A Class Cat World Championships at Centro Velico Punta Ala - Day 1
by Gordon Upton 10 Sep 09:51 BST
The morning after the night before had dawned at the Punt Ala venue on the delightful Tuscan coast. The region had been due to get a little spot of weather the previous evening. And by little spot, I mean a massive slow-moving thunderstorm accompanied by biblical rain levels that found every crack and gap in restaurant roofs and came under doors. But no lasting damage and the resort awoke to a few puddles, but as the place is built upon sand, the water had largely dissipated.
Two races were planned for the inaugural day of the A-Cat Worlds. The Sunday practice race had been cancelled due to this extreme weather warning, so the sailors were rather chomping at the bit. 11am arrived, the committee boats, along with the flotilla of flag bearing ribs, many festooned with large orange marker buoys, made their way from the yacht haven of Punta Ala marina, and steamed North to set up the twin courses. The Southerly one for the Classics, Northerly for the Open foilers. Arriving on station, the Race Officers then took stock.
The Golfo Di Follonica, the waters adjacent to the lovely sandy launching beaches, is bounded to the west by the Isle of Elba and is essentially a crescent shape. It tends to have a bit of a microclimate and as a result, can miss out on weather passing either side, but also have it's own weather pattern within too. This morning, the latter had arrived, and a localised storm started on the western Elba side of the area. The wind was dropping although there was a swell from the west, coming in as a result of the previous few days storms, in the Med. We all waited, floating about like ducks, as the rainstorm slowly rotated clockwise around the bay. The heat was building as well, so our media boat, a 7m 300hp rib was getting bored and with the swell,was a perfect recipe for seasickness, so we decided to blast back to the marina a couple of miles way and sit on the dock until it was ready to go and we knew we'd get an hour's warning once the courses had been set, the same as the waiting fleet on the beaches.
The sky cleared, with wind finally started to fill in, and some 7 kts, the flags went up and the beaches sprang into action as more than 180 A-Cats launched into the turquoise sea. This correspondent had decided to cover the Classic fleet in the first race, then move on to the Open for the second course of this mouthwatering sailing dish. Before not too long, boats started to arrive at the race boats and proceeded to run about rather like puppies do when let outside in the morning. Many ran up to sniff the ends of the line, setting their TacTik devices as they did so.
The wind was slowly building, and it was looking rather more promising by the minute. For someone who is not in the know about sailing and watching from afar, a sail race start it is a weird spectacle. Lots of boats, in this case about 90 on so per fleet, all sailing about in different random directions, some stopped, others running about left and right. Then they suddenly all coalesce within a short moment, all point in the same direction, then whoosh, off they all go silently. Rather confusing for the onlooker, and in a fleet this size, somewhat confusing for the sailors too...
With the wind now at about 13kts, Mike Kranz, USA 007, nailed the pin of this huge fleet, but closely chased by last year's runner up, Gustavo Doreste, ESP 72, and Andrew Landenberger, AUS 308. One can only imagine the thoughts going through the sailors' heads at that moment. You look around and realise that this will be the largest fleet you will ever sail in. Nothing will ever come close to what you will be experiencing right now. That first beat will be in your memory forever.
At the top mark, as I'd had secretly hoped, it was the Polish sailor Jacek Noetzel, Exploder POL 1, rounding first. Jacek is the father of Polish A-Cat sailing and has moved over to the Classic from the Open fleet for various reasons. The building winds, swell and now a chop as well, are the conditions he is totally at home with back in Sopot on the Baltic. He was to remain in that position throughout the race. Chasing him was a pack led by Micky Todd, ESP 7, the expat Scotsman on his Scheuer G6, Landy, also on a Scheurer, Gustavo on his Exploder and Stefano Sirri, Exploder ITA 7. Then all shot off around the spreader mark on their downhill leg.
Next came another larger band of sailors, led by Emmanuel Le Chapelier, Exploder FRA 399 and again set off downwind. It was at that point that the wheels started to come off. The wind was slowly clicking up, as a sea breeze was added in. The water was chopped up from previous boats and the followers had to negotiate this as well. A couple of boats went over, from one boat, Ken Marshack, USA 192, was thrown into the water and became separated from it. Now, this is a bad thing. You will possibly have more that 2/3rds of the fleet yet to pass, and you are just a small, helmeted head bobbing in the water, although they can see your boat on its side, they might not see you some 20 meters upwind, even if you are still clutching your detached tiller extension, this makes a poor defensive weapon in those circumstances.
