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F1x A-class foiling catamaran

World champion, lighter = better, craftsmanship, meet the foiling f1x a-class catamaran.

This is the ultimate singlehanded foiling catamaran of the moment: ultramodern, incredibly fast, very agile, extremely strong and feather-light, in an aerodynamic and ergonomic design. The perfect total package, packed in 1 foiling catamaran. This is the world’s coolest boat for singlehanded races and the winner of several A-cat world championships and many other sailing races.

The 2020-F1x A-cat is exactly the same foiling catamaran that made Mischa Heemskerk Vice-World Champion at the Herveybay Worlds 2018 in Australia and World Champion at Weymouth 2019. All our foiling F1x A-class catamarans come straight, ready to race and ‘Mischa-tuned’ from our factory.

Unique design enables top performances

The F1x A-class foiling catamaran is the ultimate reflection of our current design language. The aerodynamic design accentuates the performance qualities of this super fast foiling racing boat. The sophisticated deck plan provides clear control and minimal air resistance.

Foils The rudders and daggerboard foils used on the F1x A-class foiling catamarans are produced with the highest quality carbon pre-preg fibers. The foils are cured in our own Autoclave . Our winning foil design was created in close cooperation with Glenn Ashby and the designers of AC Team New Zealand .

Construction The F1x A-cat is manufactured entirely according to the carbon pre-preg/ Nomex production method, and cured in our Autoclave. This technology is the same as used in the aerospace industry and within other foiling boats like for example, the America’s Cup.

Design The design of the F1x foiling A-class catamaran was completely conceived by the DNA design team and made at DNA’s own yard. In the DNA design team Pieterjan Dwarshuis, Mischa Heemskerk and the renowned Dutch industrial design engineer Rudo Enserink worked closely together to create the perfect foiling A-class catamaran.

We build your new foiling boat!

Technical details.

The F1x A-class foiling catamaran has a number of unique features that improve performance. For example:

• Semi ridged trampoline. Gives extra torsional stiffness to the boat and increases its aerodynamic characteristics.
• Patented main-sheet-wheel-system. For more direct and faster trim of the main sail.
• Aerodynamically placed traveller car.
• Flexible daggerboard casings. For minimal water absorption in floating mode.
• Aerodynamically shaped ‘beams’.
• Adjustable T-rudders. Foiling with rudder differential is possible.

Specifications

LOA: 5.49 m BOA: 2.30 m Max. draught: 1.20 m Sail area: 13.94 m Total weight: ca. 53 kg Top speed: 31 kn Extra: All measurements according to IACA Class regulations.

Buy a champion's boat!

Are you excited to buy a F1x A-class foiling catamaran from DNA Performance Sailing? Please fill in our contact form:

Yes, I want a F1x A-cat!

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The ‘A’ Class Catamaran – Its place at the top table.

At 18ft long with a total allowed rig area of 150ft2, but weighing in at a mere 75kg, the ‘A’ Class is very much a Formula One car in catamaran form and in the last few years, developments have seen this class take off more than ever before, quite literally.

Anyone with an interest in the hi-tech aspects of sailing will probably know something of the ‘A’ Cat.  They are spread worldwide with large fleets in Australia, USA/Canada, throughout Europe and there is even a growing fleet emerging in Argentina.  They have had some 55+ years of open design resulting in them now being amongst the most highly developed small sailing boat classes on the planet.

Some History.

Originating from a desire in the late 1950’s by the IYRU (Later renamed ISAF and now World Sailing), to encourage racing and design development of catamarans. They proposed four classes with simple size criteria based on length, beam and sail area, and crucially, with minimal design rules.   The A-Class logo was chosen by the IYRU when their committee decided in 1956 to classify the catamarans into those 4 categories. A, B, C and D as construction classes. To symbolize the two hulls the letter "A" had a double underlign, same  as the B's,  the C's and the D's. From the beginning the A-Cats had the double underligned letter "A" on the sails and it was used on the letter heads. (Examples were the A-Lion, Australis, Unicorn, Quest A, Catalina, Rhapsody a.s.o.).  The ‘A’ class is by far the largest remnant of the four classes.  The ‘B’ class was a 20ft twin hander with 235ft2 of sail and developed into the Tornado and a few offshoots such as the F18.  The ‘C’ class was another twin, but at 25ft with a 300ft2 rig, has become a super sophisticated monster and the pinnacle of small cat design that races for the Little America’s Cup.  The ‘D’ Class was 32ft and a sail of 500ft2 with three crew, but rapidly dwindled away. 

Various designs for the ‘A’ bubbled away until the IYRU held trials to seek out the best designs in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ classes and to award them international status.  At the Catamaran Club on the Isle of Sheppey in 1967, the Tornado won the ‘B’ class, and in the ‘A’ class category the British Unicorn competed, along with with several other boats, against Graham Johnston’s Australian Australis design.  At that time the spec was simply to be a single-handed cat with sliding seat or trapeze restricted only by length, beam and sail area.  The Australis design won and gained international class status.  However, the Unicorn design still gained popularity in the UK and Europe. It eventually became a strict one-design class with rules on hulls, weight and mast diameter, which accounts for the vastly different sail shapes now seen on the two boat designs.  Today the Unicorn still measures and is still accepted as an ‘A’ Class cat.

So, the free reign given within the ‘A’s development class spec allowed several other designs to arrive, each an attempt to improve on the other.  All modern designs can trace their evolution back to these early boats in one way or another.  Many home built designs turned up, and home building of ‘A’ Cats continues today, particularly in the USA, where home building tends to be more popular.

As building and materials technology improved, the stitch and glue plywood built and the glass fibre built boats, in order to save weight and get down to the absolute minimum, needed to be made with the strength only in certain high load areas – shroud plates, beam mounts, foil cases etc., This resulted in the class getting a bit of a reputation for being fast but rather delicate.  Gradually these materials gave way to the carbon foam and carbon nomex sandwich construction.

Fast Hull Shapes

The Australis hulls were pointed at both ends similar to a canoe, in an attempt to produce a drag-reducing hull.  The designs were often determined by the materials available and nowadays space age construction techniques are possibly one reason that the modern boat is now becoming increasingly popular, as it is producing immensely stiff and strong yet light boats, capable of withstanding hard racing for several years. 

Currently, the modern ‘A’ cat bears a striking resemblance to its rather higher profile cousin, the AC45 .  The distinctive Dreadnought shaped bows of the  ‘wave-piercing’ hull design reduces the pitching moment when in waves.  The hull is essentially upside down when compared to many boat hulls.  The widest part is towards the bottom with the result that the hull won’t sink as far before the buoyancy starts to push it up again so floats higher. They also tend to have the beams bonded in making it a very stiff one-piece unit.  Hull sections and profiles continue to change.  The requirements of a boat designed to foil mean that the underwater hull shapes are starting to be optimized for lighter wind sailing, as the hull should be out of the water when it is going fast in a higher wind. 

