A Class Cat World Championships at Centro Velico Punta Ala

Ben Madilynn Ben Madilynn September 13, 2024

A Class Cat World Championships at Centro Velico Punta Ala – Day 2

by Gordon Upton 11 Sep 09:33 UTC

If Monday was the sailor’s day of nightmares, then Tuesday was their day of dreams.

The traumatic events of yesterday, with that swell, that chop and that wind were now but a distant memory. The second day of the A-Cat Worlds dawned bright. Not that that says anything, as everyday has been dawning bright since we all got here. The carbon epoxy sandwich repairs, expertly done by the Scheuer nightshift crew had cured and just needed a bit of sanding. Rudder winglets refitted or replaced, most were able to put to sea again and sail the three scheduled races required to bring the series back on track.

Everyone, as usual now, was waiting on the beach, sails neatly rolled to await the flag message went you the Race Officers to say they were in position, conditions were acceptable, and racing was going to happen. The signal given, the whole beach, and 180 A-Cat sailors, and willing/unwilling helpers sprang into action. Sails pushed up masts – for the uninitiated, the A-Class Cat usually has no sail halyard, and the sail has a stiff plastic boltrope, so are pushed up until their head ring engages the mast head hook with a satisfying click. A quick little tug down proved it was properly engaged. All rigged, checklist completed, harnesses adjusted, gloves and helmets on, time to go racing.

At the race areas, the boats start to assemble. Open Foilers again had the North course, Classics to the South, with a decent separation between, so no stragglers and get lost. Once the Race Officer was happy with this mark positions, it was finally flag waving time.

On the Open course boats cruised or just sat patiently floating. Their warn-ups usually done on the mile trip out to the start area. Into the traditional 5-4-1 Go sequence and a wall of A-Cat sails, nearly half a kilometre long, launched forward at 15 + knots toward the top mark. You can see this nicely on their trackers on https://www.metasail.com/incoming/612/ I really recommend watching, it’s a great education for us mere mortals.

At the top mark, ten minutes later, it was Mischa Heemskerk, NED 007 rounding first, and chased by Darren Bundock, AUS88 and with a little chasing pack of Stevie Brewin AUS 4, Manolo Calavia ESP 11, Ravi Parent USA 76, and tailed by Kuba Surowiec POL 41. Then was a bit of a gap until the second band of sailors arrives. The sea was nice and bumpy, maybe a foot or two of chop, with the winds, now at about 10 kts, adding a little more. Just enough for the sailors to enjoy the way an A-Cat hull knifes through the wave and water with supreme elegance.

The downwind chase was on, 20+ knots, boats fully powered up, steering and sheeting to keep the boats driving forward on their foils. It’s a real workout foiling these boats. They are not like Moths, they have no nice little wand to control the ride height, only the sailor’s skill in board rake settings and their body position, coupled with judicious tiller control and sheet adjustment to balance the whole system.

Mischa was the first to gybe off, but the others stuck with that original line before gybing a few minutes later. Mischa must have seen a patch of better pressure on the right. When he gybed back and blasted down at 25kts to the bottom gate to go back upwind on the left, he rounded a goo 100m ahead of the pack. Back at the top it was still Mischa doggedly followed by Bundy. The Mischa Masterclass finished as he crossed the line with Bundy next, then a very close finish for third with Manolo just pipping Kuba, much to his Catalonian delight. Ravi then beat Stevie with 5th and 6th

In the next band, and it interesting that these ‘bands’ form and clear watching the trackers, Bruce Mahoney USA 311 put in a superb race in a 7th and David Brewer AUS 20 a great 8th.

The next race was readied in good time by the Race officer. The main delay looks to be caused by waiting for the tail enders to finish. Even if they then get timed out, they are still on the course and the Race Officer can’t adjust any course marks until the pass them. Discussion has been had about the Grand Prix finish, whereby everyone ends the lap they are on after the winner crosses the line. The positions for lapped boats calculated on lap times taken on committee boats. Of course, it is important then to accurately record those times, but the sailors would really appreciate this I feel. In the case here, as Mischa finished, many boats were still yet to reach their bottom marks and rounded up on their final laps. At least the GP finish would reduce that extra slower sailor lap time being added to the waiting times.

