Bill,




I know, I know. But you know me; I just have to get back with a reply.

So no worries mate. I tried really hard to cut down on the text but I still felt like I failed. So ....





I can understand that. I wrote this in the part that contains my personal feelings/opinions. In effect this means that it is not a qualification of the A-cat that has general validity. It does so for me personally, but I'm completely convinced in other situations the sentiment if directly opposite.

Of course I try to stress my personal sailing scene overhere. Despite the fact that there are about a 100 of them around I don't see them much; I move about in different circles, attent different events, sail most often on the sea.





I know about the simplicity of rigging only a mainsail and the cleanness of the trampoline then. I sail my F16 like that (recreationally) when I have only a little spare time. Often in the summer time I go to the beach at about 7 pm and do a little sail till about 9 or 10 pm. Of course as The Netherlands is so far north that we daylight till very late in the evening.

With respect to One-design fleets, indeed, you are absolutely correct. I just wrote "boring" in my personal appreciation as we have only 3 OD A-cat races per year where I am. The rest is open class. Even 1 of these OD races is nothing more then an Open class start together with the F18's etc where the results are filtered out later. So in my personal stuation (I underline that again) the A-cat does not offer me much in the way of strict OD sailing. Especially not when you have to duck spi poles of some 40 other boats who share the same start and course.

But certainly; situations differ from place to place.

Wouter