On the latest 2016 boats, aerodynamic drag is now recognized as increasingly more important as the airflow over the boat, with the added apparent wind, can sometimes be as high as 30 or 40 knots.  Beams are now aerodynamically streamlined, smoothing the airflow over the drumskin tight trampoline.  Double skin trampolines are also a new design feature.  Previously the underside of the tramp was a mass of ropes, chords and bungees.  Now these are sandwiched between two airtight skins.  On one new design, the Holland Composites DNA, even the tiller bar is now streamlined to match the rear beams curved profile!

There are several elements key to the ‘A’ cats speed and success.  Over the last 15 years much work has been done on the design of foils (rudders and daggerboards).  Initially the foils were all straight as the technology to make them anything else, without risking failure, was simply not available.  However, they could be put in at an angle and canted towards the centerline.  This seemed to give a little lift to the boat, thus making it faster by reducing the drag of the hull when the boat was heeled and flying a hull. They were also made slimmer and longer, and this higher aspect ratio vastly improved the drag effects over a broader chord foil.  Then in 2005, Dutch composites expert and sailor, Pieterjan Dwarshuis, raced in the Worlds with a C shaped foil. This supplied much more lift and helped in getting the windward hull flying when going downwind – doing ‘the Wild Thing’ as it is known in cat circles.  And, as the leeward foil curved under the boat more, it produced much more lift as the angle of attack (Rake) could be adjusted also.  Result – particularly when combined with small winglets on the rudders was that the boats went faster. Within a couple of years these foils became more commonplace and by 2008 German sailor, Bob Baier, had won the European championships using a set. 

However, some feared that complex hydrofoils could possibly be fitted to the boat, rendering it fast but impractical and expensive.  So in 2009 a rule was brought in with the intention of preventing this hydrofoiling from happening.  The now famous ‘A’ class ‘Rule 8’ stating that all foils must be inserted from the top of the hull, and that there must be a minimum distance between the tips of the bottom of the boards of 75cm from the centreline.  That seemed to do the trick and for a few years things went along nicely.  But the foil building technology steadily improved and a consistent way was found of producing extremely strong shaped daggerboards from carbon composites. In 2013 the foils had developed from a C shape into a J shape and as a result of redesigned rudder winglets, positioning them at the bottom of the blade, the boats started leaping about like salmon. So the next logical move for this development class boat was obvious and was to make it fly. The boat has about the same power to weight ratio as a foiling Moth so it was assumed that it should be able to fly, but for one crucial potential problem – Rule 8.  This meant that conventional L shaped boards, similar to the AC boats foils, are not class legal.  But thinking around corners is what designers and sailors like to do and before long, designs for foils emerged that complied with the top insertion, limited span restrictions and provided enough lift to get the boat clear out of the water. A movable rake system allowed the angle of attack of the boards to be varied combined with fore and aft movements of the crew weight.  The real turning point came in 2014 before the Worlds in New Zealand. 

Many of the America’s Cup crews are also ‘A’ cat sailors.  In fact the most successful ‘A’ Class World Champion is the ETNZ skipper Glenn Ashby.  

The ETNZ America’s Cup team took delivery of half a dozen ‘A’ cats and set about with gusto seeing how far they could be pushed.  Improved, redesigned and strengthened boards and rudders started flying around the world on express carriers as they broke and re-broke the foils in an attempt to push the boat to it’s limits.  It worked and the boats started to fly, albeit in the hands of these sailing superstars, but techniques were discovered for getting the boats foiling for longer each time.   As a result of this, Glenn Ashby won yet another world title.  This paved the way for the current developments. 

Optimized designs, where daggerboard positions and beams are moved slightly, and newer, more stable foil sections that have lower drag are now arriving, with a Z and J/Z shaped board proving more stable when combined with T or L shaped rudder tips.  However, the holy grail of upwind foiling is still being worked on.  And this is all still done within the restrictions of Rule 8.  The top insert only rule has prevented earlier, more stable, and probably easier foiling to happen if an L shaped main foil were to be fitted.  However, the very fact that it is less stable probably results in a faster boat and the need to raise windward foil, as would be the case of the higher drag L foil, is unnecessary and something a single-handed sailor’s workload can do without.

Fast Rigs .

The ‘A’ class rules allow you to do anything as long as the total area, including the mast, does not exceed 150ft2.  This area has traditionally seen the greatest developments in the past.  Shape is entirely up to the sail maker based on mast shape and flexibility.  The original masts were flexible tapered affairs as still seen on the Unicorn today.  But in the early 1980s the ‘A’ class moved more towards an untapered wing type mast which was able to be rotated, somewhat like the leading edge slat on an aircraft wing, and thus create the sail shape more efficiently and to adjust it to cope with the windspeed changes created by the apparent wind.   Techniques developed and composite masts began to appear in Europe about 25 years ago.  The sails design paralleled the mast designs. 

Initially they were fully battened but conventionally tapered towards the head.   Then, in the mid 1980s the ‘Fat Head’ sail appeared on the ‘A’ cat for the first time.  This lower drag high-aspect ratio rig, much like a glider wing, allowed and helped the boat to fly a hull much earlier downwind with the resultant reduction in drag.  Upwind, powerful 12:1 downhaul and 9:1 mainsheet systems could flatten the sail and when the carbon mast arrived, this was even more efficiently achieved.  As the sail area is the determining factor, not the shape, variations were tried at various times.  Really ‘Fathead’ sails, with the heads at over 1000mm were the thing for a while.  These required the leech to be cut away in a concave manner to conform the area rule, but now the more popular ‘800’ head offers a good compromise of power and heeling moment. Rigid wing type rigs were also seen occasionally.  Back in 1978, at the European championships, a wing sail proved unbeatable in light winds.  More recently designers, such as the US mast maker and ‘A’ cat ace Ben Hall, have experimented with a wing sails.  But, their practical handling off the water still proving troublesome.

The most current sail development is the ‘Decksweeper’ sail.  This is a sail that uses the trampoline as the end plate, making it more efficient, similar to winglets seen on airliners.  The sail has its centre of effort lower down, and thus reduces the heeling force created by the fatter head sail and is ideal for a foiling design.  The byproduct of this is that going upwind, where any heeling force, above just flying a hull, is not wanted with either foil design, is that it feels like you have another gear.  Now much more of the power is pushing you forward.  And this is usually sufficient to compensate for the higher drag created by the more complex shaped foils with their higher surface area.  So, faster uphill, faster downhill, what’s not to like?  However, the downside is that when it’s not foiling conditions, the decksweeper is less powerful and thus the C board, or ‘Classic’ boat is still king.

