A Class Catamaran European Championships 2026 at Club Náutico Mar Menor - Day 4
by Gordon Upton 5 Jun 03:00 PDT
31 May - 5 June 2026
It was a 12pm start on the fourth day of the A-Cat Euros. The PRO had seen the forecast and hoped to manage accordingly. The wind was due to pick up to unspeakable speeds later in the afternoon, so he wanted to squeeze a couple of cheeky races in, at not least so the sailors got that precious second points drop discard after completing a 9 race series.
The onshore wind was 13kts. To get off the beach, there was a Garda-esque* style channel to sail along before reaching more open water. This means that with the wind direction, the sailors needed to get off a lee shore, and sail upwind along this corridor, lined on one side with a wood and concrete jetty and the other with yellow buoys warning of an area of hidden rocks, plus the odd moored motorboat. It is about 50m wide, so just enough to get a tack in, assuming you didn't stuff it up. Oh, and this must be achieved with minimal foil depth too.
It was all actually rather entertaining to watch. A couple of RIBs acted a wicketkeepers to prevent errant boats hitting the quay or quickly pull them away should they do so. However, it is a testament to the quality of the sailors in this class and this fleet, and in their boat handling skills in tight shallow waters, that the huge majority emerged unscathed. It helps that the A-Cat seems quite happy to sail upwind forwards with very few appendages deployed. Only a couple needed proper assistance in the end.
Once they emerged, blinking, into the wider world, they finished their configurations and set off for their respective race areas, the Classics in the South, Open to their North and got their first taste of the conditions at last.
Over on the Classic course, they were quickly corralled and got away first go. To be honest, recalls are rare in this class, and if you have one in the whole event, it's unusual, individual miscreants, of course, are ever present and that dreaded UFD appears on your score sheet. But they set off into the building breeze to the top gate. The conditions were, again, ideal for the lake sailors in the fleet. Gusts and shifts, as their course was nearer to the land and the nearby small mountain that can send the wind turbulating everywhere.
The fleet starts to split halfway up the first beat as sailors need to get right if they want the left gate mark. There was slightly more pressure sensed on the right side, so most aimed for there. The boats rounded with Andrew Landenberger in pole and several of the more confident sailors stay on the wire, reset into their downhill modes and blasted off towards the bottom. But then Jacek Noetzel flipped and went swimming and by the time he was back on top of the thing again, Emmanuel Le Chapalier and Marco Radman, amongst others all in the leading pack had long since left the scene of the accident.
At the finish though, Landy had been passed after splitting from them in search of better breeze, but they slipped past and the bullet went to Emmanuel, with Marco second and Gustavo Doreste third, back in the fight after his bad day yesterday.
The second race was rather more a case of surviving than racing to win. It had gone up to 18 kts, but this is back into the proper Classic boat zone again. They need to worry less about keeping the things in contact with the planet than their sexy foiler sisters. But caution is still advised and tactical skill starts giving way to technical prowess in these winds.
The fleet was thinning by now as some of the less confident and more boat preserving sailors opted for discretion over valour. A similar race pattern again, be Landy got the bullet chased by Jacek, then Emmanuel after Marco retired as did a few others. But much to talk about at the boatpark.
Over on the Open course, their wind was a little less gust/shifty, although the waves would come into play more. The race got going, the favoured pin won by Joey Randel AUS 22, chased by Kuba Surowiec POL 41, but Emmanuel Dóde FRA 2 pulled out in front from mid line. But at the top gate, it was Marco Anessi ITA 71 and Lamberto Cesari ITA 13, Emil Järrad SWE 14 and Kuba in the leading bunch shooting down the left side to their gybe mark. Marco went first for the bottom gate lay-line, then Kuba just missing a gust. But Lambi gybed right as that gust struck and was tipped over, showing it even happens to the very best of us.
The carried on for the next two laps, with Kuba extending his lead with his astounding downwind speeds, so at the line, the bullet was his, with Emil not that far behind to be fair, and Marco third, Lambi in fourth with a good recovery of places lost in that gybe incident. Meanwhile, back in fifth, Vladi Ptasnik CZH 1 was hugely delighted to be in that position at the end of a hard race, and the popular sailor bounced about on his trampoline like a toddler.
Next race, the right looked favoured. And in a repeat of a previous occurrence, a couple of boats tried a port start. Swiss sailor Riccardo Guiliano SUI 14, and Emil thought it was worth a punt, and the fleet were favouring the committee boat end. The flag dropped and the heroic Riccardo was already on the wire and loaded, he sailed right across the fleet as Kuba had the other day. Emil was a little slower to get going, so was forced to duck the bottom few boats before he could get his great upwind speed fully engaged.
This though, didn't go unnoticed by the rest, and it was Kuba who tacked slightly earlier then the rest and went across to the right to try and cover Emil in particular. The wind was clicking up by the minute as they got to the top. Emil leading and Kuba, Lambi and Marco in hot pursuit. Survival conditions had been engaged by now on most of the fleet. Your correspondent was switched into his safety crew mode as their rib was repurposed to help sailors in distress rather than simply record for your vicarious entertainment.
At the gun, it was Emil who had the bullet, in a superbly sailed race holding off challenges from the very top sailors in the Open A-Cat World in his first A- Class regatta after his Olympic Nacra 17 duties. But only one DNC in that race, showing the quality of skill all through the fleet.
Back to shore, shepherded by mark layers and support boats, one there, epic tales were related as usual, and this is a silly grin boat after all. Plus most were now turning their attention to the regatta dinner that evening, and things at that were expected get messy....
* The Arco club at Garda famously has a narrow 25m launch area leading to the lake. It is lined with moored RIBs etc and all with their outboards pointing into the channel! This isn't anywhere near as narrow, by the spirit is there.
Results so far