JW (Top F18 Sailor) report on his C class Experience - Ta Jon

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

PUTTING THE “C” IN THE WESTON CAT OPEN 2010

Full unedited account of Pauls Experiences sailing the C Class at weston, good write up Paul lets hope to see you at more of our events next year, id say the ECPR and Forts race weekends would give the boat a chance to show its true potential - Bring it on  !!!

Report  From Paul,

Photo from Helen Darvelid  

sent in From Carl @ NacraUK

Last weekend, we finally got to line our C-class INVICTUS up against perhaps the fastest beach cats in the world at the Weston Catamaran Open.

For us it was a chance to do some good racing, show the boat to an enthusiastic audience and get a measure of her performance against the state of the art of the soft sailed competition. It may well have been the first time that a winged craft had raced in UK waters(correct me if I’m wrong). We had a mixed bag of results for one reason or another but overall we came away pretty happy with what had been achieved. Weston did a great job and the event was a pleasure to attend.

We had a few little jobs to attend to before the racing began such as fitting one of our old 2004 dagger boards to make up for the one we lost in Newport RI during the last LAC. We rigged up the boat on Friday with a very bleak forecast suggesting winds of over 30 knots during the day. It didn’t look too bad out on Southampton water but there was a sense that
 there was wind out ‘there’ somewhere. We held back a bit not really wanting to test our luck... but still got as close to sailing as we could before making the final decision. We watched a small but quality fleet go out to race which included Will Sunnucks on his Texel winning Marstrom  M20 which has been souped up

 with a wider than normal beam and a bigger rig. Also out there were some F-18’s, Tornado Sports and even Phil Cotton’s Seacart 30 which  had been invited to play. We

C Class Pics - Enjoy

The "C" Factor !!!

Well last week we had the X factor with the shadows but having just attended the Weston Open the only letter on anyones lips was definately C after Paul Larsen turned up with his truly inspiring C Class cat "Invictus".

With a 3 day event for the 20ft plus cats it was great to see this beast in action, we missed fridays proceedings as for some reason the loft has just filled up with work and i couldnt escape but watching the c class on the water especially Sunday when there was a bit of breeze to get it going was just epic. Slender 25ft long hulls with a masive wing rig and a wide beam of some 14ft this thing really is the cat equivalent to the dogs doo dahs !!!

Paul was equally inspiring saturday afternoon as he took the time to give a talk on all things C class before the fireworks, i must say he was about as passionate as you can get on the subject and welcomed questions afterwards which he fielded with relish and for some (me included) the bit on the wedge sailed foils that only work above 55 knots was mind boggling, i managed to set my iphone voice recorder to listen and pray that it captured the best bits and hope to figure out how to load them on the site if you have the time it really is worth the listen. !!!

Shadows Get the "X" Factor

Press Release below From Olly Harris - Shadow Guru - Will be badgering him for a go this weekend at Westons Cat Open will keep you posted but first thoughts are that this could be a good move from the class -

A new, enlarged spinnaker has been developed to give the Shadow catamaran even faster downwind performance.
Over the summer, the Shadow Class Association has been trialling a larger 13.7 square metre spinnaker, developed by the boat’s designer Yves Loday and known as the “Shadow X”. The new spinnaker is 37% larger than the original version and with the addition of a bowsprit it helps to lift the bows. The result is that downwind sailing is faster and safer, particularly in waves and stronger winds. Downwind angles are now similar to high performance 2 man cats like the Spitfire and F18.
This has been achieved without compromising the cleanliness of the Shadow’s design or its fantastic upwind speed as the spinnaker still goes into the neat chute at the front beam for smooth hoists and drops. There is no need for a new chute and pole-mounted sock which would add weight and windage, both critical to the performance of a light single-hander. The Shadow has always been very easy to handle and the bigger spinnaker actually makes the boat easier to sail at full speed downwind.
One interesting aspect of the ”X” is that the forestay needs to be further aft, to make room for easy gybes. Yves has devised a clever solution for existing boats, with a central dyneema line pulling the forestay back towards the front beam. This means that fitting the X kit to any existing Shadow is very quick and easy, with 3 holes to be drilled and one eye to be riveted. Conversion kits are available to Class Association members from Loday White at a special price. New Shadows will now have the forestay attachment further aft and if desired, that modification can also be carried out on existing boats at the Loday White factory for a small additional cost. But there are expected to be no speed or handling differences between boats built as Shadow X and Shadows with the X kit added.
Despite being perceived as a boat for lighter sailors, helms of up to 95 Kg have proved to be very competitive when the wind blows. The X spinnaker should make them competitive across the wind range, whilst keeping the boat manageable for sailors as light as 65 Kg. Of course, the original spinnaker option remains available for those who want high performance with ultimate ease and simplicity.

In France, the Shadow X has been selling well and in the UK, several owners have already got the kit. Used boats get snapped up quickly and boats really hold their value thanks to the strict one design and fantastic Kevlar build quality. The class enjoys close one design class racing as well as being competitive on handicap. With a revised SCHRS rating of 1.061 (compared to 1.069 for the smaller spinnaker), this is set to continue. For 2011, Shadow events will be for both versions of the boat so there’s never been a better time to sail a Shadow