The decksweeper was first tried on the ‘A’ cat in 1987 in Australia but proved to be unbeneficial compared with more conventional designs.  It was tried again a few years ago, by former World Champion Mischa Heemskerk, who was interested in exploring it again on a more modern boat design.  The trials were inconclusive and the project was shelved for a while.  Then 2015, in the search for more power but with less sideways pressure, as required by a foiling boat’s need to be sailed flatter, he reappeared with one at the 2015 Dutch Nationals and wiped the floor with everyone, including Glenn Ashby, who was there getting ready for the Worlds a few weeks later.  But you can’t keep that friendly little Aussie down for long.  When he arrived at the Worlds, he’d simply chopped one of his older sails down along the leech, and sewn an extra bit onto the bottom to reach the tramp.  This was enough to get him back on track speedwise, and in a variety of conditions, he managed to beat Heemskerk by an increasing margin each race to retail his World title.

Much design work was done over the winter of 2015/16 and two of the major manufacturers both produced more optimized designs.  The Polish Exploder came out with their Ad3, with a design input from the Spanish based D3 Applied Technologies design team.  The other was the Holland Composites DNA F1 design.  A radical looking boat with advanced aerodynamic features and a fully carbon fabric stiff trampoline.  Both designs have proved to be game changers and with little to choose from as regards performance.  Misch Heemskerk won the 2016 Worlds on the F1 with Darren Bundock 2nd on the Ad3.   Both designs foil earlier and are more stable when doing so making them easier to control.  It would appear that the design curve is starting to flatten out again now as regards hull and foil design with these two boats setting the standard of performance. 

The ‘A’ Class Future

The two foil types are causing a little debate within the class though.  Although all the boats measure as ‘A’ Class cats equally, the foiling/floating thing appears to irk some in a few national class associations.  Some want separate races for foilers, claiming that is not fair now to race both on the same course.  A movement to start a ‘Classic’ class of non-foiling boats has been suggested.  But, most associations simply prefer to split out the results and run a parallel results system.  And, at those lighter wind events, or in areas like Southern Germany, you don’t hear many complaints. 

New foiling boats arrive and older second hand straight or C board boats find ready new homes with some being converted to a foiling configuration with new foil cases and rudders, whilst others are sold to the encouraging number of new sailors entering the class.  This is often the best place to start, as it’s not actually a hard boat to sail initially. (The class has a minimum of 5kts and max. limit of 22 kts of wind for racing)  Beautifully fast and responsive yet without many of the unpleasant characteristics that some other cats will catch you out on, e.g. the long bows tend to reduce pitchpoling. The added benefit of being 75kg makes it really easy boat to handle ashore; a true single hander, the only thing where you might need someone else’s help for 2 minutes is with stepping the mast.

The next jump looks like it will be in rig design.  It’s open design rules means that it will continue to see innovation and development within its rules as yet more ways are found to make them go even faster. Their ability to be altered, modified and improved will also continue to see the ‘A’ cat being used as a test vehicle for design ideas on larger boats.  Who knows what is around the corner designwise, but the ‘A’ cat should be able to meet the challenge.

Ita Yachts Canada

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Demystifying yacht classification A, B, C, D

N.B. For your information, a more recent article was published on 24 Oct 2022 on the same subject, click here for direct access.

Demystifying yacht classification :  Class A, B, C and D

Since 1998, CE certification is required for all recreational boats entering or being sold in Europe obliging boat manufacturers to respect certain building and security standards.  Therefore, yachts ( boats ) are classified into four categories depending on their aptitude to confront navigational conditions taking into account both force of the wind and height of the waves.  The categories are not to limit the area and distance of navigation (that is defined by security equipement onboard) but  to  sensitize the owner and/or captain of the boats capacities to navigate in complete security.

Let us start with the Beaufort Scale.   A scale for classifying the force of the wind ranging from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane).   It was devised by an admiral in the British Navy, Francis Beaufort, to uniform the description of the effect of different winds at sea.

There is a direct link between the Beaufort scale and boat classification.   For discussion purposes, we will use only the 6, 7 and 8 forces.

A Class A yacht ( boat ) is a vessel that is built to navigate the open ocean and surpass a force 8 on the Beaufort scale and surpass waves higher that 4 meters.   These yachts are constructed to be self sufficient in hostile seas.

A Class B yacht ( boat ) is a vessel built to navigate on the offshore waters (200 miles and less) and can substain UP TO force 8 and waves UP TO 4 meters.

A Class C boat is a vessel built to navigate inshore such as lakes, rivers, bays and close to the shore and can sustain UP TO force 6 and waves UP TO 2 meters.

A Class D boat is built for protected or sheltered waters such as canals, rivers, small lakes and sustain a force 4 and waves UP TO .3 meters (less that 1 ft).

With this said, you can understand that the Class A yacht ( boat ) respects a rigorous building code more so than a Class B and so forth.    But regardless of the class, it is strongly discouraged to navigate in a force 7 for the reasons of safety and comfort as « pleasure » should always be on the agenda.  Always consult the weather forecast prior to leaving any port and check hourly the weather situation.

Classification is very important and should be on your question list before purchasing any boat or yacht.

Classification rules are developed to assess the structural strength and integrity of the essential parts of the hull, the reliability and function of the propulsion, steering systems, power generation and all the other features installed on board which contribute to guarantee the main essential services of yacht.

Also for a class A, the portholes will be more resistant against a sustained wave, the drains to evacuate the water more abundant and of good size, the joints of the hull more hermetic, in short everything is in place to prevent water from s’ infiltrate on board.

By way of information, let us quote for example all the Ferretti yachts (60 to 96 feet), Pershing (60 to 115), the Riva (44 to 122) are all of class A just like the Magellano range at Azimut including also the 66 Flybridge.

Ferretti yachts (500, 550, 670 fly and over), Pershing (7X and over), Azimut Yachts (62, 64, 66, 68 Fly and over, the Sport Series 7X and over, all Magellano) are Class A.  There are also other classifications such as RINA and American Bureau of Shipping, Bureau Veritas, Det Norske Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, Lloyd Register, that are more precise regulations and we will cover this later in another article.

Below is the graph of the Beaufort Scale along with photos.

Do not hesitate to contact us for any additional information, team Ita Yachts Canada is at your disposal.

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Engineering:International A-class catamaran

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The A-Class Catamaran , often abbreviated to A-Cat , is a development class sailing catamaran for singlehanded racing. [1]

• 1 Background
• 2 Specifications
• 3 Current situation
• 5.1 World Championships
• 6 Class websites
• 8 References

The class was founded during the late 1950s and was part of the 4-tier IYRU (now World Sailing) approach to divide up the sports catamaran sailing scene into 4 separate groups. These A, B, C and D classes were governed by a very small set of class rules to which each design had to comply. [2] In the beginning it was just:

• Maximum hull length
• Maximum overall width
• Maximum sailarea

All boats designed and built to these specs would be grouped into one fleet and race each other for crossing the finish line first.

