Wildcat 1st Timer

Photos from Erquy: Left Mischa and Bastian , right Olivier and Arnaud. Left boat and sails on the right are in Argentina right now.
Photos by the uninvited or unexpected guest, that ended taking the best pics at last F18 Worlds, Eric Bellande, check his site for some great pictures from Erquy www.direct-image.com
—-October 20, 2010: Yesterday in a training session for the upcoming Buenos Aires Week, I sailed for the 1st time a Hobie Wildcat… not any standard factory boat, a special one, with a combo that only two people has ever sailed till now, the owner and I.
Why so special? well , it was Mischa’s black beast sailed at Erquy, with Olivier Backes World championship winning sails. The perfect Wildcat Merge.Perfect conditions: flat 5-10 knots…Sweet boat.
Complete report after BA Week ends due to some courtesy with a distinguished guest coming to Argentina to promote the class.
For those who want more info on the Wildcat , you can find it here in Catsailingnews. Search her designer and following labels: Martin Fischer , Hobie WildCat , Sail Innovation
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Update: Here you have the full report:Finally I could sail the Wildcat in a training race session, 5-10 knots almost flat, the boat was a rocket that over performed the top guys here in those specific conditions.
I helmed her going to the course area, it felt really easy on the tacks, and gral driving, it felt ‘ligther’ than other F18s, ‘snowboarding on powder’ like sensation, and we have muddy waters here… Real quick on responses too, precise and smooth. Definitely a different feeling.

We made 4 practice races with 3 more boats, 2 of them the top sailors of our fleet.
The Wildcat owner is a good sailor and fine helm too, but less comitted and he is catching up finally, we’d never sailed together, and I’m no smooth crew neither, I like to helm only! but had to work this time…

1st race, we ended 4th at the Windward mark, and started the downwind leg behind a train of the front 3 Infusions, so instead of gybing, we decided to give a try on speed, we start gathering speed pointing higher to windward, we were passing them like they were stall, so they all gybe, we stand the course up to the layline, then more speed and an impressive win from behind but coming on the same tack, I never saw that kind of pass against top fleet sailors, at least live .
2nd race, we started bad, and the other 3 went left with more pressure, we made some meters and tack, going to their same side, we managed to trim the boat with low trapeeze style and the hull in the air perfect balance just skimming the water , steady wind, no changes at all, the boat started to gain angle at a constant speed, the helmsman of course was smooth too, I maintained speed and balance with the main sheet, then tack at the layline , free way , none around, started looking for them, and they were easily half leg? or more below, it was a perfect kill, we even have to wait them at the windward mark cause it was a real shame, another game altogether.
I was quite surprised with the performance, it was another league in those flat mid range conditions. We sailed quite well but we knew the boat was helping… a lot.

After helming the boat with more wind later I think is possible to manage her in our higher winds and short steep waves. One Wildcat from Uruguay was racing the BA Week, they were not experienced at all, and they managed to ‘survive’ on those harsh conditions, so it was a good sign. The tested Wildcat actual owner, Sergio Mehl, had some really bad pitchpoles while free sailing on higher winds and chop so he decided to race with the C2, with excellents results too.
In the last Argentine Nats, he was top two with the C2, and the last day he broke the spinpole , he changed to the Wildcat (was disqualified afterwards) and in the same wind we had our described training he made some impressive sailing, like starting 100mts behind due to an individual recall and finally winning that race, of course you may guess that this guy is now the fastest on our fleet too, but surely not the best racer… Cruz Smith and Mariano Heuser are quite as fast too on their Infusion and surely the top racing performers, currently Argentine F18 champs.

Later I contacted Martin Fischer and he told me the Wildcat was designed to excell in mid range conditions.
As pointed above, the boat I sailed is Mischa’s blackie with Olivier’s winning sails… a truly special boat with long daggers that cost 3500Euros, special standing rigging wires and some special sails for sure too!

The success of the F18 class is based on the even performance of the different designs, some boats have advantages on different conditions, but finally the game is always tied , and sailors make the difference but the class must limit some aspects that make boats too expensive for the average sailor, best example is special standing rigging and extra long and custom made daggers, rules are being revisited to address these points.