The Hobie Tiger & Dragoon Worlds is going down in South Africa this week, at the cat-sailing paradise of Langebaan langoon. The sun is shining, the wind cranking and the competition fierce. Jesse Fulmer and I are one of two U.S. boats in the Tiger event, and we are doing a little on site reporting..

There were two good races today before high winds stopped play (over 28 knots). Results are up.

It is very cool to see the kids racing on the Dragoons. These small boats have all the toys of their bigger cousin the Tiger (square top, spinnaker, snuffer, self tacking jib) and make an excellent introduction to the Tiger class.

We've posted a few pictures from Saturday and Sunday.



Chris Green
Team TCDYC/Stix-n-Rig'n

Chris, Thanks for the report! I'll be rooting for you and Jesse! Wonderful pics too! Best of luck! Brian

Isn't that where the Great Whites' leap all the way out of the water after seals?

btw, how do you get a picture to show right in the post, not just as an attachment?

So far we have seen a seal, but jaws has been shy - which we don't mind one little bit. Just the thought of Great Whites is enough to make you keep the pointy end up at all costs.

To get a photo to show in a post, load it as an attachment to the post and publish the post. The click on the attachment to view it and copy the the url. Then edit your post, click on the "image" link below the editing window ('instant UBB code') and paste the url of your picture into the dialog that appears. Voila!

Chris.

I like the black on black on black Tiger

Yeah, until you have to float around on it on a hot sunny day with very little wind.

Thats not usually a problem in Holland <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And in South Africa it appears the wind blows hard enough to keep it cool no matter how much the sun shines <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

It would not be my color of choice for the Tybee 500.

Ummm... that looks like a very hungry shark. yikes!!! If i saw that jumping around me i would quickly throw my crew overboard and sail home!

I think i will start sailing in my pool only!!!!

I didn't know a Tiger mast could bend like this... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

He definitely has his mainsheet out more. Lotta twist.

Puff on!

Only a Tiger mast could withstand that much abuse. Yikes.

Thanks for the pic tip Flumpmaster...

The black on black Tiger in action. Yep, real black sails (car paint on top of a set of white sails, the spinnaker is black cloth). They have campaigned this set of sails for a while and the paint had not fallen off yet. Could this be the start of a new 'pimp my cat' movement?

Chris.

At tradewinds Mischa seemed very detail oriented when it came to the boat he was sailing. Him and Carrie were spending a while on tricking the boat out.
For this reason I find it surprising that he would sail a boat with painted sails.
While some aspects of having paint on the sails such as changing the surface and flow characteristics would have minimal to no affect... there is no doubt that the paint would add weight to the boat and even worse weight aloft.
I'm interested to what Mischa would have to say about this or if he just doesn't care because it looks so darn cool.
Also, what kind of paint is it?!? How is it not chipping?
-Todd

Don`t think they will sail today. Looks a bit breezy, especially between 10:30 and 11:30am. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Mind you this was taken at Cape Town, 130km south of Langebaan, for all I know they could have a lot less wind up there right now, maybe get some morning races in.
I wanted to go up and watch today, but thought they might have too much wind after seeing the forecast. And I have to do SOME work this week.. Perhaps head up there on Friday.

Pity the dates for the event exclude working folks from watching the racing. They should have started sailing on Saturday, so that folks on the beach could see some cat-racing.

There will be 3 Black Bulthaup Tigers sailing the dutch waters this season. Very beautifull boats.
I think the paint is put on the sails similar to my sails.
something like graffiti. There's no disturbance of the airflow because of the very thin paint layer on the sailsurface. The weight is also minimal, especially compared to have it covered with black stickers.
The paint weighes approx 100 grams.

I added a pic of my Tiger.

Hey, cool the Bever boat!!

I love shopping at Bever sports, something cool about going to the bever shop... it appeals to the naughty school boy in me <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> We bought a lot of our gear for the Archipelago Raid there last year (see the sponsorship works!)

So now there will be 3 black boats in NED and there will be 4 Boskalis boats now too <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Do you have to be sure to add plasticizer to the automotive paint like they do for painting plastic bumpers? I want to hear more details if possible...type of paint, etc...

About the weight: Mischa boat is 178kg.
There is a list here from all the boat and crew weights on the notice board. The lightest is 176 and the heaviest 190something.
The average weight of the 64 Tigers is 181kgs.

There was a nice breeze in the morning so we did two races, then after lunch there would be another two races starting at 14:00.
We set out to go to the startline but capsized with the spin up halfway and decided to go back.
A few minutes later we where joined by many others, I estimate the winds to be around 25-30kts at the time.
Better to keep the boat in one piece for the rest of the week <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The guys with the bendy mast are a Dutch team (aka Team Pie <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />), they are one of the heaviest teams at +/-190).
(Obviously their boat is a rental!).

Flumpmaster: Think I saw you on the water today, do you also have a british accent?