The A-Class is the largest remaining of those 4 main classes. The ‘B’ class was a 20 ft twin hander with 235ft2 of sail and developed into the Tornado and a few offshoots such as the F18.  The ‘C’ class was another twin, but at 25 ft with a 300ft2 rig, has become a super sophisticated monster and the pinnacle of small cat design that races for the Little America’s Cup.  The ‘D’ Class was 32 ft and a sail of 500ft2 with three crew, but rapidly dwindled away.

Specifications

The official organisation for the A-Class catamaran is the IACA (International A division Catamarans Association).

The A-Class rules were expanded over time to prevent the cost of these boats from rising too high and to ensure fairness in racing.

Currently the main A-Class rules are: [3]

• Min overall boat weight : 75 kg / 165.3 lbs
• Max overall boat length : 5.49 m / 18.3 ft (= still the old IYRU rule)
• Max overall boat width : 2.30 m / 7.5 ft (= still the old IYRU rule)
• Max sail area incl. mast : 13.94 m 2 / 150.0 ft 2 (= still the old IYRU rule)

In handicap racing, the A-Class catamaran uses a Portsmouth Yardstick of 681 in the UK [4] or a D-PN of 64.5 in the USA. [5]

Current situation

The A-Class design has over time converged to a single sail rig using a lightweight carbon mast of about 9 meters length and using lightweight pentex or Kevlar sailcloth. The hulls and beams are often made out of carbon fibre as well, although homebuilt wood or composite materials are still seen on the race circuits.

In the decades since their foundation, the A-Class has gathered a significant international following and it has class organisations in many countries around the globe. Their world championships often attracts around 100 boats and sailors. It is also a class that still contains a significant portion of homebuilders, although their numbers are decreasing with every year due to the skills required to make a competitive boat. However, nearly all A-Class sailors tinker with their setups and boats. As it is a developmental class and the rules do allow so much variation, it is paramount that a top sailor keeps experimenting with new setups and generally tries to improve the design even more. Because of this general character of the class, the A-Class is often leading over other catamaran classes in terms of design development. Over time these other classes copy new findings for their own setups. Examples of such developments are: the carbon mast, the squaretop mainsail, the wave-piercer hull design and in general the use of exotic materials.

In 2017 with the advent of practical foiling designs, the IACA divided the class into an Open (Foiling) division, and a non foiling Classic division for boats with straight or C-shaped foils, and with different class rules to prevent foiling. The two have slightly different SCHRS handicaps, the Open being 0.978, the Classic being 1.008. This allows close racing to continue, and many older boats are still competitive on the Classic circuit particularly.

Apart from the list below of some of the commercial builders, the A-Class catamaran can be home-built:

• Bimare (Italy) ( https://web.archive.org/web/20120823064200/http://www.bimare.org/ )
• Aicher-Egner Technologie GmbH (Germany) ( http://www.flyer-acat.de/ )
• Marstrom (Composite AB Sweden) ( http://www.marstrom.com/ )
• Scheurer Design & Eng. (Switzerland) ( https://web.archive.org/web/20130424015358/http://www.d3-a-cat.com/ )
• Scheurer Bootswerft AG (Switzerland) ( https://web.archive.org/web/20120705062433/http://www.scheurerwerft.ch/scheurer/ )
• VectorWorks Sail (USA)
• Wingfox (Poland) ( http://www.wingfox.pl/ )
• DNA (Netherlands) ( http://dnaperformancesailing.com/ )
• Vision (Netherlands) ( http://www.catamaranparts.nl/ )
• Nikita (Germany)
• Exploder (Poland) ( http://www.exploder.info/ )

World Championships

Class websites.

• International A-Division Catamaran Association (IACA) ( https://www.a-cat.org )
• Australia ( http://www.a-cat.org.au/ )
• Austria ( http://www.aaca.at/ )
• Belgium ( http://www.baca.be )
• Brazil ( https://web.archive.org/web/20131214165019/http://www.abca.esp.br/acat/default_por.asp )
• Denmark ( http://www.a-cat.dk )
• Germany ( http://www.a-cat.info )
• Great Britain ( http://www.a-cat.co.uk )
• France ( http://www.afcca.org )
• Italy ( http://www.classeaitalia.it )
• New Zealand ( http://www.a-class.org.nz )
• Netherlands ( http://www.a-cat.nl )
• Poland ( http://www.katamaran.sopot.pl/aklasa.htm )
• Sweden ( http://www.a-cat.se/ )
• Switzerland ( http://www.saca.ch )
• Spain ( http://www.adecat.com )
• United States of America ( http://www.usaca.info/ )
• List of multihulls
• ↑ "BACCA - BACCA British A-Class Catamaran Association" . http://www.eyeforlife.com/acat/?file=kop1.php .  
• ↑ "Australian International a Division Catamaran Association" . http://www.a-cat.org.au/history.html .  
• ↑ "Danish A-Class Association" . http://a-cat.dk/prog/class_rules.asp?Language=&Menu=2 .  
• ↑ "Portsmouth Number List 2012" . Royal Yachting Association . http://www.rya.org.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/technical/Web%20Documents/py-general/2012%20listv3.xls .  
• ↑ "Multihull Classes" . US Sailing . http://offshore.ussailing.org/Portsmouth_Yardstick/Current_Tables/Multihull_Classes.htm .  
• ↑ "Home" . http://www.aclassworlds2015.it/ .  
• ↑ http://www.acatworlds2016.nl/
• ↑ "A-CLASS WORLDS 2017 – A-Class World Championship 2017 Sopot" . http://aclassworlds2017.pl/test/ .  
• ↑ "Sailwave results for A-Class Catamaran World Championships 2019 at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy17th to 21st August 2019" . https://www.sailwave.com/results/wpnsa/2019_A-Class_Worlds/results.htm .  
• ↑ https://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=23423
• ↑ https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/Aclass#!/results?classId=Acat

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Build , Life

A Class catamaran – rigging

By telleropnul, February 14, 2021

An A class catamaran has:

Mast rotation

There is a 30cm long horizontal stainless steel ‘arm’ on the bottom of the mast that has a rope connected underneath the trampoline cleated on top of each hull.  The idea is to restrict the mast from over rotating when sailing upwind.

When sailing downwind you leave the rope that restricts mast rotation uncleated as you want the mast over rotated to create more belly in the sail:

Harken outhaul system: https://www.harken.com.au/content.aspx?id=3910

Harken outhaul.pdf

My 38mm diameter boom needed a mounting plate for a small block.  I decided to design and 3D print one:

There is a small block inside the boom for a 2:1 ratio on the outhaul.

