TEST CAPRICORN CAPRICORN Y&Y PHOTO JEREMY EVANS PHOTO A sleek and sexy cat from Australia has been pushing its bows to the front of the European Formula 18 fleet. TEST Jeremy Evans assesses the AHPC Capricorn… ormula 18 is a development class in although sub-140kg crews must race with a small which all cats have the same length jib and kite and there is a ‘missing weight’ (18ft), racing weight (180kg ex-crew) and equalisation system for crews between 140-150kg. F potential performance figure (1.01) In practice most F18s appear to have a crew measured by the small cat handicap rating system weight averaging just under 160kg. known as SCHRS. Sails are the same size, Formula 18 is not a manufacturer’s class. It is ▲ YachtsandYachting.com open to all boat builders (including self-build), sailmakers and mast makers. This open competition is designed to keep costs down, helped by a ban on the use of carbon fibre and other expensive materials, with the 180kg minimum sailing weight making it practical to build cats that are ding-proof, durable and affordable for club sailors. The problem with development classes is that a new design can wipe the floor, making everything redundant. It’s a tribute to the F18 rule that this has never happened. Since the class was launched in 1994, older designs have tended to fade away slowly. Despite being one of the original F18 designs, the French-built Hobie Tiger has won every world championship bar one, helped by Hobie Europe hiring some of the world’s very best cat racers. The Tiger has also been updated with new internal construction and rig, while the F18 class has kept pace with the times by introducing cautious rule changes. Below The Capricorn’s There are a dozen different F18 designs hulls are slim on top but currently available with Nacra (USA) and Cirrus plump underneath with (France) providing the most consistent challenge ‘wave piercing’ to the Tiger. They have been joined by the dreadnought bows. Australian-built Capricorn, which has made a strong impact in its first full European season. A Capricorn led the 2005 F18 world championship on the last day, until a black flag relegated it to fifth overall with other Capricorns finishing third and 10th. Capricorns also won the F18 Championship and Travemunde Week in Germany, while in the UK they won the Three Piers and Forts long distance races. A good score — but is the Capricorn really any better than other F18s? Design Greg Goodall (of Goodall Sails) runs AHPC in Victoria, in association with Jim Boyer (Boyer Fibercraft) and the German designer Martin Fischer, whose portfolio includes working on the unbeatable 60ft trimaran ‘Groupama 2’. AHPC unashamedly claim to produce ‘The world’s finest catamarans’ — predominantly the Auscat and Australian Flyer which have won seven A-Class world championships over the last 15 years, plus the Taipan which has made little impact in Europe. Formula 18 is on a roll as the world’s most popular high performance cat class — the Tornado is certainly quicker, but longer, wider and more than twice the cost. The Capricorn is AHPC’s answer to the challenge of producing the fastest F18. Unlike any other current F18, its design heritage stems from A- Class with hulls that at first glance look very similar PHOTOS JEREMY EVANS PHOTOS to the Flyer — slim on top but plump underneath with ‘wave piercing’ dreadnought bows. Hobie also used this A-Class shape on their 20ft Fox and singlehanded FX-1, but the F18 Tiger is completely different. It looks tubby, stubby and a little old- fashioned alongside the sleek, sexy new Capricorn. YachtsandYachting.com TEST CAPRICORN PHOTOS JEREMY EVANS PHOTOS Performance or getting into trouble through high closing Above Upwind the It’s best to tackle the speed question straight speeds in the heat of a race. Capricorn seems to have away. As far as Formula 18 is concerned all cats But essentially an F18 is a pussy cat. Stuart an edge over other F18s, are equal, but some will clearly be more equal confirms that the Capricorn is an easy boat to sail pointing higher than than others. The first two Capricorn owners in the which steers very well, with standard sail controls most. UK — Will Sunnucks and Stuart Gummer, whose that he rates as exceptional. AHPC trimmings boat (with Gillian Power crewing) features in this include an on-the-wire downhaul and mast Above left With quite a test — are top cat racers who are likely to be up at rotation control, plus a ‘main tamer’ centre high all-up weight you the front regardless. mainsheet option which is claimed