A-Class Cat European Championships 2025 at Riccione, Italy - Day 2
by Gordon Upton 11 Jun 02:36 PDT
9-13 June 2025
The A-Class Catamaran European Championships finally got under way in Riccione on Tuesday, after their opening day was postponed because the winds in the race areas were below the 5 kt class limit. This, combined with a rather large beach break waves which were the hangover of high winds over in Croatia, would also have potentially risked too much damage to these lightweight carbon thoroughbreds.
Lessons were learned from the Punta Ala Worlds last year about the joys of launching and recovering in such surf, when Exploder ran out of their entire spare rudder winglet stock on day one. So, the old discretion/valour decision was a good call, and the sailors were forced to wait it out, from postponement to postponement and endure a hot and sunny day on a glorious Italian beach with their families and friends...
Tuesday's forecast was better. 6-8 kt winds, whilst not being in all the sailor's favour, it was at least class legal, so the Delta flag made its first appearance and the fleets too to the water. The twin fleets headed out to their respective race areas. The Open foilers in the course A, a mile straight off the beach, the Classics in B, a mile to their right. And with the courses being set, in the usual top mark with spreader about a mile or so upwind. The fleets were corralled into order, and it was game on for the 2025 Euros.
In the 35 boat Open fleet, several of the class hotshots favoured the pin end, so much so that poor old Rainer Bohrer GER6 stuck his nose over the line and was admonished by a second horn. However, he'd realised, and being right on the pin and with no one to leeward, was able to gybe back and restart easily, proving if you are planning to do that sort of thing, you need to do it at the pin rather than somewhere in the middle.
The wind was around 8 kts, so the fleet were all on the wire. Now it was revealed as to why the pin was the favoured place in those conditions. If there is any chance to foil upwind, if the conditions allow, you're going to need a little space to leeward and a slight bear-away to get flying. Mischa Heemskerk NED7 and Kuba Surowiec POL41 were both bang on that end and Kuba in particular, with his Jedi-like light wind foiling ability was in the best place to deploy it and the fleet raced off. All apart from the Italian master, Lamberto Cesare ITA13. The man, hotly tipped for the podium looking at his current form, had his traveller blow up as he pulled it in for the start, he just found a box full of neutrals as they'd say in motor racing. So, no other choice than to head back to shore, as the bottom marks were being quickly put in place, to see if it could be fixed in time for race 2.
They commenced their first lap downhill leg, the leaders all fully on their foils, despite the lighter winds. The first boat to approach the bottom gate was Marti Abdon Ibanez ESP 74, who had managed to pull away from the World Champion Kuba, much to his joy no doubt. However, as he reached the gate, he found to his immense frustration that the two gate marks had been rather badly misaligned, with the port mark at least 30m upwind of the starboard one, rather than square to the wind. This had created, for sailors arriving down and wanting to go over the right for the next upwind, a rather unusual chicane feature not mentioned in the instructions. The Spaniard expressed his disappointment and surprise at meeting this new course feature in true Spanish verbal style that sounded to onlookers like a machinegun in verbal form. He was forced into an unplanned gybe, rather than the fast-foiling port rounding he's prepared for.
Kuba, however, saw, and probably heard, this Iberian kerfuffle, so quickly gybed inside him to round the other mark to go back up on the left, as did Marti's countryman Manola Calavia ESP 11, and Mischa. The rest of the fleet had then realised what was happening and adjusted their plans accordingly, but meaning that the right of the course, and whatever delights it held, was closed to them unless they gybed at the top pin first.
By the second race, the course was correctly set and the next two races in the series continued with little incident, although in slowly dropping pressure meant many boats were forced into their Low Drag modes. However, Lamberto had managed to fix his issues and was back in the line for race 2. A good job, as he then banged in a 2nd and 4th finishes respectively. His first race result should drop away as a discard later this week. At close of play, Kuba leads, Manolo Calavia chasing well, and Mischa in 3rd.
Over on the larger Classic fleet course, they had no such dramas. Expletives seemed to be reserved for on or after the finish line. These boats cope far better in the light stuff, having now alphabet shaped draggy foils dangling out of their bottoms. The sailors just get their weight as far forward as they can get, pull up the boards and steer for the winds making as little disturbance as possible. But the Snakes and Ladders game on a light wind course is incredibly mentally demanding, as sailors need to concentrate far more whilst in less stimulating conditions. The wind shifted the pressure left and right. The good way up on one lap, became the poor way up on the next.
Gustavo Doreste ESP 72 continued to prove his credentials as reigning World Champ with 1 bullets. Next was Scott Anderson AUS 31, who just couldn't keep him within his grasp, and in a superb 3rd was Chris Batchelor, ISV 15, Chris is on a borrowed boat, and had a remarkable day, finishing ahead of those German Southern lake sailors, who lap up these conditions. The waves had an effect too, being larger than they had any right to be with that pressure and needed to be sailed carefully to avoid being slowed down any more than absolutely necessary.
We shall now see what the next day holds, and I must learn some of those Spanish phrases I heard, they'd be brilliant to use whilst driving.