Open Race 3 got off cleanly, and it’s amazing how a massive 80-boat fleet can be got away cleanly, and it’s a real credit to the sailing discipline of the sailors. Good start for pin end Kuba, Mischa less so being caught further back, Bundy also go good clean wind, but Ravi tacked away early to try and get out of the wall of turbulence (Great name for a band that – Wall Of Turbulence, you can thank me later) caused by being mid line. The pressure looked to be more on the right this race, and many tried that side. Kuba went for the middle and was absolutely blasting upwind as a result, ducking Ravi at the lay line before his tack to the top mark. A slight header deprived Ravi of laying the top from his lay line tack, so leaving him short and needing another tack to get across. He then joined Kuba at the mark, just in time to see Bundy round it in his usual effortless splayfooted relaxed style and cruise off past the spreader in the lead.

But Kuba and Mischa engaged full reheat and caught him halfway down the leg. Kuba looked particularly fast, sailing as smoothly as ever. Mischa just looks powerful, and it dictates his sailing style. He makes the boat bend to his will. But watching the pair, I’m really reminded of the great Mischa/Ashby races of the 2015 and 2018 World days, and I’m looking forward to seeing more this week!

At the blue flags, it was Kuba, only he was followed by the ever-present spectre of Bundy in second, having caught and passed Mischa at the bottom mark on lap 2. Ravi still haunted Mischa him too and by now Manolo had gotten into the fight as well. The finish was Kuba, Bundy, Ravi, Manolo and Mischa. This is rather fun! And a little further down the fleets, epic battles were being engaged. Lamberto Cesare ITA 13 was having a good battle with Bruce Mahoney, Emmanuel Dode FRA 2, and Abdon Ibanez ESP 74.

However, I am always amazed at how few sailors actually check behind themselves near the finish. If they did, they’d see another competitor rapidly closing in on them. Time after time we witnessed places changing on the finish line, places that could possibly have been defended with a little tactical forthought? But, again, such fun!

Meanwhile over on the Classic course in the beautiful South area, the sailors were having an equally great time in their Prosecco sailing conditions. The previous day had wrought havoc amongst the usual expected positions, with some top sailors well down the field. One such was last year’s silver medallist Gustavo Doreste ESP 72. Being unable/unwilling to cope in that Southern Ocean conditions, he’d retired to fight another day, realising descension and valour are linked. Today he started making amends, gaining all three bullets.

However, his nearest championship rivals hung on yesterday, scoring points in single figures, so unless something happens, breakage, OCS or whatever, all possible scenarios, he does have a struggle. That lovable old Pole, Jacek Noetzel POL1, the wily old wolf Scotty Anderson AUS 31 and that outback beef farmer Andrew Landenberger AUS 308 are all at the top, separated by a point each. This one could also be close.

But I will leave you with the words of that wonderful quiet reflective Scots bard, Hugh MacGregor GBR 18, who is happily sitting in 14th place

He says ‘Now that was fun, slowly building all day from about 10 to 16 knots, water a bit flatter than yesterday but finishing up about where yesterday started. No real pattern to the course, either side or even the middle sometimes paid off, just put the penny in the slot, pull the lever, and see what you get. First race I went right up the second beat and lost about 10 places, but mostly it was pretty even. Today’s third race got a blinding start and ended up coming into the first windward mark third, just behind Gustavo (Second last year) and Landy (2 times world champ), who’d both gone further left, and just in front of Scotty (current world champ), who’d gone right. It was a moment of sheer bliss, could have just peeled of and put my boat on the trailer happy, just glorious to see all the fleet spread out on the beat. Alas, am in pretty good shape upwind, but today was a perfect day for pushing wild downwind, a gear I don’t have with the venerable Tool, so usually lost 4 or 5 places each run.

