Piet Saarberg resigned from the IACA committee on 19th of October 2016. I asked him about his long years at IACA, this is what he wrote to me. I’m glad to soon meet Piet in Sopot to thank him personally for his work.

Charles

Hi Charles, Here a short résumé of my history with the class.

World Sailing rule interpretation - Thilo Keller/AST AC Nano design.

The Open A Class Italian Championship, organized by the Associazione Velica Bracciano by Bracciano Lake, near Rome, ended on Sunday. There were big surprises confirming once more the vivacity of A Cat Italy’s combative 2017 season.  Pier Faccin reports.

With less than a month to go, a few of the top ‘A’ cat sailors are already in Sopot joining in with the Polish sailors for final training, boat tweaks and to perfect their match fitness.  So, whom should we be watching out for this year?  With some 140 entrants now, there are some top names competing, with several ex-Olympic and America’s Cup sailors, not to mention numerous National Champions, this is shaping up to be a very strong fleet indeed.

The Belgian 2017 Nationals were held on the North Sea at Knokke on the 15-17 July.  Michel Warlop reports.

We had 10 competitors including 2 French, 1 German and 7 Belgians. Conditions were quite hard, at least for those not used to sail on choppy waters as the wind ranged from force 3 to 5 in the first three races and even force 6 in the last race on Saturday. The latter race forced the foilers to sit thight on their boats whilst going downwind.

BACCA Lake Ullswater ‘A’ Class TT

Royal Yachting Association Club Of The Year 2017, Ullswater Yacht Club, were the generous and friendly hosts of the latest British ‘A’ Class Catamaran Association Cat open meeting and tolerated these 7’6 wide single-handed cats taking up their front lawn. 

Young Italian Gianluigi Ugolini won the National A Class regatta organized at Polisportiva Fior d’Olivo Acquafresca and hosted during Foiling Week 2017. Pier Faccin reports;

You may have seen some photos or have heard about the 'Balanced Sailing Team' A+ Cat project.  Whilst not an 'A' Class, it's basically, an 'A' Class on steroids with a wing.  Oscar Lindley-Smith reports on his experiences of sailing this boat at the recent Foiling Week event at Garda.

During this WGM, we will take a few important decisions that will impact the future of the class. We hope and expect that you convey the wishes of your memberships. All the documents have already been distributed on a-cat.org. In case you have requests, questions on any of the proposals, don't hesitate to contact me.

I allow myself a personal request : I'm convinced all 4 proposals are good for the class. Let me take them one by one and provide my personal opinion about them.

IACA World General Meetings Agenda - Sopot, Poland    

Date : Wednesday 23 August 2017, 20:00     Location : Sailing Club Navigo

1. President's Report

2. Secretary's Report

3. Economic Report and presentation of accounts and budget

4. National Association and Fleet Reports

5. Election of Officers and I.A.C.A. Committee

• 5.1 Secretary until 2020
• 5.2 Committee members

6. Membership Fees