There will be an official Italian National Regatta at PuntAla on 31st Aug - 1st Sept 2024.

This means that you can get a warm-up event the weekend before the Worlds and check out the opposition! You can also book you accommodation accordingly.

This Winter the Spanish A-Class Association would like to offer all A Cat Sailors the possibility of joining them for sailing, training and racing during the Winter. Their water temperature is never below 14 degrees. Vlad, the Czech ace, has already spent two winters with them, and Matti from Finland was there last Winter. Both are repeating this year!

They are offering sailing in Valencia, training and some races.

The Punta Ala 2024 A-Cat Worlds registration link and the official website are now open - Here

The Minutes of the 2023 WQGM are now available - here http://www.a-cat.org/sites/default/files/2023_WGM_minutes_v5.pdf

In 1986 at Brenzone, Italy, a 32 year old Aussie sailor and Olympic medallist, won the A-Cat Worlds. 37 years later he does it again in Toulon. John Scott Anderson is living proof of the saying ‘There is still life in the old dog yet!’. Also a new name arrears on the A-Cat Open fleet trophy. Here is how it happened.

After yesterday’s excitement in Toulon, today was only going to be a bit of a let-down. There was the now traditional stop in the boat park instruction. It was the Open foilers to go on first, and many had their super high aspect ratio rigs already fully set up on their 9m tall carbon masts. There were instructions, under pain of death, that they must not pass through the entry gate onto the beach launching area unless they were fully ready to sail and dressed for the water. With 120 boats and a finite beach area, this was a very sensible policy from the Yacht Club du Toulon.

I’m sorry, but Epic can be an overused word. But that is possibly the only word we can use to describe the events on Toulon Bay yesterday. And to think, it all started so serenely too.

It was a tricky day out on the beautiful Rade Du Toulon yesterday, in day 3 of the A-Cat Worlds. At many events, regardless of how good the club or organisation is, the wind always has its own agenda. So it was in Toulon. Sailors waited around, lounging on trampolines, in campers and outside the café, all awaiting that squadron scramble bell when the red and white stripy flag was suddenly lowered and replaced with a fleets on the water flag.

Following the disappointment of Sunday, where the Open foiling fleet at the A-Class Catamaran Worlds had to sit out in the Bay Du Toulon, and then just get one upwind leg before being cancelled, today was a welcome change. A foilable 9-12 knot Southerly breeze started up at about lunchtime and all the Foilers took to the sea from the Yacht Club Du Toulon’s launching beach, heading out to the race area about a mile or so offshore.

Following a lovely champaign sailing week’s run up to a major championship, it’s obvious now, to anyone with any wind connection and recent experience, that the actual race week will inevitably be one where total near windless conditions shall inevitably prevail. There’s probably a law or something describing the phenomena. It’s like there’s only so much wind available, and if you’ve used it all up playing in it, then that’s your own fault.