European A-Cat sailors may be aware of next weekend’s event at the renowned Hellecat club near Hellevoetsluis. It is the 4 Nations Championships, and has attracted much interest from sailors within and North of the Alps, and now some 11 countries joining in.
Cagliari, at the southern end of Sardinia, has been chosen to host the 2027 A-Class Catamaran World Championships.
With racing on the warm waters of the Gulf of Cagliari, this spectacular venue has already hosted many major international sailing events, including the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, and is well known to Nacra 17 and 49er sailors.
Another legend passes. Horst Kopp was within the heart of the class for much of our existence. this lovely guy will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Ian 'Storm' Johnston delivers this eulogy to him.
Vale Horst Kopp
It is with great sadness that we report Life Member Horst Kopp passed away on Saturday 20th June 2026 surrounded by his family members.
Our condolences to wife Priscilla, son Michael, daughter Peachy, son-in-law John, and grandchildren Alex, Harry, Paddy, and Cece.
The party's over, it's time to call it a day, they've burst your pretty balloon and taken the moon away… And the A-Cat 2026 European Championships come to an end. The final day turned out to be Thursday this time. Out on the Mar Menor, race officials went out at 10am to monitor real world conditions rather than relying on forecasters or computer algorithms, sending back reports every 15 mins to Juan Antonio, the PRO, who needed to formulate a plan of Go/No GO for the final scheduled race day.
Congratulations to Jacek Noetzel and Kuba Surowiec on their 2026 European Champions titles!
Great sailing!
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.
It was back to business as usual today after the sailor’s traumas of Tuesday. The overnight high winds from the Northeast had left a decent bit of chop though, and this was arriving onshore to scare people, not to mention also leaving big chunks of palm tree bark scattered about the boatpark. The committee decided for these waves to quieten down a little before hoisting the Delta flag for the Classics to allow them onto the beach at about 1pm.
Sailing, in common with most sports, can both delight and disappoint in equal measure. Today was one of those days at the 2026 A-Cat European Championships, at the FRVM centre in Los Alcazares. The day was the usual day the sailors had become accustomed to. Warm morning sun, the buzzsaw noise of the future pilots of the Spanish Air Force being taught to fly at the San Javier Air Base, and a gentle but steadily building breeze from the East, so onshore. This could then have a sea breeze component added go give a wonderful 12-14 kts of loveliness.
On the warm waters of Spain’s Mar Menor, the International A-Class Catamaran Association is holding the European Championships this week, the excellent and accommodating hosts are the FVRM organisation and their base at Los Alcázeras. From the boat pits to the launching area is a mere 100m with plenty of rigging room on the beach. Two courses set with 3 races on the first day.
The European Championships starts to get serious now at the FVM centre in Los Alcázeras on the wonderful waters of the Spanish Mar Menor lagoon. Sunday saw the official practice race prior to tomorrow’s event start, at 14:00 we are told, but wind dependent of course. However, even a few days here teaches you that the wind tends to be lovely and reliable, as the decent sea breeze starts to kick in at about 12:30 to add to whatever base Easterly wind was blowing in.
