfied with the result. Although it is not a victory,
second place gives me a good platform to build from and it is reassuring that
the developments made to the boat over the winters break has increased the
potential performance. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I must say thank you to
catamaranparts.nl who have produced and
helped me develop the mast and platform of the boat, to Hammer sails who, once
again, gave me the sail to do the job and of course The Marine Travel Company
for their continued support. This regatta was more about tactics and
positioning on the race course however, without speed the result would have not
been possible.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Off to the French nationals now to try and
get 1 spot higher!<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2495385981693386285" name="_GoBack"></a></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All the best,</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chris</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>Catamaranpartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11807789145194184461noreply@blogger.com0