And so the ‘A’ Class European Championships finally got underway with a bang on Tuesday after the first day was cancelled due to excessive wind/wave limits.

The practice race at any major championships is usually a chance for the fleet to get settled into the race mode, check out the water and perform the final tests on their boats before the racing starts properly.  They tend not to be taken as an indication of form or performance.  However, a good showing here can give the sailor a psychological lift into the actual competition by showing him what he as got right, and what he needs to look out for.

With 3 weeks to go before the start of the ‘A’ Cat European Championships, we shall be seeing some of the World’s top sailors assembling in North Germany.  In the official provisional entry list, we have 91 entrants signed up so far for this closed (100 max.) regatta at the picturesque German Baltic resort of Warnemunde and the competition looks like it might be rather tough.

The rewrite of the Class Rules have been accepted by the class, and as the final step, World Sailing have now accepted and published the new rules.

That means that the new Class Rules are effective from the 8th of June 2018.

The technical Committee has also reworked the Measurers Guidelines, which should be read in conjunction with the Class Rules and World Sailings Equipment Rules of Sailing.

The updated documents are available in the Class Rules section of this page. http://a-cat.org/?q=node/9

The 2012 British Olympics, and the 2019 venue of the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) was the location chosen for this year’s UK National Championships.  This was done for a couple of reasons.  Firstly to give sailors a last chance to race at the venue before the ‘A’ Class World Championships are held there in August next year.  And secondly, to give the WPNSA an opportunity to see the ‘A’ Cats in actual racing action, allowing them to calibrate lap times/distances etc and give the shore crews an idea of what is to be required of them fo

The entry portal for the 2018 Worlds at Hervey Bay is now open at https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=387752&

Currently we have 91 entries for the European Championships at Warnemunde.

As written in NoR,  A-Cat sailors now can directly enter and pay until the 100 slots are filled, so the next 9 people will get in.

Please also complete the “Official Collective Entry Form” and mail it to vorstand@a-cat.de.  At the same time the entry fee of 250,- € has to be transfered to the bank account stated in the NoR .

Deadline is 24th of June.

Entries received later may be accepted with an extra fee of 100,-€.

This years European Spring Cup was as usual perfectly organised by Circolo Vela Arco - and the weather decided to be with us this year with racing for all 3 days.  Tom Bojland reports.

36 competitors from 10 nations where competing in the typical 8-15 knots of breeze.  Due to the northerly course being used by another class, we were further south with slightly less wind, completely flat water and with more tactical decisions to make.

This years Danish Nationals where held as part of the “Sail Extreme” event in Kerteminde that attacks around 500 sailors in various dinghy classes. Thomes Paasch Reports.

Last weekend (5th-6th may 2018) the Valencia Region Championship of Catamarans was held in Pobla Marina (Valencia-Spain), included within the Spanish A-Class circuit.  Toni Ballester reports.