Long distance on two hulls

We look at what's in store this year in dinghy cat distance racing

An unusual area of dinghy sailing that appears to be gaining increased popularity is that of long distance catamaran racing.

This form of sailing was born from the now defunct Worrell 1000 race up the east coast of the USA and has since become established in the UK through the efforts of UKCRA (the UK Catamaran Racing Association - as opposed to the other UKCRA which is the unfortunate UK Cartridge Recyclers Association).

"UKCRA is the class association of catamaran classes," explains chairman Nick Dewhirst. "It exists to do everything that isn’t covered elsewhere. If ISAF or the RYA or the individual classes aren’t doing it, then UKCRA does it." In addition to running long distance catamaran racing, UKCRA has also been responsible for creating the catamaran area within the annual Dinghy Sailing Show which may have on the one hand segregated catamaran sailors further from the rest of the dinghy world, but Dewhirst feels has helped boost catamaran sailing. "It is attracting more people and it means there is a revival in catamaran sailing when possibly asymmetric sailing is peaking out..." he says tentatively.

The UKCRA version of 'long distance' is not quite the Worrell 1000 with races on the circuit taking between three and seven hours (ie they are over within the hours of daylight) but nonetheless they are proving popular with events regularly now attracting between 50 and 80 boats. "These long distances races are saying 'cats are exciting, there’s an adventure here'," says Dewhirst.

The UKCRA circuit normally comprises five events, although this year there are four following the demise of the event in North Wales. The 2005 circuit comprises

- the Ssangsong Fast Cat race - 28-30 May with a race around the Isle of Wight for the faster boats on the Saturday (29 May)
- the East Coast Three Piers Race run by the Marconi Sailing Club - 18 July - starting from Osea Pier down the Blackwater Estuary passing the pier at Clacton and turning at Walton Pier for the return trip.
- Forts Race run by Whitstable Sailing Club - 6 August. From Whitstable around various forts in the Thames Estuary such as Red Sands Fort
- Four Inches - run by the Dalgety Bay Sailing Club on the Firth of Forth

Perhaps the most interesting among the long distance series is the Loch Ness Monster Race - run on Loch Ness - that is run biennially and next due to be held in 2006. Worth buying a Tornado for alone...

A regular feature on the podium of these races has been Will Sunnocks and crew Mark Self aboard their Tornado (Sunnocks also owns a Hobie Tiger, a Hurricane and a Javelin B F18HT (soon to be sold)). However recently Sunnocks has recently been looking for challenges further afield. He was one of many people to lose his entry fee to Mick Worrell after the Worrell 1000 collapsed in 2003. However Sunnocks made up for this last year by winning the impressive Archipelago Raid - through the beautiful islands between Sweden and Finland - last year again tough international competition.

For this season Sunnocks is looking at a possible return to defend his title in Sweden, the event coinciding nicely with the Tornado Europeans and possibly even the F18 Worlds in Hoek van Holland (9-16 July) on the way home. However he may also go across the Channel to compete in some of the more ambitious events alongside the cat crazy French.

The toughest of these will be the Raid Extreme, an invite-only event running over 500 miles - all of these miles around the Golfe du Morbihan and Quiberon Bay - at the end of June. "It takes 4 days. I think it’ll be based on the Archipelago Raid where you have these short overnight stops," says Sunnocks.

What perhaps is needed is a truly long distance catamaran race in the UK - but where?