Catamarans at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show
by John Tuckwell 25 Feb 2014 23:24 PST
1-2 March 2014
The 2014 RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show will be the first in a number of years in which catamaran classes have had a show of strength. The classes represented will be from the high tech A Classes to the evergreen classes of the Dart 18 and Sprint 15.
This year will showcase the catamaran youth progression classes from The Topper CX 14 through to the Spitfire; to the new Olympic Cat class of the NACRA 17. There will be two of these on display; one on the Crewsaver stand and the other of the UKCRA stand.
The UKCRA (United Kingdom Catamaran Racing Association) represents all catamaran classes and there will be representatives from the Tornado, F18, Hurricane 5.9 and Shadow catamaran classes as well as the youth fleet representatives. The youths have benefited from use of the RYA Dart 16's which are loaned to sailing clubs across the country to encourage and develop youth sailors. There will also be a free prize draw for a set of catamaran battens kindly donated by Windsport International from Mylor.
It is less than a year since the sad loss of Nick Dewhurst who was one of the founding fathers of UK catamaran sailing. Nick's infectious drive and enthusiasm was one of the reason why Catamarans where selected for the 2016 Olympics. He was also responsible for the growth of the Dart 15 class. We're sure Nick would be proud of the Catamarans represented at this year's show.
The area in the corner of the Great Hall will be buzzing with catamaran sailors of all abilities from a variety of classes all of whom are keen to talk about the joys of catamaran sailing. So come along, have a look, a chat, enter the free prize draw and see why two hulls are better that one.