Hence, at this point, we decided to quickly swap our RIB's role from media to rescue. No other rescue boats were remotely close. Fortunately, Nicola is a man who knows how to drive his big rib properly and accurately, and I am part of the safety boat squad at Rutland SC. Not being remotely fluent in each other's languages suddenly wasn't much of an issue now. He accurately followed my directions and understood the rescue plan totally, and young Ken was quickly extracted from the water and placed back by his boat. The big engine was perfect for those conditions.
A quick scan around revealed a number of other boats had fallen over in the by now 18kt wind. Seeing a boat in the distance, about 1 mile off, and again, no rescue craft near, we decided to investigate that one. But suddenly we came upon a loan florescent green clad sailor in the water, just floating about. Turns out it was actually his boat that was rapidly flying off downwind towards Grosseto faster than an Optimist could sail. So another customer was scooped up and we reunited him with his boat also. On the way we passed a dismasted boat, with it's sailor sat on top. It turned out to be Astrid Jenssons, and she, not realising our current ongoing rescue mission, demonstrated an impressive multilingual ability to swear like a docker in several European languages. We returned after dropping our cargo at his wayward boat, and organised her recovery, for which she was relieved and quickly stopped her industrial language after realising we had correctly prioritised events. She is usually really lovely off the water though BTW!
Back in our position near the downwind lay line, by now the rest of the fleet was on their final legs, boats continued to fall over in the 20 kt breeze and choppy swell. After a couple more rescues and a recovery of a foiler who couldn't get her starboard foil up, he heard further racing was cancelled on both courses. The top five Classics were Jacek Noetzel,POL1, Scott Anderson, AUS 31, Andrew Landenberger, AUS 308, Marco Radman ITA 55 and Emmanuel Le Chepaiiler, FRA 399.
Meanwhile, over on the Open foiling course, similar scenes were being re-enacted. However, over on the right of their course, there was a large amount of floating debris, stick, weed and the like, a result of that storm and the river outflows. This is said to have rendered that side unusable in the end. And again, it was a Sopot based sailor, the current champion Kuba Surowiec, POL 41, who was totally at home in those conditions, foiling both up and downwind. He was chased by Stevie Brewin, AUS 4 and Mischa Heemskerk, NED7, all sailors known to love that stuff. At the finish, Kuba got the bullet, Stevie second, Mischa third, with Darren Bundock and Ravi Parent just off the podium slots.
However, the real drama occurred after the racing, as sailors arrived back at the beach. There was a considerable amount of beach break by now and several sailors didn't really know how to cope with landing in those conditions. A few boats collided at the beach as a result. This combined with a shortage of waterproof volunteers for the early landers, and meant that more than a dozen broke rudder winglets as their rudders dropped and were bashed on the bottom as the waves came in. The Sopot guys, familiar with those conditions, always carry extra bungee straps exactly for this eventuality, which keep their rudders secured up at hull bottom level. Hopefully many have been repaired now by the Exploder and Scheuer repair teams, and Robin Maeder, the SUI sailor and Scheuer team fixer was seen working into the small hours re-attaching broken winglets.
Thus ended a memorable day. Several sailors said they never sailed in those winds before but impressed themselves and now have a renewed confidence in their abilities. Most broken boats can and will get mended, as annoying as it is when it happens, but hopefully they can be back in action without delay, and no-one was injured either.
This event has arrived with a bang.