No changes were needed.  A single continuous rope comes out of each side of the mast and is secured using a pivot cam cleat on either side.  The downhaul connects to the bottom of the sail through a small block and then hooks onto the bottom of the mast for a 2:1 ratio force lever.

We are using the Harken – A Class – 2015 Cascade mainsheet system.  Compared to a traditional 6:1 ratio mainsheet system with two 3 pulley blocks the cascade mainsheet system has a 3:1 ratio horizontal mainsheet section coupled with a 3:1 ratio vertical mainsheet section at the end of the boom.

Traditional 6:1 ratio mainsheet

Tip: it is always a good idea to purchase blocks with a becket (anchor point), even if not directly needed.

Harken – A Class – 2015 Cascade mainsheet system.

This is the 2152 at the end of the boom.  It contains the shackle connecting the outhaul to the clew of the sail.  The boom moves freely in between the dyneema rope:

This is the second 2152 that bolts onto the metal hoop bracket of the traveller:

This is the 2149 closest to the two 2152 blocks.  It connects to the same outhaul shackle as mentioned previously.  Again, the boom slides freely in between the dyneema rope:

This is the mainsheet itself including the 2149 that slides along the middle of the boom.  The 6mm diameter 2.6 meters dyneema ending in a small eye feeds through the blocks mentioned earlier.  The 8mm diameter 10 meters of blue/white rope goes forward to the mast.  The roller of the 2149 block should face forward towards the mast:

Note: buy 3 meters of 6mm dyneema to allow for eye splicing.

This is the HSB411 at the gooseneck of the mast.  One rope around the mast, one rope around the boom (and a short bit of rope to pull it down – not shown):

The blue/white rope feeds through the HSB411, goes back to where it came from, feeds through again and then goes to the trampoline.

And finally the 2149 located on the trampoline.  Note the metal ring that needs to go onto the mainsheet before it connects to the block to make sure the rope stays on the HSB411 properly when the mast rotates. I have tied the metal ring to the shackle for now so I don’t forget.  The metal ring is tied to the boom with a short bit of rope near the outhaul cleat.

UPDATE: I have since replaced this 2149 block with a ratcheting block (Ronstan Orbit ratchet block).  Also, the ring has been replaced with a small block.

UPDATE: I am getting better at sailing my A class catamaran and a 6:1 ratio mainsheet cuts into my hand a lot.  The ratio is not really a problem, but I would really like to be able to cleat / uncleat the mainsheet when sailing upwind.  So I upgraded to a single Harken 40mm Carbo Block with Cam Cleat & Becket HK2646:

I use the surplus tail from the downhaul rope to keep the double block pulled down.

The mainsheet feeds into the traveller and is tied around the center of the rear beam in between two stainless steel ‘Tonneau Cover’  buttons for a continuous loop.

Carrick knot

These Harken blocks do not use metal pivots / shackles but instead have rope spliced directly onto the block or use short bits of tie-off rope instead.  I use two loops of 3mm diameter polyester rope (black/blue) for this purpose (comes on a 20m mini spool).  The knot I use to tie the ends together is a Carrick knot.

Splicing dyneema

This is how a basic Brummel eye splice is constructed:

This is the easy part; feeding / hiding the tail inside the core is the difficult part.

Brand new Dyneema rope is coated in wax which makes it stiff and smooth,  This helps with splicing.  Instead of “splicing fids” and a “D splicer tool” I simply use a ballpoint pen.  Just keep the clear plastic outside and cut it in half.

I use some heatshrink tape to connect the rope to the end of the ballpoint pen and after some practise I was able to perform proper Brummel eye splices using this instruction video:

If I have to feed the eye loop through the rope I use a cable-tie tied to the eye loop to make life easier.  If the other end of the rope is open still, you can perform a Brummel splice without having to feed the eye loop through the rope.  This also allows you to braid the rope directly onto a block.

Feeding the tail through the core of the rope is a bit difficult if you have not done this before.  Using new waxed rope is best for a first attempt.  A ballpoint pen cut in half, some heatshrink tubing and bunching up the outer rope is all it takes.  Try to get a clean pass through the outer rope without catching any loose fine fibers of rope.  It is best to push rather than pull when feeding the tail through the core.

The popular Hobie16 trapeze setup:

Stainless steel cable from the mast to a handle and pulley.  A rope is connected to a dogbone on one end.  On the other side of the pulley we find an adjustable nylon rope lock as stopper to adjust the height of the trapeze. The tail of the rope is then semi permanently attached to a shock cord using two sister clips.

The shock cord is often zig-zagged underneath the trampoline.

The adjustable Nacra trapeze setup:

Sleeved dogbone.  Nacra trapeze block.  Cam cleat.  Barrel bead end stopper.  The small black clip on the rope is to ensure the cam cleat stays vertical when you pull the cord:  The tail of the red rope would normally be connected to the shock cord running underneath the trampoline.

On my A class I want something that is simple, reliable and (on beforehand) adjustable.

Let’s have a look at the nylon rope lock:

This can be adjusted on shore and even on the water when sailing, just not on-the-fly, which is fine.

I would however use a different knot:

If I wanted I could even use a Ronstan barrel bead and a stopper knot (not adjustable):

There is a stopper knot that you are supposed to use with barrel beads called the barrel knot:

I have ordered 10 meters of 3MM Dyneema (blue).  SK75 can hold 200kg+ and SK 78 even more.  I could replace the stainless wire going up the mast with dyneema, but what I have currently suits me just fine.

I will tie one end to a Ronstan sister clip using an Anchor not.  The other end is tied to the dogbone.  Do not use a Bowline or Half hitches.  Use an Anchor knot for this.  There is no need to splice here but you can if you want.  3mm Dyneema has a small diameter – I was hesitant to but in an eye splice.

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• Sailboat Guide

A Class Catamaran

A Class Catamaran is a 18 ′ 0 ″ / 5.5 m catamaran sailboat starting in 1962.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

The A CLASS CATAMARAN has undergone a steady evolution since the rule was first established in 1962. Dimensions listed are class limits, and beyond these few restrictions, the class is fairly open.

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Published on August 27th, 2017 | by Assoc Editor

Staying at the Cutting Edge, the “A” Class Cat

Published on August 27th, 2017 by Assoc Editor -->

With the end of the ‘A’ Class Catamaran World Championships, seeing Stevie Brewin (AUS) crowned for his third title, now is a good time to reflect on what has been happening in the ‘Formula 1’ of small sailing cats over the last couple of years. The development class, conceived in late 1950’s, is never standing still.

