Italian boss Marco Gaeti wins the latest round of the Italian National A Class regatta, at the Centro Vela Sunset.

So it ends the third stage of the National Calendar of A Cat Italia, with success from president, Marco Gaeti, who was able to handle the 29 crews registered at the regatta.

Danish sailors Lars Schroder on the Vision and Thomas Paasch on the Nikita showed the way at the Schweriner Cup, held on the lake south of Wismar in North Germany.  Dispite a heavy foiling boat presence, C boats boats came 1st and 3rd on the lake conditions.

Lars sent this quick recap

A nice turnout for the last round of the US Florida Winter Series at Panama City, won by Joseph Bello with Bailey White winning the series on his eXploder A14 (Z). Ken Marshack and Ben Hall were second and third, both on C boats, proving there is lots of life in the old C boats yet.  They even get prize money there!!

Bill Vining reports.

Alberto Farnesi wins the A-Class regatta in Lido di Camaiore in big winds and big seas.  Pier Faccin reports.

The second stage of the National A Cat season was organized by Club Nautico Versilia and by Assonautica Lucca-Versilia. It took place in Viareggio and was characterized by some very changeable weather conditions. Eventually Alberto Farnesi was the winner. 

We had chance to look in detail last weekend at the latest eXploder Ad3 when one of a pair, just brought into the UK, was unwrapped by Colin Bannister at Rutland SC last weekend.  He was amongst the first to take delivery of the new 2016 version along with the 2014 UK National Champ and World No.15, Sam Newton, an eXploder team flyer.

Whilst not as radical looking as the new 2016 DNA, the Ad3 is an improvement on earlier versions, both in terms of aerodynamic design and build quality, and will certainly offer an economic way to achieve great racing performance. 

The new 2016 DNA F1 has arrived.  It has clearly set new standards for design and optimisation on many levels. "Normally I speak pretty modest of my work and all we do at Holland Composites. But this time I am very proud of the result of the new DNA F1..." PJ.  

Catsailingnews has the full story here!

The European ‘A’ Cat 2016 season saw events in Italy and France over the Easter weekend with victories for Giuseppe Colombo and Thierry Boisbouvier.

Cesenatico - Italy:

Giuseppe Colombo wins the 42nd A-Class Vele di Pasqua

It is very important that all competitors registered arrive at the 2016 World Championships and present CURRENT measurement certificates. These should cover all relevant parts -Sails, Hull and Mast. Tamperproof stickers will be issued and applied to the relevant parts.  Each day, judges will pick several boats to be measured, so it is crucial that the boats have the correct documentation otherwise disqualification could result.  

Graeme Harbour, the 2016 Worlds Chief Equipment Measurer has issued a letter and guidelines as detailed below.

It would seem that new designed 'A' cats are like buses - you wait for ages, then two come along at once. (An old British joke, not sure how it works in other countries!)

Piet Saarberg has announced the new 2016 flying version of his Vision.  Developed from the experience gained last year, and sailed to victory by Dave Shaw in the NZL Nationals, this new version is due for launch.

See the Catamaran Parts website for further details.

So far the organisers of the 2016 World Championships have received entry fees of 108 competitors, which gives them financial security for a fantastic event.

With the 120+ registered competitors, they will split the fleets in a similar way as in Punta Ala.  ie Two fleets randomly split initially, then the top half of each fleet will join together into a Gold and Silver fleet.

The board shape stats are -

Z - 68

C - 35

J - 12

S - 5

Other - 5