Thai Catamaran Regatta

Being in Singapore for January and February, I have the tremendous opportunity to sail the Thailand Catamaran Week at Royal Varuna Yacht Club in Pattaya, Thailand this week. I am sailing with Peter Kloppers on his new Infusion MKII for the event, having posted my availability on the regatta website and getting an email from him a few weeks ago. We had never met before the event, but that is all part of the fun! Royal Varuna is a beautiful club, and the weather couldn’t be better for a winter event.

Day one of the event was sailed in a shifty and puffy Southwest breeze between 8 and 12 knots. After a slight delay to wait for the breeze to fill, the race committee was able to run three windward leewards for both fleets. The regatta is being scored using Texel handicaps, with the white fleet composed of the Carbon 20s, F18s, F16s, a Tornado, an A Cat (with spin), and a Spitfire. The F16s are stacked at this event, with AHPC and Nacra both fielding top teams. The new Nacra F16 looks great in person, but the more polished teams on the Vipers had the upper hand on day one. In the F18s the racing was very close, and we were happy to end the day as the third F18 on NED 5. The second start is filled with Darts, Hobie 16s, Nacra 16 square meters, and a Nacra 570. The racing looked very close in that fleet as well, but I couldn’t tell you the results off hand!

One of the cool parts of the event is it is like a mini Olympic selection trials, with only the Nacra 17 missing. I will save my impressions of the boats until the end of the event, but I was definitely impressed by both F16s today as they lead most of the F18s around the course. Tomorrow has a windward leeward and a medium distance race on the schedule, should be another great day.

Results: www.thaicatregatta.org

Best,
Jeff Dusek

Day Two:

Today started off with a very little wind and a postponement ashore. RC sent us out around noon in a building South West. Race 4 was a WL starting in around 7 knots with large variations in pressure. We thought we were over at the start, so went back (I flag) and then sent it out to the right hand side for more pressure. We ended up back in the top group by the windward mark, and were able to grab a 5th F18, 12th Texel for the race. We were very happy with the result, especially after our start.

The second race of the day was a medium distance race of around 25km. Had a mediocre start, followed by a mediocre upwind leg. The second leg was a tight jib reach, turning into a double trap spin reach around one of the small islands off of the club. The third leg was another tight spin reach, and we suffered being under weight. A true downwind saw us gain some distance back on the lead pack, only to lose touch when our spin halyard jumped it's sheave, destroying the turning block and not allowing me to douse the spin completely. The final beat back to the finish was painful in a dying breeze, chop, and with the spin adding drag... o well! Ended up with a 10th F18, 19 Texel. Not great, but we held it together despite some setbacks. We are sitting in 3/24 in the F18s and 11th in the Texel fleet, very happy so far.

Tomorrow is a long distance race, supposed to be around 100km, but we haven't seen the course yet. Hoping for some wind, although I can tell I haven't sailed F18s in a few months as my whole body hurts.

The Nacra F16 showed it has serious speed today with Coen leading the way in the first race of the day. The F16 battle is only going to get better as the week goes on!

Jeff,

If you get the chance, can you look over the masts on both the Viper and Nacra F16's. Who is using aluminium and who is using a (two-piece) carbon mast ?


Thanks

Wouter

Both viper and nacras are using aluminum masts.

The new Nacra is certainly not slow and is a welcome inclusion to the f16 class IMO.

As for the thialand cat regatta, if any of you guys are serious about racing cats and having a good time for minimal expense, then you should book this event in for next year. I've done 2 days if this regatta and had an absolute ball. The thia people are great. The race course is picturesce. Get a boat from AHPC, NACRA or 2B next year and do it. Good times.

We are on viper Aus 288. Come and say g'day tomorrow Jeff.

Still no results on the event website-I had a text message from Gunnar Larsen and apparently Coen de Koning on a Nacra F16 won the 1st race of day 2, but unfortunately hit a rock in race 2 and returned to shore to repair. Gunnar on an Nacra F16 was 3rd in the 1st race (but was OCS) and a 5th in race 2. He is super happy with the 16 and says they are just coming to terms with tweaking and tuning the Nacras (please remember this is the first competitive outing for the boat) and expects the boats performance to only get better as the week goes on! As mentioned these positions have been sent to me in a very brief text so if it turns out that I am wrong I apologise now!

Hey Jeff,
Say hi to Peter for me (I sail with him in Holland).
Cheers,
Tony

any updates on today's racing?

Results of 2nd days racing now available on the event website
Day 2 results only: http://www.thaicatregatta.org/results_day2_only.html
Overall results after 2 days:http://www.thaicatregatta.org/results.html

So this shows I did make a slight error in my previous post. Coen de Koning on the Nacra F16 came 2nd not 1st in race 1 of day 2 (Nacra F20 C won by 6 seconds on handicap) but he was 1st F16! Apologies again for this error.

Today was another beautiful one in Pattaya. We had a long distance race around the islands that lie off of Varuna Yacht Club, which ended up being shortened due to light winds early in the race. After a short upwind, we had a spin reach to a mark off of Varuna Yacht Club, then a long spin run to the lighthouse off of Pattaya Town. Then it was around Ko Lan, the big island off of the club.

This part of the race was a lot of fun, as we found better breeze near the shore, and the top group of F18s and F16s was trading tacks right up to the beach. After getting around the backside of the island, it was another long spin run, around Ko Kruk, and back to the lighthouse before an upwind finish.

