ARE YOU A MAD CAT SAILOR? - THEN THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU!
This page IS NOT affiliated in any way to the UKCRA, or sanctioned by any governing body........
In fact it's quite the opposite........this is the alternative, the walk on the wild side, two fingers to the wind.....
It's the .......UK MAD CAT SAILORS CLUB........except that it isn't a club............
This is where you get to discuss your craziest ideas...........your maddest dreams.........and find that you are not alone!
So what is it all about?..............read on.....
This page is inspired by all the pioneering mad cat sailors out there - past and present.....
We can start with Hans Bouscholte.....a Belgian cat sailor who won the Inter 20 Europeans in 1998.....and then to celebrate, sailed his Inter 20 across the Atlantic Ocean.......he fancied a holiday in the Caribbean, but couldn't afford the airfare, so he bolted carbon wings on his Inter 20 - so he had somewhere to sleep - fitted a few "go-faster" accessories....like a hand cranked water maker, and a Code Zero kite, and set sail from the Canary Islands.......the rest is history....and he got his holiday (after a few days in hospital), and the transatlantic record for a sports catamaran.....
In 2001 he fancied a Sunday out.......and set off from the Hook of Holland to save the ferry fare to Harwich.......a slight cock up on the forecasting front didn't faze him at all.....much......he limped home under bare poles in a force 7....."good day at the office darling?"
There are plenty more.MCS's out there - past and present - starting with Mr Hobie Alter....who, much to the ridicule of his contemporaries, strapped two canoes together with a big sheet and went surfing.......can't remember when it was - I was only about 3 at the time, I was busy watching the Russians putting the first man in space.....
30 years later, Hobie 16's have been just about everywhere......Kilimanjaro, the Gobi desert, Trafalgar Square......I saw one on the M6 the other day.....
Are you starting to get the picture? Doesn't this make you all jealous? Ever wanted to be famous? Or even infamous....a legend in your own lunchtime?
Well there is only so much you can do with an organised event......if we have learned one thing from the USA....it's how to sue the ass off anybody that has a good idea........yet the yanks gave us the Worrell 1000......a 1000 mile race that started as a bar-room bet........."the hell I will!"..........no rescue, no insurance, no backup........just a couple of Hobie 16's and a lobotomy....
There's more to cat sailing than regattas, club sailing, holidays and championships.........a few people want to do something "completely different"................
So here's your chance - there are plenty of things that you can do with a modern catamaran........and you don't have to be totally crazy. All you need is a bit of imagination, a desire to achieve something different, and most importantly...a few mates to back you up and look out for you - safety in numbers.....
In the last five years, I have spent a lot of time at various events......and consequently a lot of time in bars.......and I have lost count of the number of harebrained schemes that have been cooked up in a drunken haze......
So here are a few.............there must be more.......
Holyhead - Dublin - race the ferry.....weekend
Liverpool/Heysham - IOM - Belfast - 2-3 days
Round Wales - north to south or south to north - 3-5 days
Round Anglesey - this has been done by cats before in a day - there is the Menai Straits regatta in August that features a cruiser race round the island - F18's and 20's could do that and benefit from the cruiser organisation.......nice weekend.
Then of course there is all the permutations of cross channel routes. the frogs run a cross channel cat race I read about once - Hans Boucholte the mad Belgian who took an Inter 20 across the Atlantic went for the Hook - Harwich record last year in an Inter 20 - and almost got killed......Dover Calais would be a walk in the park for most Cat sailors - the Piers race is 60 miles, and Dover calais is only 30!!
Spain to Majorca, round the islands, and back would make a nice summer holiday.....as would south coast to channel islands and back, taking in the Vikland Cup - http://viklandcup.free.fr/ would also be a wheeze......
The possibilities are endless!! Have you heard of any more?
Now these trips are possible, achievable, and survivable.......maybe not in the class of good old Hans, but hey...we all have to start somewhere.......
As citizens and taxpayers we have the right to buy a bath tub from B & Q, pack a toothbrush, and set off from Lands End to Venezuela, and if we sink in the first wave, well...that's life. The RAF may or may not pull you out.....depends on the photo opportunity......but the point is that far more crazy people put to sea with little or no experience, in craft that are wholly unsuitable, and equipment that would put Mr Heath Robinson to shame. Remember the news story about the bloke from North Wales who built a 20 foot "cruiser" in the drive of his council house......he eventually made the news when the coastguard had picked him up for the tenth time after running aground off Rhyl.....all he had was an AA road atlas.........IT'S TRUE!!
But Mad Cat Sailors are not like that....we have the dream, but we also have the reality - out craft are state of the art, our equipment is well maintained, we wear the best survival gear money can buy, we carry flares, cellphones, VHF radios, compasses and GPS......we know the dangers, we check the weather, we go as a team, and we tell Granny to dial 999 if we are not home for tea....
Wild horses wouldn't drag me to the southern ocean in a 60 foot skateboard, with only a carbon fibre plank to sleep on and 3 square baby food packs a day........so why do those crazy guys get all the attention? I want to be in the pub by 9 o'clock at the latest -
A Formula 18 or 20 can do a hundred miles in a good day - double that in a weekend - that opens up a lot of possibilities for some superb coastal and offshore trips.......It's not as if it hasn't been done before......
So is anybody interested? All it takes is a few like minded people and a bit of organisation - we've done the IOW and the Piers....who wants to sail to Jersey.....or the Isle of Man......or round Anglesey........it doesn't even have to be coastal.....I have always fancied sailing my Inter 20 up the Thames and under Tower Bridge.....or down the Mersey....
Entries on a beer bottle label please - to ron@gconnect.net and join the MADCAT FORUM on this website.