The London Boat Show
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- Rank: Mate
- Registered: Mar 12, 2003
- Last visit: Feb 19, 2021
- Posts: 879
Posted: Jan 14, 2015 - 11:21 AM
It was refreshing to go to a fully mixed boat show with sails in the air everywhere as opposed to the modern day U.S. show. Still the cat scene was very weak. The Topaz 16 & RS 16, both roto-molded skeg boats very similar to Getaway were there. The Nacra 20 foiler was there, but no brochures and only a young guy not with Nacra there. It was part of the BAR (Ben Ainslie ) display which had other apparatuses designed to show off the new technologies of the AC effort. I was surprised no co-opting effort from Nacra. The Whisper foiling cat (designed by Ron Price) display was far more interesting, but with similar lack of marketing effort. The marketing team consists of the White family, Rob, son & Tomm, grandson of Reg White, Tornado Olympian and other grandsons I didn't meet. Rob was off at the Toronto show running concurrently. The display model (and only one to date) had carbon fiber cross beams attached with bolts similar to most other cats. On the floor were two large molds and they were building the hulls in the first mold when I got there, only the crossbeams were integral with the hulls and a bit wider. Boat was to be finished in 4 days, but with people interrupting Tomm in charge of construction, the vacuum bag was still on hull mold on Monday my last day there. The rig carries 14 M sq sail between main & jib (same as A class) along with 16 M spinnaker. Rudder casting looked robust, but they hadn't decided yet on aluminum or carbon. The large T foil rudder seems to hold rear down & they have yet to pitchpole boat yet after extensive testing contrary to Nacra 20 as seen in catsailingnews video. All up weight is 75-78 kg although minimum wt shall be 80 kg meaning you'll carry weights in the early days. Dagger foils are to be put in from bottom when boat is in the water and have fore & aft adjustments (as do rudders) with a wand system aka the moth. Ron said he had 20 boat orders though I didn't see that much activity at either Whisper or Nacra displays. Pricing was a bit higher than the 15000 lb target and freight to US wasn't known as first production model was still building and boat has to be shipped as complete unit. Hull replacement could also be problem especially with freight. All in all, an exciting display as I see foiling as the next step in cat racing--witness the Moth worlds going on now! Pete Begle -
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Posted: Jan 14, 2015 - 01:25 PM
thanks pete -
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- Registered: Jul 19, 2001
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Posted: Jan 16, 2015 - 12:19 AM
Pete that's awesome! I've always thought it would be cool to go to the Paris boat show since catamarans are so big in France but London has the advantage of being able to read all the signs.
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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- Registered: Jul 19, 2001
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Posted: Jan 16, 2015 - 12:20 AM
Don't forget to share the picks with us winter bound hermits that don't get to jaunt around the globe.
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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- Rank: Mate
- Registered: Mar 12, 2003
- Last visit: Feb 19, 2021
- Posts: 879
Posted: Jan 16, 2015 - 08:39 AM
Have a new tablet, so will learn how to post pics in La Paz. Have to fix an orange size hole in my P-16 & paint it after Odile troubled it a bit. We keep our cats on the beach right on city front FREE for the year. It's only a 2-3 mile sail to find the whale sharks. The year my son was born we had a pod of breeding grey whales in the bay. Pete
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