Back in 2015, at Hellevoesluis, Mischa Heemskerk (NED) arrived with a revamp of an earlier sail shape he’d developed a few years earlier. The Decksweeper sail was designed to give the power lower down on the sail and thus keep the boat flatter. But, for displacement boats, the sail needed to give the boat some heel when going downwind, doing the ‘wild thing’ and flying a hull, reducing the drag for the best speeds.

He dropped the design back then, as no discernable benefit was observed. However, as a result of America’s Cup designs filtering back down to the ‘A’ Cat, and the advent of the foiling daggerboards, with their winged rudder systems, the need to keep the boats flatter became much more important. So, in the May he turned up at the Dutch Nationals and wiped the floor with the fleet. Beaten by some margin that weekend was one Glenn Ashby (AUS).

Fast forward to the September and to Punta Ala for the Worlds. Both sailing for the DNA factory team, Ashby had gone home, simply chopped a chunk off the top of an older sail and stitched on the same area at the bottom to create a decksweeper. In the ensuing regatta, he beat Mischa in every race, and by an increased margin each time. The decksweeper was here to stay for foiling boats.

The debate then started as to the foil design and to which shape was the best for whatever. This was made much more interesting by the famous ‘A’ class rule 8, which stated that, all foils must be inserted from the top of the hull. The tips underneath to be no closer than 1.5m apart, and at no time during insertion and operation was any part permitted to go outside the 2.3m maximum beam. Of course, the class was free to decide to abolish rule 8, but it was decided to keep it in the narrowest of votes at the World AGM in 2015.

Fears of all sorts of wild board shapes and the ‘law of unintended consequences’ where boats could just become twin hulled Moths or something were averted and the very clever people in the class set about doing stuff, but all within the rules. The current shape is the Z foil, with subtle variations in shape, profile and longitudinal placement being fine tuned. Rake systems are becoming simpler and adjustment easier, at least when compared to the early pioneer’s designs. A variant has since filtered through to the Nacra 17 now too.

In late 2015/early 2016, two of the leading manufacturers suddenly released new models to the surprise of the class. First was the Polish Exploder Ad3. Designed by Spanish sailor and designer Gonzalo Redondo, it was a new take on their earlier A13/14/15 designs, but with altered beam and mast foot positions, the foils were move further forward and the hull shape altered to incorporate more fore and aft rocker to allow lower foiling lift off speeds.

It was an immediate success commercially as it was noticeably easier to foil compared with the earlier designs that relied upon considerable circus skills to balance the boat and avoid that crowd-pleasing wipeout.

Then the Dutch firm, Holland Composites, unveiled their stunning looking DNA F1. The prototype was in a clearcoated black carbon finish. Huge attention had been paid to the aero package on the boat. The beams had streamlined fairings to smooth the airflow over the trampoline. The tramp itself was made from carbon cloth and was stiff with a taut fabric under tramp.

Everything was hidden inside this sandwich, all the lines, and control sheets within this. It was sealed to the hull, so no air would escape upwards and created a tunnel hull effect. Even the tiller bar joiner was aero designed to be in the lee of the rear beam. It looked like a rocket ship. And sailed like one too in the hands of it’s co-designer Misha Heemskerk. He was simply untouchable in the 2016 Worlds in DNA’s back garden at Medemblik. However, costing more than the average Mercedes C class, it was a rich boys play thing indeed.

Foil shape and rudder tip shapes are still being played with, but the latest developments look to be in rig design. The deck sweeper, with its lower centre of power has been fitted on mast cut down from the original 9m to about 8.3. This allows the bottom to get wider and further add power lower on the sail.

The new World Champ, Stevie Brewin, has been sailing in AUS with this rig setup very successfully.

However, he frequently sails in more breeze at his club and on the AUS circuit than many European and US sailors. He elected to use the full rig at Sopot for this very reason. Another school of thought is that this would just end up with a Laser sail in the end.

Tall, high aspect ratio may be the other way to go in the end, as we may not realize how efficient the ‘A’ cat rig actually is for it’s weight. Most use this sail with a curved carbon boom, however Stevie has developed a boomless variant that works just as well, if you know how to use it.

The ‘A’ cat fleet and World Sailing has now officially designated two boat types as variants within the same class of boat. The non-foiling, or Classic, as it is officially called, has many more sailors than the sexy young foilers now seen at the front in such regattas. However, the international class association, IACA, has been keen to bring them all back into the fold under it’s protective wing, rather than let them all wander away muttering under their breath.

They now have a separate official handicap in both the SCHRS and PY systems. Many older sailors greatly enjoy the racing in the Classic fleets. Circus skills and super bendy legs are less common amongst these experienced veterans, but they still want to come to the party.

Also, the Classic is the ideal starter boat for the class. By learning all the skills and tuning techniques that this technical boat demands, they provide the best foundation course available. Many National associations now run parallel rankings for both fleets, and the race on the same courses. But beware of them in the light stuff. Classics will often get a win, as the much higher drag of the foiler’s underwear is a considerable slowing problem.

Now things are settling down a bit as far as platform designs are concerned. The Swiss manufacturer of the Scheurer G7 has been developed by the SUI sailor Sandro Caviezel, who has designed an extended empennage, filling in the space between the rear beam and the hull stern. This is designed to smooth the airflow out from under the hull and reduce drag further. Seems to work too in the higher winds.

But at the 2017 Championship, there was no groundbreaking technological development that trumped the rest of the fleet. The sailors had caught up with decksweepers, Z foils etc., and it looks like it is back to good old fashioned sailing skill. The new techniques have been mastered by many of course, but the racing was far closer than it had been for the last two years.

This year, a few figures stood out in the fleet. Local Polish sailors Tymuk Bendyk, Kuba Surowiec and Maciej Zarnowski were all up with the pace. Tymuk particularly loved the heavy stuff and he has sailed in those waters since the age of seven. Kuba likewise was always on the pace. Maciej put in solidly good results, until his starboard bow was neatly severed in the first race of the windy Wednesday, rendering him out of contention despite getting redress for that race.

Mischa was always going to find it hard to retain his crown. His F18 World title has taken time away from his ‘A’ cat training, plus the lack of regular training partners didn’t help either. In the end, his campaign was probably over in race 2, when he capsized at the bottom mark whilst chasing Stevie, then fatally miscounted the laps, and put in another one.

Despite giving it everything, it cost him 29 places and the title. Darren Bundock (AUS) was on equal points with Stevie after the qualifiers, being in separate fleets and both led. But when they met in the medal races, the student beat the master. 5th was his final finishing position. Manuel Calavia (ESP) was awesomely fast. He showed great pace in the previous weeks Polish Nats by winning the event.

However an OCS on race 2 hurt him fatally as it turned out. 10th was his eventual position. Dave Shaw (NZL) was the surprise find of this regatta. His hard work and training paid off spectacularly, and he was in the running to be on the podium until the last day of racing. And in the Classics, Pontius Johnson (SWE) on his black Marstrom was 22nd overall in the 125+ fleet.

