A word from the new president

Dear fellow sailors,
First of all I would like to thank Stefano Sirri for the years he has worked for the class and wish he, and his family well for the future. I am sure Stefano will continue to enjoy his sailing with the rest of us.

Secondly, I would like to congratulate Mischa Heemskerk on becoming the 2012 World Champion. It is to be hoped that after Mischa’s success more sailors from the F18 class will follow him into the A class.

I would also like to thank all those from the US Association who put in such a big effort to make it happen. The weather could not be controlled but the hospitality will never be forgotten.

I am very fortunate to have an outstanding committee to work with this year so I am quite excited about what goals can be achieved. There are several items already being addressed.

Our Class Rules and Measurement Guidelines have officially been updated and Graeme Harbor is currently working on updating our rules with ISAF.

Our Class website has also had a face lift at the hand of Thomas Paasch. Thomas will take on the role as Webmaster and is following up other interesting IT possibilities, including the future of use GPS trackers.

We are also in the process of appointing an editor for the class website who will look for a constant supply of new and interesting news topics about our class and sailors.

A big item on the agenda is to find a good working solution for larger fleets. The Florida worlds catered for 120 boats. New Zealand and Barcelona are also set to be large events, so we have the challenge in front of us to test the possibilities to manage these larger fleets without compromising the quality of racing we are all used to.

Looking further ahead, we currently have bids for the 2014 Europeans from France and Sweden. We also have one bid already for the 2015 Worlds from the UK. It is a very good sign of strength for the class when clubs are actively seeking the opportunity to host our events.

In all, I am looking forward to a very interesting period in the class. If anyone has suggestions for improvements in any way they should not hesitate to contact me or any other member of the committee. It is your class, and we are here to make sure the A class catamaran is still around for our children to enjoy.

Kind regards

Andrew Landenberger (Landy)