Polynesians developed fast boats from the connection of two kanus with flexible tie bars , which can be maneuvered
easily . A long time before the Europeans had undertaken far sea voyages with such built boats.
Already in the 5. Century they managed the distance between Fidji and Hawaii.
The
first double trunk boat in Europe, the 30 foot "Invention I"
was designed 1662 by the Irish Sir William Petty and
found even the support of the King Charles II.
In a regatta of the "Royal Society" it struck all other boats.
In the following years (1786) the Scot Patrick Miller
built several two - and three - trunk - boats, which however could not
become generally accepted in the long term.
In 1876 Nathanael Herreshoff beat the entire fleet with
his 25' Amaryllis at the New York Yacht Club’s Centennial Regatta.
He was promptly banned from all future races.
The boat was built following the Polynesian outrigger canoes.
It received however, instead of starting the acknowledgment of this type
of yacht, a prohibition, which can be expected, with further boat races.
The further development of the catamaran was first stopped.
In 1937 Eric de Bisschop, a Fench explorer and ocean sailor,
built the forerunner of the modern catamaran, a 35' double canoe, on Waikiki
Beach in Hawaii.
He named her Kaimiloa.
He then sailed through the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope,
back to Cannes, France.
The voyage took 264 days.
In
the 50's the Americans Woody Brown, Alfreds Kumalae and
Rudy Choy built a catamaran as alternative to the surfing on Hawaii.
The
introduction of the plastics to the boat building
revolutionized the production ways. It was the transition from single
to quantity production.
The development and spreading of the beachcatamarans could not be stopped
anymore.
For
better distinction one partitioned the catamarans into different construction
classes in the context of limits of size:
A -, B -, C -, D and E - division
A-Catamaran L 5.48 m/w 2.28 m/ sail max. 13,90
m²
B-Catamaran
L 6.10 m/w 3.05 m/sail max. 21,83 m2
C-Catamaran L 7.62 m/w 4.27 m/sail max. 27,88
m2
D-Catamaran L freely
/ w freely / sail max. 46,40 m2
E-Catamaran unlimited L+ w/ sails of max. 92.90
m²
"International Yacht Racing Union" in England and still belongs to one of the oldest and most activ catamaran classes in the world. Due to a minimum of construction rules such as lenght, witdth and sail area it has beenpossible for the numerous designers to develop a boat outstanding performance.
This led to the fact that the A-Cat as a multihull has becomea pure high-tech boat and is nowadaysconsidered as the formula one among all the sailing boats.
Modern materials such as carbon and cevlar are being used for the mass production of hulls and masts, a potential of development which has been recognized and approved by modern industries, whereas others still satisfy with glassfibres and
aluminium masts.
The A-Cat has proofed in the international sceene how popular it is as the Europeans and Worlds are frequently followed by the most famous sailors of the world.
However,it’s always been a pure A-Class sailor to win the Championships.
This shows about the high level of performance within the class is and it leads us to amazing numbers of entries for such Championships.
The International A-Class A-Class Rules
allows 80 to 100 entries which means for each country to sail pre-selection events.
Everything
started by a dream with a drawing in the sand.
One day, in 1968,
Hobart (" Hobie ") Alter, from Capristano Beach, Southern California,
famous for his revolutionary surfboard design and production, created what
was to become the first mass produced beach catamaran in the world using
asymmetrical hulls : the Hobie Cat 14 was born.
As early as 1970, the big brother of the Hobie Cat 14,
the Hobie Cat 16 made its debut. Did Hobie imagine then that he was creating
a catamaran class which was going to become, very soon, the most important
one worldwide?
Today there are about 200.000 Hobie Cats sailing around
the world.
The
Tornado was designed over 37 years ago, specifically to be the Olympic Class
catamaran. It easily defeated the other challengers in a selection event
in England in 1967, and sailed its first Olympics in 1976.
Since then, with constant refinement of underwater shapes, construction
techniques, and sail plan, the boat has continued to go faster and faster.
In spite of the best efforts of many other designers and builders worldwide,
the Tornado still reigns supreme as the fastest production catamaran in
the world. It is a showplace for both the skill of the sailors and for the
technology for a production boat.
Over 4,800 Tornados have been built, with 1,200 class association members
worldwide.
For
many years, and with the exception of the "A" and "Tornado"
Classes, sport catamaran sailing has been linked to manufacturer classes.
From club level to the largest events, racing on corrected time was the
only way to allow different designs to compete, with sometimes endless discussions
about the timetable or yardsticks used to do so.
In order to broaden the access to elapsed time racing to a maximum of catamaran
sailors, Pierre-Charles Barraud and Oliver Bovyn decided then to create
in 1994 the Formula 18 using the SCHRS formulas to compute the performance
parameters.
This
concept was probably a good one, as the class grew up so quickly that the
ISAF Recognised Status was granted in 1996, eighteen months after the birth
of the formula. Mainly European at the beginning, the Formula 18 is now
spreading to Australia, New Zealand and North America, with not less than
twelve different designs affordable on the market at the moment.
(from IF18CA)
Specification
Length: 18 feet, 5,50m
Width: 2,60m
Sail: Am Wind 21m2
Downwind 42m2
Weigth: 180kg
Crew Weigth: 115 - 200kg
Max. speed: so far 30kn (55,56km/h)