With something for everyone, Sopot didn’t disappoint. Monday was a lovely 12-14 kts. Tuesday was 8-10, so marginal foiling was had, but it increased nicely later in the day. Wednesday was a full-on 17-19 kt blast with 3ft waves to match, but by the afternoon’s first medal race, it had moderated somewhat. But it was the Thursday racing that put pay to several podium hopes.

On a light wind day, in the second race, most of the hotshots took the left of the course in a light and shifting wind. Those who were forced to tack off at the start, due to being in dirty air or bad positioning, found themselves on the right of the course and in a huge shift and increased pressure, giving them all the jump on all the superstars over on the left. The lead was almost 2 mins in many cases.

Bruce Mahoney (USA) made the most of his opportunity and led for most of the race, being overtaken by Stevie on the last leg, but with a virtuoso display of light airs foiling, Bruce pipped him to the bullet by a boat length. Only Stevie had managed to claw his way back to the front. All the other title challengers were left languishing in the thirty and fortysomethings.

Before the regatta, it was predicted that the best reader of the wind would emerge at the top. Brewin was that man. He was equally comfortable in both the heavy and the light stuff, master of all the techniques needed to clinch his third World title. He is a truly great sailor and deserved his win.

The next big international events are in 2018 in July at Warnemünde GER, then the Worlds in Hervey Bay AUS, November 2018, then to Weymouth UK in August 2019.

“A” Class Catamaran Website

2017 A Cat Worlds Event Details – Results

Source: Gordon Upton, Editor, A-Cat.org

Tags: A-Class Catamaran , A-Class Catamaran World Championship

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Complicated at 2022 A Class Worlds →

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Inside the Class: A Cats

• By Dave Reed
• Updated: February 19, 2017

If you want to geek out on high-tech singlehanded catamarans this week, the place to be is St. Petersburg, Florida’s tiny Spa Beach where nearly 40 A Class catamarans and their tweaking-obsessed owners have encamped for the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta this weekend. Scattered across the grass park next to the beach are generations of these sexy high-performance catamarans, each of them on display like antique car show. Want to know more about any one of them? Just go ahead and ask. The cool cats love to talk cat sailing.

The divide among the newer “foilers” and “floaters” as the traditional A cats are now called, is almost equal here at the NOOD Regatta. Drawn to these singlehanders are like minded sailors that simply like to sail fast and challenge themselves with a platform that will reward no matter the condition require skill across all conditions.

This includes guys like Matthew Keenan, of Highlands, N.J., who joined the ranks of the foilers last year. While most A-cat sailors here likely cut their teeth as floaters, Keenan, who is winning the class after two days of racing, went straight to a foiler. “I did a lot of sailing in my earlier years (in the early 2000s) and then I kind of stopped,” says Keenan, a tugboat captain. “I went to school and did a lot of kiteboarding and then I saw that foiling developed and thought I need to get a piece of that.”

He picked up a second-hand foiling boat (new foilers can retail for $25,000 and up), and has been a quick study in the art of flight, which requires exhausting physical and mental stamina, especially when winds are light to marginal. When it’s windier, the foilers fly easier, but staying on the boat through high-speed maneuvers remains a constant battle. Capsizing, they’ll tell you is slow. Real slow.

Still, one of the most difficult aspects of racing in the mixed class can be going up against the classics, says Keenan. “Upwind everybody’s pretty much the same speed,” he says. “If the foilers can stay airborne and get going downwind they’re much faster and we can sail relatively the same angle downwind so we pull away pretty quickly. So upwind there about the same but downwind with foiling conditions we can pull away.”

When it’s marginal and choppy, however, it’s hard to get up the course against the floaters. They may be slower, he says, but “they have the best VMG over the course whereas we’re just reaching back and forth just trying to work the boat up on the foils. You can end up sailing in the totally wrong direction for a half mile before you realize it’s not going to pay.”

This absentmindedness and tendency to find oneself well overstood is due to the inadvertent mind control that takes over once aloft. It’s a mental condition described to me by one A Cat devotee this morning: “It’s just so damn fun, I find myself not caring at all about where I finish.”

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eXploder AD3 is A-Class sailing catamaran – one of the fastest singlehanded sailing boats on the water. The eXploder A-Class cats have been in production since 2013 and in that time won a staggering 6 World Championship titles and 15 Continental titles Since it’s conception the eXploder platform has been improved over and over again. The focus behind the current boat has been aerodynamics. Optimised hulls and foils / rudders / daggers are constantly being tested and improved.

OPTIMISED DAGGERBOARDS/RUDDERS OUTLINES AND PROFILES

Tweaked and tested foils are not only incredibly fast, but also easy to control. This is a race-winning combination. When a customer buys a new boat, it is always provided with the latest, fastest, tested foils / rudders / daggers.

FOCUS ON AERODYNAMICS

Hulls, beams, double-layered trampoline, hull-beam connections – all these parts are optimised for drag reduction. Together with D3 Applied Technologies we’ve ran countless tests and CFD simulations to try to understand where the biggest efficiency gain lies. This is not a hydro story anymore, it’s a flying object! Also the whole package is designed to be very clean and as visually appealing as possible.

EASY ANGLE TRIM

All the foil trimming systems are clean and easy to operate on any course, allowing on the fly trimming, including rudder differential in either displacement of foiling mode.

All boat elements are designed to be durable, failure-free and easy to operate and manufactured using the latest in material and technology

READY TO SAIL

The eXploder AD3 is provided with all needed systems and even trim markings making initial boat set-up intuitive. To go out on the water, everything what is needed is to put a mast on, insert foils / rudders in their slots, hoist a sail and attach a Cunningham and a mainsheet.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PROVEN

In our business the only way to determine performance is through results. The eXploder AD3 has won 6 World and 15 Continental titles in the last 7 years.

DESIGNER / R&D TEAM COMMENT

“The AD3 2020 model is the result of over a decade of learning, testing, failing, succeeding at times, and overall, developing these boats. With the previous platform we made some compromises from a design perspective, enabling us to build test boats over the years with different board and beam locations. It has been a very successful platform, widely used by the majority of the class. However, in the last couple of years we have been considering changing the daggerboard cases, but in order to respect our philosophy, that would require a new platform. So last year we tested a few systems on the 2019 AD3 (carbon traveller car, rudder differential, etc), and prepared the grounds to design a new model in 2020.

You have limited opportunities to design a new platform, and in most projects, new ideas sometimes fade away in the design process as we face boatbuilding realities (materials, tooling, custom hardware, etc). On this model we were given plenty of freedom in terms of shapes and surfacing, and for once this was maintained until the end. The aero-package of an upwind-foiler is one of the main drivers of performance, and this boat is very clean in that aspect.

