Back to A-Cat Flights, Testing the 2021 DS by 1D

Saturday we had an excellent 8 to 12knots bulding breeze, and I could finally return to sailing after Dec 15, 2020 when I crushed my left collarbone riding Enduro in the dunes.
Local A fleet is gathering momentum once more (see practice race we did two weeks ago) with the new D3 2020s arrived and new sailors buying F1s and retrofitting some 2013 DNAs. More info on that retrofit next weeks, just did and printed for them a custom bottom insert for the DNA Z.

The exploder D3s 2020 look like weapons but we are finding tricky to get the sweet spot for the new foils. D3 2018 equipped with Z22 and 380 winglets are going ballistic down & upwind.

2021 1D Decksweeper sail test

I had a first ride after months and it went really good in moderate winds and chop.
I always sail & fly my As with Landenberger DS from Felix Egner, but took the chance to test Marton’s 1D DS I got for Ian.
The sail looks much flatter than the powerful Landys. Still the 1D provide good power in lighter range and excellent speed and drive once foiling.
In fact as per sony cam gps I broke my own speed record, marked +30 MPH, but add current , say 28 MPH?
Its around +-24 knots, it felt super fast onboard. Need to get one of these rides filmed from another boat, issue I’m always the one taking photos & videos…he!
Also need to upgrade the head cam, this one a Sony, its rather good but case gets moisture as rides pass and the quality / iamge stabilization of the latest Gopro its outstanding.

In lighter winds (5-6knots racing) Ian had his best performance ever in those conditions, sign that the 2021 1D DS does have an excellent operational wind range.

Marton has Kostas Trigonis as rider and also Iago Lopez Marra, who finished 8th overall at the 2018 Worlds.

Comment will be having a tighter or firmer luff dacron panel, as combined with the Maxx crosscut cloth, its tricky already to unhook the sail. We have other two 1D I need to test yet that are built with Endumax, a more compact and tight inner reinforcement lines sail cloth, which was also selected by Felix for other two Landenberger DS I got for other D3 2020 owners here. Need to sail those two Endumax yet (Landy and 1D).

The 1D Maxx crosscut sail ridden in video above features the rocket batten system, which is great for fine tuning battens tension. All in all a good fast package from Marton, I would review details on the luff dacron thickness used.

After sailing many Maxx sails , my choice if possible is to have a radial cut DS sail , I ordered mine already from Felix. They last longer and I’m not really in the mood or budget to change sail every year.

(On the newbies and before reading comments on the vide, color of the water is due to a muddy river bottom…)

A15 / Z22 / 380mm Winglets revisited

The Exploder A15 with foils and winglets specified above is truly a great platform. I published already videos of the two we have here, one from Hernán Salerno y Mar del Plata and mine. Right now I don’t see anything to upgrade. Cassete and new blade rudders would be next step, but I like the swept down original system, more when we are experiencing a more shallow river bottom almost each week due to the constant rapid growth of the mud and sediments coming from the Paraná river up North.

In video above you can see a small chop and how the Z22 and the 380mm winglets almost auto level themselves. I think right now this is the most proven package anyone can get from Exploder. Getting this equipment will convert almost any older A-Cat platform in a proper foiler machine, of course if you can move dagger case a bit would be nice, mine is still in factory position, and I will leave it there for the moment.
I recommend this Foil package for you to retrfit your older A Cat, you will get a blast out of it.

Need to put hours on upwind foiling again, it took me some rides to get used to the Z22/380 speed. Now I fill pretty comfortable (trailing edge resonance included…he) and I keep pushing the A15 downwind. Upwind foiling requires a good physical shape, and I need to get my new 90kg… on the move once more.

All in all, happy to sail again, more when more nonsense lockdowns are coming our way…
Can’t get enough of the A Cat flights, adrenaline runs high, more when you are supported by the foil and winglet very own tips! Power Foil Ride without any active assistance whatsoever.

Hope we can leave this scenario behind soon, looking forward to travel again with the guys and race A Cat abroad. Great Platform and great Class to sail & fly.