Heads We WIN, Tales You Lose.. ISAF loves this game..

27 January 2012

2 Comments

Which catamaran will it be?

At this stage, all boat manufacturers and class associations put in their submissions last Friday 20th January for the ISAF Multihull and Skiff Trials… To see, who gets to come and play in 2016…. There’s a Duran Duran Rio joke in their somewhere….

We understand that at the moment the following have stepped up…
• AHPC – I think we all knew they were going to put the Viper forward.
• Nacra have put in the F16 and also their new 17 foot boat, a scaled down Carbon F20.
• Here’s also a link to pictures of the Narca F16, we think the boat really does look small with this guy on it and its only going to end in tears.. PITCH POLE!!!! See the Dope on the Rope HERE

• Tornado – Traditional Marstrom and apparently also an Exploder version. I think we all knew Roland Gaebler was going to put a Tornado in, he is one passionate guy about his sailing. There is a rumour that the Exploder is very cheap (Polish built its going to be) for a top quality boat, if the price rumour is true then the price VS performance ratio is going to be fantastic and will have the sailors at the trials wondering how you get so much boat for so little money.
• Hobie Tiger and Hobie 16 with Spinnaker. Hobie had to put something in, why not the Wildcat some might ask? And WHY the Hobie 16?????? PLEASE ISAF DON’T PICK A HOBIE 16!!!! The Catamaran World will hate you forever.
• Why didn’t Nacra put their Carbon F20 in?... probably because they thought that it was too powerful for the enormous crew weight of 120KILOS…I repeat 120Kilos… Is it because that ISAF are thinking that the next few Olympics after 2016 are going to be in emerging countries where shall we say that a 120kilo crew (mixed or not) is easier to come by…
Being based in Brightlinsea (Home of Reg White 1976 Gold Olympic medalist) we see loads of really good cat sailors having great fun in their Spitfires…Let them step up to a better cat NOT something equal or worse than they have now…
We must all remember that in Beijing the Tornado WON the prize for the best action video of the games.
TB4E cut its video teeth thanks to the Tornados and the last Reg Fest 2010 (over 10,000 hits on Youtube). We love filming them and this years Reg Fest will be even bigger and better.
Now we get to the really (in our opinion) silly one… why transport boats in a 40ft container when you could use a 20ft one…well that’s what ISAF think… Apparently it’s a rule.. How can that be a RULE!!!..Here’s a fact whichever cat is chosen the mast WILL NOT fit in a 20ft container. Listen carefully now ISAF THE MASTS WONT FIT IN… YOU WILL HAVE TO HAVE A SECTIONED MAST… Good luck with that…But hey why put 2 boats in one container when by spending a bit more money (20%) you can get DOUBLE the boats in a 40ft one.
We all know that the other classes with two piece masts such as the 49er stick them together, they never come apart!
OK don’t worry ISAF TB4E are here to help you out of the erm.. problem that you have…
Most MNA’s (Member Nation Authorities) want to ship all of their fleets together, 470, 49er, Multihull etc… Lasers and Wind Surfers are supplied by the hosting nation so they are already on site.
The cost of a 40ft container is about £3K and to move it around the World to do a full on Olympic campaign is £40K, for the campaign. Seems like a lot but imagine being able to get a catamaran a couple of 470’s and 49ers and a coach boat in to one container, that in the long run would enable MORE teams to try and reach the pinnacle of our sport.
We all have choices in life and sometimes we make the wrong choice and hopefully we are BIG enough to admit it and change our minds… Come on ISAF grow a set and do the right thing.

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