A Cat Easy Stable Flight (Downwind…)

This was a week ago. Got a new proto DS from Felix Egner (Landenberger) and had about one of the more stable and easy flights ever. The main got a bit short of luff, but nevertheless the performance is excellent.

Aspect to analyze here is the gap between downwind & upwind foiling in the A Class, seeing Michael Miler’s I Fly video published past weeks going full bore upwind in 20knots and with a nice vmg get you wonder if we ever will achieved that kind of comfort in the As.

The major problem is I don’t like wands or assisted foil systems, the tend to be fragile, elevates the overall cost and the T foils are a pain to launch in shallow waters like our Rio de la Plata or other beach launch locations.

In light to medium winds there is an upwind foil more almost as easy as the one above, Sergio Mehl , top rider in Arg and with podiums in Europe goes upwind no hassles and comfortable (Brewin’s 2018 D3 + Winglet upgrade) . Still I have to master that easy upwind flight mode, but then with more wind things gets nasty even for top guys.

Its the way it is now, I wonder what is needed to achieve a bit more control foiling upwind in the breeze. While racing you have only top seasoned Pros going for efficient foil upwind like seen in latest Europeans regattas (Dutch & Arco) where Kuba Suroviec and Mischa Heemskerk were playing another game, just like when in 2015 Ashby and Mischa were in another league with the DS and foiling downwind in about 7 knots.

The point being we need to make 100% a given thing for those wanting to race in the A Class division. Still performance difference will be there, as with Moth, where anyone can foil 100% and top guys also establish a gap impossible to achieve for amateur Moth sailors, though they are happy to fly a 100% foiler platform. In the As you have two Pros flying in the start and 40 looking and floating in awe…

The compromise solution for the As is quite a challenge: How do we achieve more control upwind without going the wand + T foil system route? While keeping costs down.
(Platform in video above is a factory Exploder A15 with Z22 (no mods on daggercase) and factory swingdown blades / Alu casting with 380mm winglet. You can assemble a similar platform in Europe or US for how much? 8k?)

I think the IACA Tech Committee should open a discussion and offer A Class builders to put on the table a proposal and let them test a proto within local regattas to start analyzing if any rules change is worth to aim for a proper 100% foiling platform that will also need to retain many of the A Cat assets vs dedicated foil platforms like Moths, ie : ability to sail & race in 5 knots while trying to maintain an over the top mainfoil load.

Reducing the limit of the inner 1.75 rule can be the solution? hmmm Someone will need to show it on the water.

Meanwhile some are confident they can beat an A Class on a racing course, I have high doubts on the matter. A simple matchup or challenge can solve the discussion in 15mins. We are working on the background to have that race organized.