2013, Year in Review
The 2013 Season will officaly end fter NZ Worlds in February 2014.
During this period we did not made too much emphasis on the new developments in the Class official website, but we duly informed and clarified the rules addressing possible changes that aimed for As to use similar L foils as those used in the latest ACup. We also provided different views on the matter from experienced sailors.
With the Worlds coming and the season ending, it is the right time to address current Flying times in the sailing World, specially in the A-Class environment.
Past months we've seen the J boards alternative making legal boats fly downwind in the breeze. Top sailors like the 2012 WC using Js have not yet won a major event and at NZ Worlds they will be on the spotlight.
Some top riders like Glenn Ashby will be using J boards too so the real benchmark will be the performance of these new foils in all around conditions, if Takapuna can provide what Barcelona Euros had.
After the Americas Cup full foiling breakthrough developed by Team NZ and improved in the final stage of the event by Oracle, flying has become an obsession for many, including racing beachcats, even produtction foiling cats have been launched.
The A Class with its progressive development (Steve Brewin winning the 2013 Euros with a 2001 design, the Nikita, featuring curved boards and winglets for ie) has experienced some rather smooth transitions in the past, as if discussions were in place then there was no clear instant advantage on using x new design feature.
The best example of a 'killer innovation' was Oracle testing against Artemis previous the LV Cup. Long talks about which mode would be more effective were ended in less than a day of sailing as airborne Oracle smashed Artemis floating mode.
Killer features are not happening in the A Class right now.
So it is a good sign of progressive innovation, a mark of a Development class. The Rules have provided a good framework for this, preventing till now, day to night miracles.
Takapuna will provide surely a final analysis to be made after the Event.
Also as informed, the Class keeps growing World Wide, in January we will have around 8-9 boats to be launched in Uruguay/Argentina. South America managed to bring attention in the F18 Class, with an F18 Worlds already confirmed for 2016.
And I'm sure we will see in the future an A-Class major event organized down there too.
More sailors and more countries involved are only objectively good news on the Class health, marking the right path the Class has taken for many years now.
The Class has been successful managing past developments so this path should be maintained for a continued & progressive growth. Maintaining Balance between the Status Quo and flexibility to adapt will always be the Key.
Lots of competitive & new alternatives are an additional proof of the good health, as seen in several racing events during 2013. Different designs have provide good sailors a chance to win: Brewin with Nikita at the 100 boats Euro, Thilo Keller dominating several regional ones with his Arrow MKII, Chris Field winning the UK Nats with the Vision , the updated Exploder showing its potential, plus the Austrlian Paradox launch and at least 2 new French designs like the Addiction and Dorian le Pluart'a Askell.
You can review many of these events reports in this official website.
To me it was a real pleasure maintaining the content of the official A-Class website, and I wish the A-Cat sailors World Wide all the Best for 2014. I want to thanks Arno Terra also, for his dedicated work promoting the class and offering boats to new and top sailors alike from his past work at DNA.
For those wanting to send you Logo update ideas, submission period will end January 10th, as we have some pending to be sent.
The idea is to provided an updated alternative image for the class, no change will be made without the Class authorization following the due channels.
Takapuna Worlds official website: http://www.sailingeventstakapuna.com/
Entry has been extended to Friday 17, January , 2014.
