US Sailing Blog: West Coast Tour - A-Class Catamaran North Americans in Long Beach, CA

by Kate Sheahan
West Coast Tour Coordinator

After the 1993 Tornado Worlds, Olympic silver medalist and Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, Pease Glaser, and husband Jay Glaser sailed their first A-Cats during a trip to Sweden. They were smitten, with more than each other, and vowed to help start a class in the United States. Pease, of Long Beach, CA, explains that the A-Cat class took a foothold in the U.S. in 1997 when Alamitos Bay Yacht Club hosted the World Championship. Over twenty-five years later the fleet is stronger than ever and has returned to its American birthplace in Long Beach for the International A-Class Catamaran North American Championship.

A-Class catamarans are the fastest single handed racing boats in the world, nearly all carbon and weighing as much as a competitor at a minimum of 165 pounds. Bob Hodges of Covington, LA and Pontchartrain Yacht Club describes, “there is nothing like going up wind at 10 knots and downwind at 20. We have world champions and Olympic champions, so there is always a great challenge to do well within the class.”

A collection of innovators themselves, class members are allowed to modify their boats within an 18 x 7.5-foot box. Chris Batchelor of Mission Bay Yacht Club, San Diego, points out that, “it is a developmental class, so events like the NA’s give competitors a chance to sail against a variety of boats. What is amazing is that although there are many different sail, mast, platform and board combinations, they all seem to tune together so the speed difference is not great. It ultimately comes down to who is sailing the boat.” Pease Glaser adds, “the boats are easy to sail, but hard to sail well.”

Bob Hodges recalls that, “when curved boards came out several years ago there was a lot of discussion that the class did not want to turn in to a foiling class, like a moth, however it is moving in the direction of an AC 72 in a very controlled fashion.” One of the first steps are the rudder winglets that have sprouted to temper fore and aft pitching, making the boats much more enjoyable to sail in breeze. Curved daggerboards, spaced at 1.5-meters, lighten the displacement and create a planing effect. He feels, “everything is moving in a really good direction, in terms of boats going faster and being easier to sail,” – an excellent status for class growth.

Matt Struble of San Diego, CA, built his as a design research and development project for Nissan Design. He explains that, “Nissan design is very open and forward looking, and automobiles like the Nissan LEAF, which have no fuel and no exhaust pipe, parallel sailboats – both friendly to the environment.” The A-Cat has become an opportunity for Nissan to explore new techniques, new materials, new process.”

Jeremy Herrin of Sarasota, FL built his boat with his father. Felix Herrin smiles when he says, "where else is a Dad going to get the chance to spend 500 hours working with his sixteen-year-old son.” Their boat won its first regatta in Islamorada, FL. Next on the work list is a new rig and rudders as they await class-wide plans for foil packages.

Follow the West Coast Tour on Twitter at @USSailing as I check out the San Francisco Bay Model with US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider member - Dave Hughes, as he preps for the Melges 24 Worlds this fall, and then come aboard as we sail the Melges 24 Pacific Coast Championship at SFYC with Olympic gold medalist Nathan Wilmot on the mighty Embarr.

Click to check out The West Coast Tour Schedule