Cat quick to catch on

Matt Woodley and Chris Tucker, in their F18 Hobie Tiger, are keen to extol the merits of the high-performance catarmaran.

Chris Green and Matt Woodley arrived in the City of Sails midway through last year determined to launch a quick catamaran here. The yacht is the F18, the single fastest-growing class in the world. Its devotees extol the mantra: Life is too short to sail slow.

Both the boat and the philosophy that surrounds it soon struck a responsive nerve. The class has found a home at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club and has established an ambitious race programme.

The F18s have been racing throughout the summer and a winter series will begin next month.

Along the way they have banded together with another high-performance class, the Olympic multi-hull Tornados, to form a single racing programme.

The aim is to re-establish New Zealand's place in international high-performance multi-hull sailing.

Tornados attract some of the world's best sailors, with a thirst for speed and Olympic glory, Woodley says.

Because the F18s and the Tornados have similar sail plans - including asymmetric gennakers and twin trapeze set-ups - they are complementary and many successful Tornado sailors have used the F18 as an affordable training and development platform.

Similarly, F18 sailors have improved their sailing by absorbing racing and boat-handling techniques from the Tornado stars.

The Tornado and F18 catamaran associations say they are aware of the gap in the New Zealand market for internationally recognised multi-hull classes and are concerned about the lack of an organised development path for people with a thirst for high-performance sailing outside the smaller and slower dinghy classes. They believe that by joining forces this gap will be filled.

Woodley says that at about $26,000 the F18 is the perfect boat for people looking for fast, thrilling sailing or to use as a stepping-stone to an Olympic Tornado campaign, where the cost of a top boat is about $60,000.

"We believe that combining our racing programmes will help energise both classes in New Zealand and allow more of our multi-hull sailors to become competitive internationally," Woodley says.

This approach has been adopted in Britain, where the F18 has been designated the official feeder class for the Tornado.

Olympian Aaron McIntosh, not long back from Europe, is convinced of the benefits of the classes working together. "We want to introduce more people to the catamaran culture and let them experience the adrenalin kick of real high-speed yachting," the former board sailor says.

McIntosh holds the round-Rangitoto speed record of 2h 24m 33s in his Tornado and Woodley says strong and consistent autumn winds mean now is the right time for someone to do better.

The association has floated an ambitious sailing programme. The winter series begins next month with sailing every second Sunday with two back-to-back laid-course races. The 2005-2006 summer series will be based on seven high-performance regattas raced out of Akarana. The plan is to invite A-Class, F18s, Tornados, Farr 3.7s, 12 and 14ft skiffs, 49ers and other two-handed Olympic class dinghies.

The association has also planned a series of away regattas to help promote the class to other clubs in the region and there could be a trip to Taupo.

As well, Tauranga sailors have already shown interest in racing F18s and Woodley says they will be given all the training and development support they need. The intention is to race regularly with them in Auckland and Tauranga.

Then there are the 2007 F18 World Championships. These will be hosted by Australia, which will provide an excellent opportunity for top Kiwi crews to experience some international competition.

It looks like by the time next summer rolls around, the F18s will be an established fixture on the racing calendar. More on www.f18.org.nz