Classic Fleet Results after day 1:
Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 |
1 | POL 1 | Jacek NOETZEL | POL | 1 |
2 | AUS 31 | John Scott ANDERSON | Saratoga Sailing Club | 2 |
3 | AUS 308 | Andrew LANDENBERGER | NESC | 3 |
4 | ITA 55 | Marco RADMAN | Centro Vela Sunset | 4 |
5 | FRA 399 | Emmanuel le CHAPELIER | CNF | 5 |
6 | NED 3 | Sjoerd HOEKSTRA | WSVL | 6 |
7 | ITA 007 | Alessandro ROSI | 52 | 7 |
8 | USA 310 | Haywood COPE | gulfport | 8 |
9 | ITA 15 | Andrea RUFFINI | 1332 | 9 |
10 | ESP 38 | Andrés GRAU | RCNB | 10 |
11 | ITA 75 | Francesco MAINERO | Associazione velica Senigallia | 11 |
12 | POL 120 | Valdek KWASNIEWSKI | UKS Navigo | 12 |
13 | GBR 72 | Owen COX | Bala sailing club | 13 |
14 | ESP 7 | Micky TODD | CAR | RDG |
14 | GER 121 | Moritz WEIS | SVS | 14 |
16 | ITA 99 | Marco GAETI | 161 | 15 |
17 | ITA 70 | Alberto MAGNI | Ragnavela | 16 |
18 | USA 007 | Mike KRANTZ | Lake Lanier Sailing Club | 17 |
19 | ITA 5 | Manuel VACCARI | CVOrta | 18 |
20 | GBR 18 | Hugh MACGREGOR | Largs Sailing Club | 19 |
21 | FRA 88 | Bertrand ARHAN | AK | 20 |
22 | SWE 59 | Alberto FARNESI | Loftahammar | 21 |
23 | AUS 63 | Mark GRIFFITH | rpayc | 22 |
24 | FRA 9 | Florent DARGES | STE NAUTIQUE DE LARMOR PLAGE | 23 |
25 | ISV 15 | Chris BATCHELOR | ISV | 24 |
26 | ITA 175 | Francesco BINDI | Club velico Marina di Pietrasanta | 25 |
27 | FRA 300 | Laurent STEPHANY | S05 | 26 |
28 | ITA 7 | Stefano SIRRI | 335 | 27 |
29 | AUS 11 | Wayne MERCER | BYS | 28 |
30 | USA 99 | Ben HALL | N/A | 29 |
31 | ESP 29 | Francisco Javier ACOSTA MEDINA | Club Náutico de Torre del Mar | 30 |
32 | FRA 322 | Daniel MOYSE | YACHT CLUB DE TOULON | 31 |
33 | USA 165 | Bob WEBBON | Upper Keys Sailing Club | 32 |
34 | ITA 777 | Marco PUPPO | 3 | 33 |
35 | FRA 564 | Stéphan MAÎTREHENRY | Ecole de Voile Municipale du Lavandou | 34 |
36 | FRA 26 | Girardin ERIC | CNHS | 35 |
37 | GER 100 | Christian STOCK | SVS | 36 |
38 | ESP 8 | Raúl FRANCO | Club Náutico Puerto Sherry | 37 |
39 | ITA 80 | Claudio MASCIULLO | 1774 | 38 |
40 | USA 4 | Bobby ORR | West River Sailing Club Maryland USA | 39 |
41 | ITA 95 | Marco BALDINI | CVA | 40 |
42 | ESP 23 | Virgilio BERMEJO VIVO | 648 | 41 |
43 | FRA 459 | Pierrick PEDRON | CVM | 42 |
44 | GER 73 | Gino SIMEN | SLRV | 43 |
45 | ITA 118 | Andrea EUSEBI | Ragn'a Vela | 44 |
46 | ITA 11 | Matteo BETTUZZI | Circolo Velico Rio Pircio | 46 |
47 | AUS 27 | William MICHIE | RRS&RC | 47 |
48 | ESP 52 | Jose A LOPEZ | Trial Club Maritim Barcelona | 48 |
49 | ITA 261 | Maurizio BINDI | CVMP | 49 |
50 | AUS 9 | John DOWLING | Multihull Yacht Club of Queensland | 50 |
51 | AUS 1011 | Dave RICHARDSON | Bendigo Yacht Club | 51 |
52 | ITA 43 | Giacomo POLI | 113 | 52 |
53 | BEL 87 | Walter GONZALEZ | SNEH | 53 |
54 | ITA 29 | Massimiliano BRACCI | Associazione velica senigallia | 54 |
55 | ITA 330 | Giorgio MURNIK | 161 | 55 |
56 | NZL 2025 | Brent HARSANT | NZ | 56 |