We took the opportunity to update the foils (Z42) and the rudder elevators. We not only changed the rondure and planform but also the family of foil sections following the most recent design tool developments. As of rudder lift control, we can sail now with a more extreme rudder differential. Righting moment is the horsepower of any boat, so this is a huge performance gain, particularly upwind.

The rest was our typical process of designing a racing boat: countless design iterations, CFD for aero and hydrodynamics, VPP iterations to update polars etc From a hydro point of view, this hull is designed as a foiler, so we ended up reducing the volume, rocker and freeboard of the hulls. Interestingly, we managed to reduce drag at lower speeds (2 hull downwind and non-foiling upwind).

The bar was set as high as it gets with it’s predecessor but we are 100% confident that the AD3 is another step towards the ultimate performance. “

Aksay History Museum

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Aksay History Museum - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (0.02 mi) Rinn Rise Resort Hotel
• (0.40 mi) Budennovskiy Guesthouse
• (0.49 mi) Hotel Virgo
• (0.51 mi) Aksai Guest House
• (0.55 mi) Zhdanova Apart
• (7.55 mi) Pinot Noir
• (6.30 mi) Drago Steak House
• (5.97 mi) Cafe BAGET-PASHTET
• (6.87 mi) Cow Bar & Restaurant
• (7.45 mi) M. Olivier Bistro

Holy Hierarch St. Dimitry of Rostov

Commemorated 28 october/10 november.

Holy Hierarch St. Dimitry was born in 1651 in the settlement of Makarov, within the confines of Kiev. At his Baptism, he was given the name Daniel. His father Savva, also known as Tuptalo, was a regimental centurion [i.e. lieutenant]. Daniel enrolled in a school in Kiev, and from his early youth manifested great zeal dedication to prayer and study, preferring reading books and listening to pious conversations, over playing noisy games with his companions. Over the years, this only intensified, and at the age of 17, with his father’s blessing, he entered monastic life at the St. Kirill Monastery. There, as he became ever more resolute in faith and piety, Dimitry (the name he was given at his tonsure), also assiduously continued with his studies, and learned a number of languages. Possessing God-given intellect and talents, he used the gifts given him by the Lord for good, and like the faithful servant spoken of in the Gospels, he multiplied the talent entrusted to him, using it in the service of God and for the benefit of his neighbor. He preached the Word of God in Kiev, Chernigov, and in various monasteries, was an abbot at the Maksakov and later the Baturin Monasteries. His sermons attracted a multitude of listeners, and buttressed Orthodoxy in regions where close and frequent interaction between the local populace and the neighboring Papists had caused it to waver somewhat.

Soon Dimitry was called to perform a different labor. There was a need to assemble a collection of the Lives of the Saints. Metropolitan Makary had long since begun the task of collecting the Lives of Saints from various sources and assembling them in his great volumes of the Menaion. Later, Metropolitan Peter Mogila of Kiev expressed the desire to publish them in language more accessible to all. However, he died before he could accomplish his goal. Now the Metropolitan of Kiev was looking for someone to whom he could entrust that task. He settled on Dimitry, who was already renowned for his piety, erudition, and industriousness. Dimitry began this useful work while he was abbot of the Baturin Monastery, and gradually worked on it over the course of 20 years – as Archimandrite in Chernigov and in Novgorod of the North, and then as Metropolitan of Rostov. In that Menaion, he assembled the lives of the Saints for each day of the year, a task for which we owe him a profound debt of gratitude.

Meanwhile, Peter, the reigning Emperor of Russia appointed Dimitry to be Metropolitan of Siberia and Tobolsk. However, the Hierarch’s poor state of health, as well as the task he had undertaken, prevented him from setting out on the long journey to Siberia. Accordingly, he was reassigned, to be Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl. Remembering the Savior’s statement that of one to whom much is given, much will be required, Dimitry in his new exalted rank, he worked even more assiduously to care unstintingly for those entrusted to his care. He used his own funds to build a school in Rostov, oversaw the class work, and when his complex schedule of activities permitted., often taught there himself. He tirelessly strove to explain Christ’s teaching through lectures and homilies, and set a good example by his temperate, God-fearing, and honest way of life. A person who was kind, compassionate, and accessible to all, he helped his neighbor by all means possible. He would eagerly impart advice and instruction, would visit the sick, and would be generous with gifts of food and clothing to the needy, keeping almost nothing for himself. Thus, at his death, he left nothing but his holy books.

The endless activity imposed on St. Dimitry with his new rank did not prevent him from zealously continuing the work of the Menaion; moreover, he also wrote many religious books, prayers, and liturgical hymns. His new position demanded ever greater efforts on his part. Around this time, out of sketes in Kostroma, Nizhegorod and the forests of Bryansk, schismatics began to disseminate erroneous interpretations of the Word of God, and with their false teachings brought confusion to those who were not firmly established in the Faith and in the Law of God. Dimitry presented convincing arguments in his sermons in opposition to their unjust and incorrect teaching; he also criticized them in writing, and pointed out what constituted the truth. His most remarkable composition in opposition to the schism was his “Investigation into the Bryansk faith."

On account of those spiritual labors, the Holy Church glorifies him, calling him a zealot for Orthodoxy, rooter-out of schism, the Russian star that shone forth from Kiev and shone through Novgorod of the North, came to Rostov: a man of golden oratory, a teacher who through his teachings and miracles enlightened the entire land. Death came to the Holy Hierarch at an early age. In his 58th year he fell ill and, although the illness did not appear to be serious, and did not worry anyone else, he sensed that his end was near. On the eve of his death, he called together his choir, and attentively listened as they sang his own composition, “I place my hope in God, Thou my God, Jesus, Thou art my joy.” He dismissed all but one of the chanters – who had assisted him in transcribing his compositions. For a long time, he talked to him about life, and about the responsibilities attendant to being a Christian. Then he dismissed him as well. Escorting him to the door, St. Dimitry bowed low before him, and thanked him for all of his service. The chanter said, “Holy master, [why] are you making such a profoundly deep prostration before me, the least of servants? The Metropolitan again made a prostration, and repeated, “I thank you.” Then he knelt in prayer. The chanter returned home with a sense of mournful premonition. Early in the morning, the tolling of the bell announced the passing of the Holy Hierarch who was found dead, still kneeling in prayer. This occurred in Rostov in 1709.

Years later, the Holy Hierarch’s honorable relics and his vestments were found to be incorrupt, and in 1763, at the direction of Empress Catherine, were transferred to a silver reliquary. Since that time, a multitude of faithful have come from all over Russia to Rostov in order to bow down before the relics of the great Holy Hierarch.

The Church of St. John the Baptist, Washington, DC

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