I also have 2 boats. 1 Tornado, classic rig and a Boyer MKIV A-Class. The Tornado came about after looking at the A-Class, B-Class (Tornado and the C-Class. The A-Class in the late 80's was stagnent, the C-class even then was cost prohitive and the Tornado class still allowed home built boats. I could not afford then or now a new Tornado, but I could build one. It is without a doubt still my love and passion in cats. What a great boat, great design and so-on. To everyone who gets down on Tornados, go out on one, classic or sport rig and you will know what keeps those of us on them still sailing. As to A-s, a chance encounter with one individual got me to buy and rebuild one. I went to GuckInc to buy a set of Boyer Blades for my Tornado and Lars Guck talked me right into the class. As a former Tornado sailor and competitor, he really was pushing what the A-Class has to offer. Great salesman, great and interesting class, individuals and boats. I purchased a 19997 Waterat, (Pete Melvin Design-Larry Tuttle built) and rebuilt it. I sold it to Jay Eveleth in NJ for a speed siling project and got my new Boyer MKIV. I have never looked back. This winter the bows will be cut off at the top to reduce the freeboard. As this could be interpretted as a change to a wave-piercer, it is not. It is to reduce the windage and allow it to tack through the wind quicker. The amount of hull removed will not effect the bouyancy that much. To get it to a wavepiercer, I would have to look at Ben Hall's/Pete Melvin assisted design of the FlyingRat. Anyway, back to the point, I love my Tornado and am getting used to my new A, my next A will most likely be the Lindahl/Roake design, homebuilt LR2. To all of you catsailors and racers, Fair Winds, Following Seas and get out there and show your support for multihulls in the Olympics. Speak up, fight for and help insure that multi's have there place in the 2012 Olympics!!!


Tom Siders
A-Cat USA-79
Tornado US775