The F18 is the fastest growing catamaran class in the world, with world titles capped at 200 boats. They are faster then an 18 foot skiff and a LOT cheaper. Knowing this why is there only one F18 in Western Australia? And Why is there only 1 big cat class (tornado) sailing in Western Australia?
Any thoughts?
we need more cats sailing in WA for sure. i sail hobie 17 at safetybay, know of any around? 
quote:
Originally posted by Yachty Boy
The F18 is the fastest growing catamaran class in the world, with world titles capped at 200 boats. They are faster then an 18 foot skiff and a LOT cheaper. Knowing this why is there only one F18 in Western Australia? And Why is there only 1 big cat class (tornado) sailing in Western Australia?
Any thoughts?
Brand new f18 is around $25 000, brand new 49er $35 000 and last time I checked a brand new 14 footer was alot more then that, yet they have strong fleets sailing in WA. Not to meantion the cost of a good carbon tornado.
If any one is interested in F18's, Bunbury will have three sailing this season and we will be looking to take on the tornado's in perth at the cat classic this year.
Bunbury is also expected to have 3 nacra 16sq this season, these boats are a single handed class primaraly for bigger skippers eg national champ 95-105kgs.
sure the f18 may be as fast as an 18ft but not as much fun i have sailed all types of skiffs and other monohuls, and cats dont come close to the fun had on a mono, sorry guys and u tell me where a 14fter is over $35000
im trying not to start a mono v cat argument
but all that said the f18 is the best of all cats, except maybe the A class
it's hard to choose
kris
hey yachtyboy check out the formula18 and other cats in action at adventureonlinetv some great vids to see
quote:
Originally posted by kris59
sure the f18 may be as fast as an 18ft but not as much fun i have sailed all types of skiffs and other monohuls, and cats dont come close to the fun had on a mono, sorry guys and u tell me where a 14fter is over $35000
im trying not to start a mono v cat argument
but all that said the f18 is the best of all cats, except maybe the A class
kris
yacht boy there is now 3 f18 in WA 2,infusion's 1 tiger the infusions are based in bunbury and the tiger is based in rocky area,the tiger will be raced in bunbury and nedlands if you want to go out for a run drop me a line wayne
you guys know how much is a 49'er in racing condition or an "australian skiff" i hope this is the right term..i've always told myself if i have the mucho dinero i'd like to get one hopefully..i've sailed hobies and laser class' but nothing compares to the speed these monohulls are! in my opinion...cheers
Anybody that says catamaran sailing is not as much fun as sailing mono's has obviously not been on a Tornado or F18.
To answer your question Yachty Boy. The problem with F18's in the Swan river is their dagger boards. The river is very inconsistent with it's depth (so watch out boys when you come up this weekend).
Another reason F18's might not have taken off over here is where do you get the fleet from ? A lot of Eastern states F18 sailors came out of Nacra 5.8's and Taipans, where WA's fleet of these dwindled years ago.
The main benefit I see with the F18 over the Tornado is their ease of transport, but most of us Tornado sailors at Nedlands don't have any where to travel to.
J
Yeah its abit easier to tow the boat on the flat, still not legal but only a few inchs over width not like the tornado's.
Would be good to see some of the tornado's travelling to some of the regatta's down south this year?!
Half of the fleet will be packing up their boats and sending them over east/NZ in December and we probably wont see them back till March/April. I have a trailer, so you could see me come down for some different water.
I'd like to see the Formula 20 rule get some weight behind it in Australia, those cats rock.
You see the thing is, there are so many more feeder classes into the mono hull skiffs, compared to the amount of feeder classes into f18's and tornado's.
Also with the tornado's loosing their place in the 2012 olympics it gives people even less reason to sail them...
A second hand 49er can be picked up from around 2000 bucks.
Spend around 500 bucks on them and your up to racing standards as every boat is the same.
Im not sure how it works with the cats, but for 49ers its quite simple to get into an Olympic boat and start racing against top sailors in the world.
At a local level there are only two really popular cats in WA (hobie 16's and windrush) but every where else there are just as many feeder classes as mono classes.
As far as the tornadeos lossing olympic placing i don't think it is going to affect cats much at all. Theres more prestige in saying your world champion in a 100+ boat fleet in a f18/hobie 16/a-class worlds then gold at the olympics. It'll be good to see what happens to ISAF with the talk of a catamaran international body seprate from ISAF.
Don't rule the Tornado's out of the Olympics yet guys. It ain't over yet.
The deal about the olympics is not the prestige, its about sponsorship and funding for the worlds top sailors. There is a lot more funding on offer from governments for sailing teams going to Olympics than sailors going to their world titles.
I just hope that we do not lose cats out of the olympics.
It would not be so bad if they just swapped it for an F18, but to remove the only cat class, when cats are sailed in their hundreds of thousands all over the world every weekend, just sucks 
Probably one of the main reasons, F18's have not taken off yet in WA is our strong winds. I sail a Hobie 16 at Nedlands where we have produced several National champions recently (Darren Smith, Gavin Colby, Cam Owen), a world champion (Gavin Colby) & a 3rd (Cam Owen) in the last Worlds completed in October in Fiji.
Our "top gun" Hobie 16 sailors & others (myself included) have contemplated Hobie Tigers but the concern is the cost of repairs if sails are destroyed by strong winds or even capsizes.
Our Tornado fleet at Nedlands is "too old" as most boats are 10 years plus in age. These boats are lucky to survive 18knot winds without some sort of damage.
The Hobie 16 is a "bulletproof" boat which can sustain 25 plus knots without too much fear of damage.
If you are interested to see a Hobie 16 in action, drop into Nedlands on any Sunday usually. You can also visit the Hobie Cat WA website for contacts as well.
Im willing to sell my Infusion and buy new just to build the numbers up, but would only sell to someone who is gonna race it regularly, onyl way to build numbers
Our Tornado fleet at Nedlands is "too old" as most boats are 10 years plus in age. These boats are lucky to survive 18knot winds without some sort of damage.
The Hobie 16 is a "bulletproof" boat which can sustain 25 plus knots without too much fear of damage.
Let me give some background on the Nedlands Tornado fleet.
Boats range from 25 years old to 2 months old.
Over the last 8 years there have been some major changes to the Tornado in order to keep it the number one performance catamaran.
These changes have made the Tornado sailors add new parts and systems to their boats.
Yes there can be damage caused to a Tornado in stronger winds. But it usually is the newer "home made" parts that fail not the hulls, beams or mast. So it is a little unfair to blame the Tornados age or basic design for any breakages. It can all be blamed on the sailors that try and make their boat even faster.
The hobie 16 is bulletproof in 25 plus knots, but so is a large log of driftwood.