But damn, what a day to be on the water, can’t think I’ve enjoyed a day of racing more, ever.’

Today, we rinse and repeat.

Classic Fleet Results after day 2:

Pos Sail No Helm Club Pts R1 R2 R3 R4
1  POL 1 Jacek NOETZEL POL 11 1 3 4 3
2  AUS 308 Andrew LANDENBERGER NESC 12 3 2 5 2
3  AUS 31 John Scott ANDERSON Saratoga Sailing Club 13 2 5 2 4
4  FRA 399 Emmanuel le CHAPELIER CNF 30 5 9 8 8
5  ESP 38 Andrés GRAU RCNB 32 10 6 6 10
6  ITA 007 Alessandro ROSI 52 32 7 10 9 6
7  ITA 55 Marco RADMAN Centro Vela Sunset 36 4 11 7 14
8  GER 121 Moritz WEIS SVS 40 14 7 10 9
9  ISV 15 Chris BATCHELOR ISV 58 24 14 13 7
10  ESP 52 Jose A LOPEZ Trial Club Maritim Barcelona 59 47 4 3 5
11  ITA 75 Francesco MAINERO Associazione velica Senigallia 65 11 31 12 11
12  ESP 7 Micky TODD CAR 67 14 19 16 18
13  ITA 15 Andrea RUFFINI 1332 68 9 18 21 20
14  GBR 18 Hugh MACGREGOR Largs Sailing Club 74 19 22 17 16
15  GER 100 Christian STOCK SVS 82 36 13 14 19
16  FRA 9 Florent DARGES STE NAUTIQUE DE LARMOR PLAGE 82 23 20 24 15
17  ITA 5 Manuel VACCARI CVOrta 84 18 26 19 21
18  AUS 63 Mark GRIFFITH rpayc 86 22 24 18 22
19  ITA 70 Alberto MAGNI Ragnavela 90 16 12 31 31
20  ESP 72 Gustavo DORESTE BLANCO 8021 92 89 1 1 1
21  USA 165 Bob WEBBON Upper Keys Sailing Club 98 32 15 25 26
22  POL 120 Valdek KWASNIEWSKI UKS Navigo 100 12 41 23 24
23  USA 99 Ben HALL N/A 103 29 16 26 32
24  ITA 175 Francesco BINDI Club velico Marina di Pietrasanta 105 25 37 20 23
25  ITA 7 Stefano SIRRI 335 115 27 27 32 29
26  ESP 29 Francisco Javier ACOSTA MEDINA Club Náutico de Torre del Mar 116 30 30 29 27
27  SUI 44 Mathieu VERRIER SIMPL 120 89 8 11 12
28  FRA 322 Daniel MOYSE YACHT CLUB DE TOULON 122 31 25 33 33
29  ITA 99 Marco GAETI 161 124 15 34 45 30
30  AUS 11 Wayne MERCER BYS 129 28 32 30 39
31  USA 007 Mike KRANTZ Lake Lanier Sailing Club 133 17 36 28 52
32  GER 31 Lars BUNKENBURG TSVH 134 89 17 15 13
33  AUS 27 William MICHIE RRS&RC 140 46 23 27 44
34  FRA 88 Bertrand ARHAN AK 147 20 50 39 38
35  ITA 118 Andrea EUSEBI Ragn’a Vela 153 44 29 35 45
36  SWE 59 Alberto FARNESI Loftahammar 161 21 89 34 17
37  AUS 9 John DOWLING Multihull Yacht Club of Queensland 163 49 44 36 34
38  FRA 300 Laurent STEPHANY S05 165 26 63 41 35
39  GBR 72 Owen COX Bala sailing club 167 13 54 58 42
40  FRA 26 Girardin ERIC CNHS 169 35 40 43 51
41  ITA 80 Claudio MASCIULLO 1774 170 38 45 44 43
42  USA 4 Bobby ORR West River Sailing Club Maryland USA 180 39 48 46 47
