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CLASS HISTORY
In
1956, the "A-Division-Catamaran-Class" was founded as a free
construction class by the former "International Yacht Racing
Union" in England and still belongs to one of the oldest and most active
catamaran classes in the world. Due to a minimum of construction rules such as
length, width and sail area it has been possible for the numerous designers
to develop a boat outstanding performance. This led to the fact that the A-Cat
as a multihull has become a pure high-tech boat and is now days considered as
the formula one among all the sailing boats. Modern materials such as carbon and
kevlar 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 glassfibre and aluminium masts. The A-Cat has proved
in the international scene how popular it is as the European and World
Championships are frequently followed by the most famous sailors of the
world. However, it’s always taken 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 Rules allows 80 to 100 entries which means for each
country to sail pre-selection events.
Click
Here to read about early NZ A-Division history
(by Ray Davies)
Pictures of older boats from
NZ and overseas are available in the photo album
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