57 | AUS 335 | Benn HOOPER | McCrae Yacht Club | 57 |
58 | GER 342 | Jan Hagen VOIGT | WSCG | 58 |
59 | ESP 777 | Juan MURO | Club Náutico Marítimo de Benalmádena | 59 |
60 | ARG 6 | Daniel STEIN | El AGUILA | 60 |
61 | AUS 95 | Robert GRIFFITS | LMYC | DNS |
61 | BEL 104 | Hervé JACOBS | RBSC | DNS |
61 | BEL 17 | Astrid JANSSENS | ZVDR | DNS |
61 | BEL 331 | Marc van CUTSEM | RBSC | DNS |
61 | BEL 63 | Eric MEERT | RBSC | DNS |
61 | BEL 7 | Serge de BLOCK | SNEH | DNS |
61 | BEL 70 | Francois LAMBOTTE | SNEH | DNS |
61 | ESP 72 | Gustavo DORESTE BLANCO | 8021 | RET |
61 | FRA 367 | Jacques PIALLAT | YCGM | DNS |
61 | FRA 436 | Eric BERNARD | CLUB VOILE DE SANGUINET | DNS |
61 | FRA 525 | Bernard SALARINO | YACHT CLUB DE TOULON | DNS |
61 | GBR 8 | Richard John EDWARDS | GWSC | DNF |
61 | GER 2 | Georg REUTTER | TSVH | DNS |
61 | GER 31 | Lars BUNKENBURG | TSVH | DNS |
61 | GER 43 | Jens KRAUSS | SV BIBLIS | DNS |
61 | GER 548 | Norbert BAUER | TSVH | DNS |
61 | GER 83 | Thorsten ZARSKE | WSGR | DNS |
61 | ITA 16 | Davide LEARDINI | /XI | DNS |
61 | ITA 171 | Giulio Marco DOMIZI | Ragn'a Vela | DNS |
61 | ITA 313 | Giancarlo de MARINIS | 161 | DNS |
61 | ITA 356 | Roberto AGNOLI | 107 | DNS |
61 | ITA 58 | Claudio BELLI | Compagnia della vela di Roma | DNS |
61 | ITA 733 | Francesco JACOBINO | 2435 | DNS |
61 | ITA 77 | Massimo CARPINELLI | Centro Vela Sunset | DNS |
61 | SUI 44 | Mathieu VERRIER | SIMPL | DNS |
61 | SUI 56 | Bruno BIEDERMANN | RVS | DNS |
61 | USA 192 | Ken MARSHACK | Upper Keys Sailing CLub | DNS |
61 | USA 2020 | Emmanuel CERF | SPYC | DNS |
Foiling Fleet Results after day 1:
Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 |
1 | POL 41 | Jakub SUROWIEC | UKS Navigo | 1 |
2 | AUS 4 | Steven Norman BREWIN | kcc | 2 |
3 | NED 007 | Mischa HEEMSKERK | WVIJ | 3 |
4 | AUS 88 | Darren BUNDOCK | SSC | 4 |
5 | USA 76 | Ravi PARENT | New York Yacht Club | 5 |
6 | FRA 2 | Emmanuel DODE | SOCIETE DES REGATES DE VANNES | 6 |
7 | ITA 13 | Lamberto CESARI | Centro Nautico Bardolino | 7 |
8 | USA 311 | Bruce MAHONEY | Mahoney Projects | 8 |
9 | ESP 11 | Manuel CALAVIA | Real Club Marítimo Barcelona | 9 |
10 | SUI 007 | Robin MAEDER | CNB | 10 |
11 | AUS 20 | David BREWER | Safety Beach S.C | 11 |
12 | SUI 307 | Loïc DONY | CNB | 12 |
13 | ITA 969 | Giovanni FANTASIA | 437 | 13 |
14 | ITA 71 | Marco ANESSI | 420 | 14 |
15 | NED 96 | Gert‑Jan KOS | HELLE | 15 |
16 | USA 320 | Bailey WHITE | LLSC | 16 |
17 | DEN 1 | Thomas PAASCH | Middelfart Sejlklub | 17 |
18 | ITA 3 | Paolo PENCO | 40120 | 18 |
19 | NED 111 | David van AART | HELLE | 19 |
20 | ARG 666 | Ian RODGER | Upper Keys Sailing Club | 20 |
21 | GER 14 | Bob BAIER | SCFF | 21 |
22 | DEN 8 | Christian NYGAARD | Middelfart Sejlklub | 22 |
23 | AUS 22 | Joseph RANDALL | McCrae Yacht Club | 23 |
24 | ESP 75 | Toni BALLESTER MARTINAVARRO | 46021 | 24 |
25 | ITA 54 | Luigi CAMISOTTI | 1. SVG E.V. | 25 |