43  FRA 459 Pierrick PEDRON CVM 186 42 42 56 46
44  FRA 525 Bernard SALARINO YACHT CLUB DE TOULON 187 89 35 38 25
45  BEL 331 Marc van CUTSEM RBSC 192 89 38 37 28
46  BEL 87 Walter GONZALEZ SNEH 193 52 53 47 41
47  ITA 777 Marco PUPPO 3 195 33 66 48 48
48  GER 548 Norbert BAUER TSVH 208 89 39 40 40
49  USA 192 Ken MARSHACK Upper Keys Sailing CLub 212 89 33 53 37
50  FRA 564 Stéphan MAÎTREHENRY Ecole de Voile Municipale du Lavandou 212 34 56 59 63
51  NZL 2025 Brent HARSANT NZ 212 55 52 50 55
52  SUI 56 Bruno BIEDERMANN RVS 213 89 46 42 36
53  ITA 29 Massimiliano BRACCI Associazione velica senigallia 215 53 49 60 53
54  ESP 23 Virgilio BERMEJO VIVO 648 218 41 59 62 56
55  FRA 436 Eric BERNARD CLUB VOILE DE SANGUINET 228 89 28 22 89
56  ITA 261 Maurizio BINDI CVMP 229 48 43 49 89
57  AUS 335 Benn HOOPER McCrae Yacht Club 232 56 69 57 50
58  GER 73 Gino SIMEN SLRV 237 43 71 65 58
59  ITA 43 Giacomo POLI 113 238 51 47 51 89
60  ESP 8 Raúl FRANCO Club Náutico Puerto Sherry 241 37 61 54 89
61  ITA 313 Giancarlo de MARINIS 161 246 89 51 52 54
62  ITA 330 Giorgio MURNIK 161 249 54 70 64 61
63  GER 83 Thorsten ZARSKE WSGR 260 89 57 55 59
64  ITA 356 Roberto AGNOLI 107 261 89 62 61 49
65  ITA 95 Marco BALDINI CVA 263 40 68 66 89
66  GER 342 Jan Hagen VOIGT WSCG 268 57 65 89 57
67  ESP 777 Juan MURO Club Náutico Marítimo de Benalmádena 272 58 75 72 67
68  NED 3 Sjoerd HOEKSTRA WSVL 273 6 89 89 89
69  USA 310 Haywood COPE gulfport 275 8 89 89 89
70  ARG 6 Daniel STEIN El AGUILA 276 59 76 73 68
71  ITA 11 Matteo BETTUZZI Circolo Velico Rio Pircio 276 89 60 63 64
72  ITA 171 Giulio Marco DOMIZI Ragn’a Vela 282 89 64 67 62
73  GER 2 Georg REUTTER TSVH 288 89 21 89 89
74  ITA 733 Francesco JACOBINO 2435 290 89 73 68 60
75  AUS 1011 Dave RICHARDSON Bendigo Yacht Club 295 50 67 89 89
76  GER 43 Jens KRAUSS SV BIBLIS 297 89 74 69 65
77  AUS 95 Robert GRIFFITS LMYC 301 89 72 71 69
78  USA 2020 Emmanuel CERF SPYC 318 89 89 74 66
79  BEL 63 Eric MEERT RBSC 322 89 55 89 89
80  ITA 58 Claudio BELLI Compagnia della vela di Roma 325 89 58 89 89
81  ITA 77 Massimo CARPINELLI Centro Vela Sunset 337 89 89 70 89
82  BEL 104 Hervé JACOBS RBSC 356 89 89 89 89
82  BEL 17 Astrid JANSSENS ZVDR 356 89 89 89 89
82  BEL 7 Serge de BLOCK SNEH 356 89 89 89 89
82  BEL 70 Francois LAMBOTTE SNEH 356 89 89 89 89
82  FRA 367 Jacques PIALLAT YCGM 356 89 89 89 89
82  GBR 8 Richard John EDWARDS GWSC 356 89 89 89 89
82  ITA 16 Davide LEARDINI /XI 356 89 89 89 89