to provide can expect F18s to be Stuart took delivery of his Capricorn just before better sheeting angles and more control plus stable and predictable to the F18 worlds in Holland and raced it ‘out of the faster tacking, but wasn’t fitted to the test boat. handle in Force 1-3, but box’ with no modification. A morning’s work was Despite the long, slim appearance of the hulls, once the windward hull required to put the Capricorn together, rewarded Stuart reckons it’s not so easy to keep constantly starts to fly experience by a 29th in its first regatta among a world-class in the groove. He reckons it’s probably the fastest counts. fleet. Stuart returned home to win the Three Piers and highest pointing F18 in more than five knots Race, got second in the Forts Race behind another upwind and is the same speed downwind as other Y&Y Capricorn, was fourth at the UK nationals, and F18s, but cannot be driven as hard as the Tiger or came second in the Raid des Corsaires and Duc Nacra in larger waves. Upwind technique requires d’Albe in France. adjustment of cunningham and mast rotation, The creators of Formula 18 were careful to which can be operated from the wire much more ensure the class would be accessible to a wide effectively than any other boat Stuart has sailed. range of abilities from cat sailors with limited He rated the general finish of the boat and its experience to Olympic medal standard. With quite fittings as high standard. While the Goodall sails a high all-up weight you can expect any F18 to be work very well, he judged that they don’t match TEST stable and predictable to handle, with nothing the quality of Ullman or Landberger. scary likely to happen in Force 1-3. A load of power in the rig combined with twin-wire, wide beam The verdict righting moment will create sizzling performance Overall, the Capricorn seems to be the fastest F18 as soon as the windward hull starts to fly. Past upwind on flat water and chop, helped by the Force 4 a Formula 18 will continue to behave well longest waterline in the fleet. It’s a real problem to or become an animal, depending on your level of overtake Capricorns on the beat — the solution is experience. Problems for less experienced sailors to cover them all the time. But the Capricorn does are likely to include driving the bows down and not have the same advantage downwind. When ▲ pitch-poling on an offwind leg and bearing away, the Capricorn’s bows go down in heavy weather, YachtsandYachting.com ANSWER BACK from Andy Morse, Cat Bitz The report on the Capricorn is in general very complimentary, however Jeremy addressed a few important areas that AHPC has already identified. The first being that the Capricorn could not be driven as hard in larger waves. To improve stiffness all new front beams are torsionally stiffer, the front beam is 5mm taller and the grade of alloy used has been improved. The rear beam is also a little larger with a 10 per cent increase in wall thickness, importantly these new beams can be fitted to existing boats without any modifications. Greg Goddall has develoed a new spinnaker which has far greater speed and depth and is far more versatile for reaching. The mainsail is now a few centimetres wider, through the top half of the sail it also has more luff curve which gives it more power in light winds — extending the performance PHOTO JEREMY EVANS PHOTO band of the rig. The jib is 20mm longer on the leech and 10mm shorter on the foot, which improves the the crew get less advance warning than on a Tiger Above Downhaul and sheeting angle, and fractionally flatter in the top which can therefore be driven harder. Some mast rotation can be half. These are all small changes but will definitely sailors who’ve been racing against the Capricorn adjusted from the wire, make a difference. also reckon it has an Achilles heel when it comes with an optional centre Jeremy also stated that Capricorn is the most to holding position on the start line, and is mainsheet. expensive of the F18s, it is important to note that the vulnerable being pushed from leeward boats, level of equipment is of the highest in the fleet, possibly because it has smaller daggers. AHPC could reduce the price by reducing the high Overall the ubiquitous Tiger still gets the quality of fitment but we are committed to producing thumbs-up as the best F18 all-rounder, while the the best F18 on the market and to this end the Capricorn is quickest to the all-important first Capricorn has increased its list of impressive results mark. But these differences are very small.