26 | USA 37 | Michael CHRISTENSEN | SSS | 26 |
27 | ITA 46 | Mirco MAZZINI | 151 H2O sport | 27 |
28 | ITA 023 | Paolo MANGIALARDO | club vela Portocivitanova | 28 |
29 | FIN 1 | Matti NIEMINEN | TPS | 29 |
30 | CZE 1 | Vladislav PTASNIK | YK Jestrabi | 30 |
31 | NED 28 | Pieterjan DWARSHUIS | WVF | 31 |
32 | NED 44 | Wiro ZIJLMANS | HELLE | 32 |
33 | DEN 3 | Jan SAUGMANN | Hellerup Sejlklub | 33 |
34 | DEN 20 | Peter BOLDSEN | Egå Sejlklub | 34 |
35 | ITA 72 | Giuseppe COLOMBO | Unione Velica Maccagno | 35 |
36 | GER 6 | Rainer BOHRER | TSVU | 36 |
37 | ESP 74 | Abdon IBAÑEZ | 46995 | 37 |
38 | GER 95 | Roeland WENTHOLT | HELLE | 38 |
39 | SUI 65 | Charles BUECHE | CNB | 39 |
40 | DEN 27 | Frederik STAGE‑NIELSEN | Aarhus Sejlklub | 40 |
41 | USA 294 | Richard STEVENS | LLSC | 41 |
42 | ITA 162 | Daniel PASCUCCI | 410 | 42 |
43 | GER 41 | Alex MEISTER | STM | 43 |
44 | GER 15 | Katrin BRUNNER | LSC | 44 |
45 | ARG 500 | Axel ISSEL | Upper Keys Sailing Club | 45 |
46 | SUI 278 | Philippe JACOT | CNB | 46 |
47 | SUI 78 | Patrick GUGERLI | CNB | 47 |
48 | NED 12 | Eric LAMPIER | HELLE | 48 |
49 | GER 50 | Stephan DORFNER | SGU | 49 |
50 | POL 14 | Michal KASZCZUK | UKS Navigo | 50 |
51 | GER 85 | Guido SCHULTE | SLRV | 51 |
52 | FRA 21 | Rodolphe DELESALLE | 56300 | 52 |
53 | GER 68 | Maren ODEFEY | MSV Wismar | 53 |
54 | SUI 303 | Olivier BALLEVRE | CNB | 54 |
55 | ITA 78 | Giorgio LAIS | 1774 | 55 |
56 | GER 40 | Manfred SYROWY | YCN | 56 |
57 | ITA 24 | Edoardo GAMBA | FRAGLIA VELA MALCESINE | 57 |
58 | DEN 29 | Eli SCHRØDER | Mariager Sejlklub | 58 |
59 | USA 143 | Mark HERENDEEN | Space Coast catamaran fleet | 59 |
60 | GER 21 | Marco GOETZ | BYC | 60 |
61 | AUS 1087 | Stuart SCOTT | Safety Beach Sailing Club Victoria Australia | RET |
61 | BEL 19 | Wim DECA | RNSYC | DNS |
61 | ESP 34 | Adolfo MARTINEZ | Club Náutico Puerto Sherry | DNS |
61 | ESP 93 | Rafeta GOMEZ POLO | 46015 | DNS |
61 | FRA 278 | Charles de LISLE | STE NAUTIQUE DE LARMOR PLAGE | DNS |
61 | GBR 16 | Julian BOSCH | GWSC | DNS |
61 | GER 34 | Jan KREUTZMANN | YCN | DNS |
61 | GER 5 | Klaus RAAB | SCFF | DNS |
61 | GER 66 | Peter PFORTNER | TSVH | DNS |
61 | GER 75 | Jörn KNOP | BSV | DNS |
61 | GER 80 | Andreas GRÜNENWALD | SVBB | DNS |
61 | ITA 19 | Alberto FRATTINI | UVM | DNS |
61 | ITA 216 | Loris PATERNOLLI | Circolo Vela Arco | DNS |
61 | ITA 4 | Bruno ZORZAN | 400 | DNS |
61 | ITA 79 | Amerigo DEGLI ATTI | 1774 | DNS |
61 | NED 33 | Thijs VISSER | aruba beach cats | DNS |
61 | NED 93 | Wim PLOKKER | HELLE | DNS |
61 | NZL 270 | Dave SHAW | NYC | DNS |
61 | SUI 14 | Riccardo GIULIANO | CVLL | DNS |
61 | SUI 17 | Dominik PEIKERT | YCZ | DNS |
61 | SUI 279 | Caroline JACOT | CNB | DNS |
61 | SUI 33 | Heiko MAIER | SIMPL | DNS |
61 | SUI 61 | Jean‑Yves DELAITE | CNB | DNS |
61 | SUI 781 | Benjamin OUDOT | Club Nautique de Bevaix | DNS |
61 | USA 426 | Cam FARRAH | Fort Walton YC/ Southern YC/ New York YC | DNS |