Sonntag, 23. April 2017
Local boats I like 2 the Classy A Class Cat
My first thought was the boat is on the trailer upside down, but the trampoline is on top. What is this boat? Like all shiny things I had to take a closer look. The other thing was the name on the boat, "Armington." I knew that name, but I had never seen it associated with a sailboat.
This is an "A Class" racing catamaran with a wave piercing bow designed by naval architect O. H. Rodgers who also provided the tooling. According to the IACA (International A Cat Assoc.) these are the "fastest single handed racing boats in the world." A Class racing catamarans are a "Box Rules" developmental sailboat. The basic configuration is simple. The boats must weigh at least 165 lbs (75kg) (which this one weighs), have a maximum length of 18' (5.49m), and width of 7.5' (2.3m). The sail area can't exceed 150 sq ft (13.94 sq m).
Like all things in life, the details of the rules impose some additional restrictions. Other than that, have at the design, and materials you make it out of. For the time being there are no hydrofoils allowed yet but some forms of lifting structures appear possible by modifying the rudders.
Like all things in life, the details of the rules impose some additional restrictions. Other than that, have at the design, and materials you make it out of. For the time being there are no hydrofoils allowed yet but some forms of lifting structures appear possible by modifying the rudders.
This is one of two nearly identical boats built by Sam Armington, and Jeremy Herrin with some technical help from their boat building dads. The dad's provided maybe a bit, or more likely a lot of their sweat also. Gary Armington was founder of Talon power boats, and Felix Herrin was Catman Cats, a builder of large custom power catamarans, Both provided the experience needed to build these custom composite vessels.
These two boats were not a casual build project. It took a year to build the twin crafts, and working with carbon fiber is not a snap. Add to this the endless hours fairing, (meaning sanding) to get the desired perfection.
I would say this type of project is akin to scratch building a composite aircraft fuselage from molds, and the finished quality is at that standard. It's worth it. A new world class A Cat could easily cost $20,000 or more. That's about $1100 per foot. That's a lot of incentive to build it yourself, if you have the skills.
The mast weighs almost nothing. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but I could have picked it up with one hand if I knew where the center of gravity was. This is a critical part of the craft, and I didn't want to be the one who broke it. Sam Armington, holding the carbon fiber structure in the photo knows where that magic point is.
If you look closely at the pictures on the Armington/Herrin blog, you can see there are some small individual differences between the way the two vessels were rigged, and equipped. I think the sailing team of Sam, and Jermey, in a friendly way want to beat each other on any given day. Exquisite work, gorgeous boats, and very talented young sailors, and dads.
The picture of Gary Armington, and Felix Herrin is from the Armington/Herrin blog site.
The picture of Gary Armington, and Felix Herrin is from the Armington/Herrin blog site.
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