On NED 5, we were third F18 across the line. Greg Goodall was first, followed by John Moret. The F20s won on handicap, followed by a pack of Vipers. Our only issue today was when the shackle on the rotator failed, we solved that by using the tail of the main halyard, but tacking the rotator was very annoying! Overall another great day of sailing. Tomorrow is an off day, hoping for some kiting breeze, and a look at the Nacra 17, which should be arriving in the next day or two.

Day Four:

Well, yesterday was not a banner day for NED 5. We had the best breeze of the regatta, and the sailing was absolutely stunning, but we just never got the boat moving. We were mid-fleet in the two windward leewards, having great downwind speed but struggling slightly upwind.

The third race of the day was a middle distance race on the same course as Sunday's medium race. We had a good upwind leg and reach, but flipped rounding Koh Kruk. I was in dousing the kite when we were hit by a big gust off of the island. Peter wasn't able to uncleat the main, and over we went! Took us a while to get the boat upright, which killed our race. Overall a frustrating day, but still wonderful sailing.

Talked to the guys who were test sailing the Nacra 17 against an Infusion MKII. They seem extremely happy with the boat, said it feels like a sportscar next to a truck! They wil likely be testing again today, and I hope to hear more about the performance.

Best,
Jeff

I have reworked the results for the races 4 to 9 into elapsed time listings. I can't do race 1 to 3 as these full data for those races has not been made public yet.

Link to full size listing

I must say... Texel seems to do a good job of handicapping the modern spin designs.

The jury is still out on how single handers are rated here.

When you covert those corrected times back to real time... the racing is really very close.

Perhaps their is a wind range where the curved foils give you more performance... (That's the A class story) but only time and more data will support that idea.

And here including the results of the last 2 races. Again, the sorting is on elasped time.

Link to full version of elapsed time listing

Any data on boat and/or crew weight?

yeah Jeff,

Give us a full report, ... ... please !

Wouter

Full report will be coming, at the awards dinner now, will work on a report at the airport tomorrow

Well, the Thai regatta is over, and I am now sitting in the Bangkok airport wasting time before my flight back to Singapore. Overall, the regatta was a fantastic experience, and I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to be a part of it.

Friday was the last day of racing, and we were able to complete two windward leewards to bring the total for the regatta to 11 very good races, including a long distance and two medium distance races. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, we had a lot of trouble with our upwind speed on Wednesday when the wind was up. Turns out our rig had way too much rake, which was making the boat feel very bound up and left Peter fighting the helm. Peter's got new hulls, tramp, and sails for this season, but the rig, beams, and blades are from his previous boat. The shrouds are also new, and we suspect they stretched a bit, causing our rake to change- our fault for not double checking Wednesday morning. With the rake reset, and the wind light again, we had two solid races Friday, moving us back to 5th for the F18s. Friday's races were very tough, with lots of choppy, shifty 8-10 knot breeze, and lots of current. We really focused on keeping the boat moving forward, especially against the current downwind.

In the overall standings, Carolijn/Brett were first on a Viper, with Xander and Marc Pols second on a Carbon 20, and Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin 3rd on a Viper. The Texel ratings seemed to work really well- the best teams were certainly at the top of the results each day. In the Yellow division, the top of the podium was a mix of Hobie 16s and Darts- the Thai Hobie sailors are certainly very, very fast.

As far as the Olympic trials boats are concerned, this regatta was an interesting preview, but by no means definitive. The F16 fleet was loaded at the event, with Olympians and World Champs on both the Viper and Nacra F16. This definitely showed in the overall results, where the F16s took most of the top spots. Here are my personal thoughts on the boats:

Viper: Obviously fast, and a great package overall. Not only a nice design, but AHPC does a great job with support and networking. The Viper crowd in Thailand were great to be around, and super fast. I would consider the Viper one of the favorites.

Nacra F16: The Nacra riders were fighting with sail trouble all week, but managed some top results. The platform is fast, and with refinement the whole package will be a winner. Performance will probably be very similar to the Viper, which is great for the F16 fleet. The build quality of the boats is fantastic, and Nacra can certainly build a bunch. The boat looks smaller than the Viper, probably due to the lower freeboard, not sure the impact this will have on perception of the boat.

Nacra 17: This is my personal favorite. The boat looks the part- new, fast, challenging. Not much bigger than the F16, but the extra size should handle a slightly larger range of weights. With the curved foils the boat will have a slightly larger learning curve than the F16s, which I personally think is good for the Olympic boat. According to Coen: "It's the most exciting boat I have ever sailed..."

Spitfire: Not really on pace with the other 16s, and looked dated. Very low aspect boards, much smaller square head main. Looks like a fun club boat, but not Olympic in my opinion.

Tornado: I know the Tornado has a fantastic history, but I think its time has past. The boat looks dated when compared to the newer designs, and it doesn't really fit the requirements. I don't think the performance at the Thai event was indicative, however, as the boat was being sailed by club level sailors (as were most of the 18s).

Hobie 16: Great boat at the time, but doesn't compare to the modern spin cats.

Hobie Tiger: The Tiger also looks dated when compared to the new 18s and 16s. I don't think an outdated, heavy, design is what we need for the Olympics.

The above are just my personal thoughts after seeing the different boats, and I'm sure many will disagree. Like I said, I personally would love to see the Nacra 17 chosen, sailing next to it on Thursday it was obvious the boat is a weapon.

Huge thanks to the Royal Varuna Yacht Club for hosting a great event, and to Peter for inviting me to sail with him. I met some awesome people, and I very much look forward to seeing as many as possible at the 2012 F18 Worlds in Long Beach!

One comment, the quote from Coen is a secondhand translation, the original was in Dutch. Just want to be clear.

Got it. I looked without clearly reading "Elapsed Time Sort", making me look for clarity. Thank you.