During the cat open at Weston in early November, I was lucky enough to get a ride on the c class which you will be aware has a single wing instead of a sail.
The wind was around 12 knots with the usual Weston gusts. Paul helmed for the first part and we set off upwind straight away. Getting the camber and the twist right on the wing seemed weird initially, but it all started making some sense after 10 minutes or so. As crew I was playing the camber upwind which is comparable to the cunningham on a soft sailed cat. The speed of the thing was immediately apparent and the
acceleration incredible. It was almost quieter than a soft sailed cat if that is possible.
There was one other big difference between the c class and my usual boat (an f18). The dagger boards on the c class are asymmetric which help drive the boat upwind. This does mean that the windward dagger board needs to be raised on each tack otherwise it is undoing all the hard work the leeward board is doing. This made tacks interesting, especially because of the 'gap' which I will mention in a minute.
Then we went downwind, and in order to get the windward hull out of the water I had to go to leeward, all the way to leeward. The problem here is that there was a big gap between the trampoline and the hull which was a bit sketchy at times. Going downwind at over 15 knots while straddling this gap was interesting. Then I looked back and Paul was also down to leeward in order to try and lift the hull as soon as possible. It was a very strange feeling.
Then we got to the end of the downwind and Paul asked me if I wanted to helm. It felt like all my Christmases had come at once!
Paul took the main which I didn't argue with because I didn't like the idea of going out on the wire over the gap (which was about 40cm at that point) with the main and tiller on a unique boat. Upwind the steering was very light and neutral, very nice.
At this point I started thinking about getting the wing to work. Unfortunately the air was damp so all the tell tales were stuck to the wing, which meant it was impossible to work out what the wind was doing. It was very easy to stall out the wing while still keeping the hull flying. It was very hard to read. The only wind indicator we had were 4 small indicators at the front of the wing about 4 meters up which showed whether the air was flowing over the start of the wing effectively.
On this beat we did a fly by past a couple of yachts who immediately got their cameras out. I felt like such a rockstar! But it wasn't me they were taking photos of, it was of course of this bizarre boat without a sail.
Then came downwind, and Will Sunnocks with his Vampire had turned up to play with us, so I had some competition for my first ever downwind on the boat.
We powered off downwind and immediately latched onto a good bit of wind. Steering and playing the wing to keep the hull flying, speed up and a low angle wasn't at all easy, but it was possible, and for the first minute or so we held the same line and speed as Will's Vampire. However, we then fell out of the groove and had to head up 20 degrees in order to get the apparent wind up to continue heading downwind, but by that time Will was past us. We got back into the groove a few more times before the bottom and with some practice I think it is possible to keep up with the 3 sail boats downwind, but the second you fall out of the groove you're done for.
We then matched upwind with Will, and to start with we sailed on the same line and the same speed as Will. But then we flattened off the wing a little, pointed a little higher, accelerated and just said goodbye. The upwind performance then was magical, and I'm sure there is more to be had with more practice.
Then we turned back downwind, again lining up with Will and this time I was determined to to better. This was my downfall. I tried to heat the boat up a little too much when a gust hit, which lead to a massive 'oh shit' bear away moment. The boat was up at 45 degrees and Paul was scrambling up the trampoline like a rat up a drainpipe. Images of the wing being smashed against the water flashed through my mind but luckily we saved it.
After that little scare I couldn't quite get it back into the groove and Will disappeared into the distance.
My time was up, the race started in 15 minutes and I had to go and help Seb finish rigging my boat.
So to summarise the c class is a magical boat. Upwind it is incredible, and downwind very interesting and challenging but still with lo
ads of potential.
Special thanks go to Paul and the whole Invictus team for giving me the chance to sail the c class, I would love to get back on it and give downwind another try. Thanks also to Seb for rigging my boat while I was off on the water having fun.
Jon
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