The Australian Formula 18 Association takes pleasure in announcing the venue for the 2007 Formula 18 World Championships to be Vincentia Sailing Club.

The venue takes Formula 18 away from the major cites and places the event on one of the worlds most pristine and unspoilt waterways Jervis Bay, New South Wales. Racing will be on a Marine Park and set between Jervis Bay National Park and Booderee National Park. The whole area abounds with wildlife on and off the water. If you ever wanted to sail in paradise, this is your chance.

We look foward to seeing you in February 2007. In the meantime, bookmark this website to remain up to date.

http://www.f18worlds2007.com.au/ - http://www.f18worlds2007.com.au/

FYI for those who wish to travel Down Under

The Hobie is definatly quicker then the Nacra, but the Capricorn has been said by many as the boat to beat.

See extract from AHPC site

Just six months after first launching, two Capricorns competed in the 2004 F18 World Championships in Punt Ala (Italy). With 160 boats in the fleet, they finished 5th and 7th, a stellar performance for a new boat, racing against the world’s highest paid, full-time, professional off-the-beach catamaran sailors with the largest backing. Most importantly, in straight-line speed, Capricorn was clearly faster than every boat in this highly competitive class.

Clearly, it created a huge amount of interest amongst the sailors. Glen Ashby – sailing as a crew for Darrren Bundock (winners of the Championship) – was cited on the F18 Worlds website as stating, " that in his opinion the boat is clearly superior to current, more traditional F18 designs. Especially upwind in choppy conditions, the boat seems to pitch much less than other boats and hence sails significantly quicker."

Hence, orders throughout Europe came thick and fast. This year there will be thirty-five Capricorns competing at the World Championships in Holland. Expert and popular opinion rates Capricorn as a 50% chance to win overall. Stand by for results. (Come back to this site for inside information and results and go to http://www.f18worlds2005.com/ - www.f18worlds2005.com ).

Capricorn’s heritage stems from A-Class, Tornado and Taipan, (without doubt the elite of catamarans) and its innovation that sets Capricorn ahead of the rest. Chief designer Martin Fischer has turned the ideals of catamaran design on its head. Jim Boyer has outdone himself again with our vacuum formed ‘CoreStrength’ hulls, providing a rigid, fast platform with foils that work like ‘instruments’. And over 30 years of rig/sail development by Greg Goodall, has resulted in an integrated rig of unequalled power and efficiency, creating more drive and HiLift. Greg was a pioneer in the development of wing masts and square-top mainsails, so with Goodall Sails, you really do have the leading edge.

The F18 class is already huge and unquestionably the fastest growing class in all sailing. There are a number of different brands being built to F18 class specifications. None match Capricorn for quality, innovative features and outright performance.

Check out their site.  It has just been updated

http://www.ahpc.com.au - http://www.ahpc.com.au

At the moment, and I mean excluding the Capricorn as there are only a few over in the EU, The Tiger is the weapon-of-choice at the moment - just have to take most of the Hobie standard kit off and throw it away !

exactly thats why i would never ever rent or buy a hobie might take a present of one

i know hobie may win alot of event but how many of these events do they win because they have paid the worlds best sailors sail a hobie rather than a rival class?

to be honest any company that charges more to have the bottom seam of the hull faired off cannot really care about fit out quality of standard boats!

I have never sailed a hobie until I jumped on a tiger and it is not a bad boat at all.  I have always looked away from Hobie but came very close to buying a Tiger.  Just remember that Hobie Cat USA built or build H14,16,17,18.

Hobiecat Europe (High performance division) builds the Tiger, FX-1, Fox and will be involved with building the new Hobie A Class.

But at the end of the day, I'll buy a Capricorn.  If you are in Europe, and a new Capricorn is not realistic.....  Your next best bet would be the Tiger and the Cirrus.

Very nice