43rd Annual Cat Classic @Nedlands Yacht Club
Report, video & pics sent by Gavin Colby / Hobie Cat Western Australia / Nedlands Yacht Club
Perfect sailing conditions for the 43rd Annual Cat Classic, in Perth held at the Nedlands Yacht Club and run by the Hobie Class from Western Australia.
29 boats consisting of F18’s, Hobie 16’s, Tornado, Foiling A’s and Windrush 14’s battled it out in glorious Perth sunshine over 2 days. With temperatures higher than normal it meant the breeze was a touch soft for the 16’s and Foiling A to be truly competitive on the yardstick rating system. Nevertheless they did win a few races through the two days of furious yet, friendly competition.
Blasting out of the blocks was former F18 National Champion James Clark sailing the A. Unfortunately for him though this proved to be the only race where the wind was consistently strong enough to become Airborne.
From then the Current Tornado World Champion Brett Burvill sailing with his 12 year old daughter Lani began to improve race by race with some impressive maneuvers around the track to start climbing up the leaderboard. Eventually Edge’ing out Gav Parker and Brett’s Usual crew Maxi!
In the Hobie 16 fleet, in preparation for the upcoming Hobie 16 Worlds it was close. With multiple race winners and super tight racing. With Phil and Kaitlyn Epps winning their fleet from Darren and Claire Smith, then the current Aussie and European Champions Camo and Suz in Third.
Ultimately the event was won by Gavin Colby and Kai Coleman sailing a F18 (eXploder/ Brewin Sails) from Brett and Lani on the Tornado then Gav and Max on another F18.
Cat Classic was proudly sponsored by:
Hobie Cat Australasia
Windrush
Boating Hardware
Windrush Wines
Barchetta