Foiling Fleet Results after day 2:

Pos Sail No Helm Club Pts R1 R2 R3 R4
1  POL 41 Jakub SUROWIEC UKS Navigo 8 1 4 1 2
2  AUS 88 Darren BUNDOCK SSC 9 4 2 2 1
3  NED 007 Mischa HEEMSKERK WVIJ 15 3 1 5 6
4  USA 76 Ravi PARENT New York Yacht Club 16 5 5 3 3
5  AUS 4 Steven Norman BREWIN kcc 18 2 6 6 4
6  ESP 11 Manuel CALAVIA Real Club Marítimo Barcelona 21 9 3 4 5
7  USA 311 Bruce MAHONEY Mahoney Projects 30 8 7 8 7
8  FRA 2 Emmanuel DODE SOCIETE DES REGATES DE VANNES 38 6 10 11 11
9  ITA 13 Lamberto CESARI Centro Nautico Bardolino 42 7 16 9 10
10  DEN 1 Thomas PAASCH Middelfart Sejlklub 55 17 9 14 15
11  AUS 20 David BREWER Safety Beach S.C 56 11 8 21 16
12  ITA 71 Marco ANESSI 420 58 14 14 18 12
13  ESP 74 Abdon IBAÑEZ 46995 67 37 11 10 9
14  AUS 22 Joseph RANDALL McCrae Yacht Club 67 23 18 13 13
15  ITA 3 Paolo PENCO 40120 72 18 16 17 21
16  ESP 75 Toni BALLESTER MARTINAVARRO 46021 77 24 22 12 19
17  NED 28 Pieterjan DWARSHUIS WVF 85 31 12 24 18
18  GER 14 Bob BAIER SCFF 90 21 28 19 22
19  ITA 72 Giuseppe COLOMBO Unione Velica Maccagno 98 35 31 15 17
20  NED 96 Gert‑Jan KOS HELLE 99 15 23 40 21
21  FIN 1 Matti NIEMINEN TPS 101 29 27 22 23
22  ITA 969 Giovanni FANTASIA 437 104 13 30 26 35
23  SUI 307 Loïc DONY CNB 105 12 40 28 25
24  SUI 007 Robin MAEDER CNB 114 10 37 38 29
25  DEN 3 Jan SAUGMANN Hellerup Sejlklub 125 33 36 25 31
26  ITA 023 Paolo MANGIALARDO club vela Portocivitanova 126 28 43 29 26
27  NZL 270 Dave SHAW NYC 127 86 26 7 8
28  DEN 20 Peter BOLDSEN Egå Sejlklub 127 34 33 32 28
29  ITA 54 Luigi CAMISOTTI 1. SVG E.V. 133 25 35 37 36
30  GER 41 Alex MEISTER STM 134 43 34 30 27
31  GER 6 Rainer BOHRER TSVU 138 36 29 31 42
32  NED 111 David van AART HELLE 140 19 44 39 38
33  DEN 8 Christian NYGAARD Middelfart Sejlklub 141 22 38 41 40
34  CZE 1 Vladislav PTASNIK YK Jestrabi 142 30 42 36 34
35  ESP 93 Rafeta GOMEZ POLO 46015 148 86 25 23 14
36  USA 37 Michael CHRISTENSEN SSS 151 26 52 34 39
37  DEN 27 Frederik STAGE‑NIELSEN Aarhus Sejlklub 157 40 19 50 48
38  ITA 46 Mirco MAZZINI 151 H2O sport 165 27 45 47 46
39  GER 95 Roeland WENTHOLT HELLE 166 38 32 49 47
40  SUI 14 Riccardo GIULIANO CVLL 167 86 17 27 37
41  USA 294 Richard STEVENS LLSC 170 41 53 44 32
42  SUI 781 Benjamin OUDOT Club Nautique de Bevaix 173 86 21 33 33
