New F18 Catamaran "Capricorn" designed by Martin Fischer has a great debut

The new Capricorn was the centre of attention. It is the newest design from the pen of the Hobie Wildcat designer Dr. Martin Fischer, and is built in Australia by Performance Sailcraft (PSA). It showed impressive speed, taking first and third place and an older Capricorn with new PSA appendages second.

In first place, racing his new Capricorn with crew Pete Langman, was Chris Caldecoat, the General Manager of PSA.


Caldecoat was naturally pleased. ‘It was really fun racing. We had three race wins and a fifth and a sixth; two drops.

Because it was such short course racing it doesn’t take much for something to go wrong and you drop back. When we got our nose in front we were gone.'

Sailing the Capricorn - Chris Caldecoat and Pete Langman - James ogilvie Click Here to view large photo

'As we expected the Capricorn is constantly quick whether it is upwind, downwind or without too many major rig changes. Also its buoyancy. It is really safe downwind.'

'We were leaving our foils down the whole time; just constantly powering the boat up and moving forward. We have still got a lot to learn. We were quick and still learning and experimenting so the boats are getting quicker.'

While Caldecoat is a top 20 F18 sailor, he is generally not a podium player.

He was obviously pleased to win. ‘I have been racing the F18 for a long time but I have never managed to win a title and it has taken 12 years. I had to do it on my own boat.’

In second place was an older modified PSA Capricorn, with new PSA centerboard and rudders, sailed by Grant Rogers and Neil Moxon.
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