43  USA 320 Bailey WHITE LLSC 175 16 20 53 86
44  SUI 278 Philippe JACOT CNB 176 46 86 20 24
45  GER 85 Guido SCHULTE SLRV 189 51 41 46 51
46  ITA 162 Daniel PASCUCCI 410 189 42 51 52 44
47  NED 44 Wiro ZIJLMANS HELLE 192 32 46 61 53
48  AUS 1087 Stuart SCOTT Safety Beach Sailing Club Victoria Australia 193 86 24 42 41
49  NED 33 Thijs VISSER aruba beach cats 202 86 13 17 86
50  GER 21 Marco GOETZ BYC 207 60 50 45 52
51  NED 12 Eric LAMPIER HELLE 210 48 49 57 56
52  ARG 500 Axel ISSEL Upper Keys Sailing Club 211 45 56 55 55
53  GER 40 Manfred SYROWY YCN 223 56 65 59 43
54  GER 15 Katrin BRUNNER LSC 224 44 60 63 57
55  SUI 17 Dominik PEIKERT YCZ 226 86 39 56 45
56  POL 14 Michal KASZCZUK UKS Navigo 236 50 57 43 86
57  DEN 29 Eli SCHRØDER Mariager Sejlklub 238 58 58 60 62
58  SUI 303 Olivier BALLEVRE CNB 240 54 55 65 66
59  GBR 16 Julian BOSCH GWSC 241 86 47 54 54
60  ITA 78 Giorgio LAIS 1774 241 55 61 64 61
61  GER 5 Klaus RAAB SCFF 244 86 48 51 59
62  ITA 216 Loris PATERNOLLI Circolo Vela Arco 248 86 54 48 60
63  GER 75 Jörn KNOP BSV 252 86 59 58 49
64  BEL 19 Wim DECA RNSYC 257 86 86 35 50
65  FRA 21 Rodolphe DELESALLE 56300 269 52 68 86 63
66  ITA 24 Edoardo GAMBA FRAGLIA VELA MALCESINE 272 57 63 66 86
67  SUI 65 Charles BUECHE CNB 273 39 62 86 86
68  ARG 666 Ian RODGER Upper Keys Sailing Club 278 20 86 86 86
69  ITA 19 Alberto FRATTINI UVM 288 86 86 86 30
70  SUI 78 Patrick GUGERLI CNB 288 47 69 86 86
71  GER 50 Stephan DORFNER SGU 288 49 67 86 86
72  ESP 34 Adolfo MARTINEZ Club Náutico Puerto Sherry 296 86 66 86 58
73  FRA 278 Charles de LISLE STE NAUTIQUE DE LARMOR PLAGE 299 86 86 62 65
74  GER 68 Maren ODEFEY MSV Wismar 311 53 86 86 86
75  USA 143 Mark HERENDEEN Space Coast catamaran fleet 317 59 86 86 86
76  SUI 33 Heiko MAIER SIMPL 322 86 86 86 64
77  GER 80 Andreas GRÜNENWALD SVBB 322 86 64 86 86
78  GER 34 Jan KREUTZMANN YCN 344 86 86 86 86
78  GER 66 Peter PFORTNER TSVH 344 86 86 86 86
78  ITA 4 Bruno ZORZAN 400 344 86 86 86 86
78  ITA 79 Amerigo DEGLI ATTI 1774 344 86 86 86 86
78  NED 93 Wim PLOKKER HELLE 344 86 86 86 86
78  SUI 279 Caroline JACOT CNB 344 86 86 86 86
78  SUI 61 Jean‑Yves DELAITE CNB 344 86 86 86 86
78  USA 426 Cam FARRAH Fort Walton YC/ Southern YC/ New York YC 344 86 86 86 86

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