International C Class Catamaran Championship 2013, Paul Larsen writes of the battle to get the teams C Class catamaran to the starting line

An excellent article by Paul Larsen on the battle to get to the start line of the 2013 International C Class Catamaran Championship as part of the Invictus Team

http://www.teaminvictus.com/news_2013_11_08.html

A memorable event – the start is the biggest finish
Paul Larsen

Friday 08 November 2013

The 2013 ICCCC is now done and dusted and once again it proved to be a fascinating and memorable event. I'm not fully aware of what had transpired within the Invictus camp prior to our involvement this time but it was obvious that the team had taken on a lot (as they also had the responsibility of hosting the biggest C-class event in recent time) and that they were struggling. Getting a C-class catamaran ready for battle is a battle on its own so it was no doubt that running the event was going to be a huge distraction. "Struggling" is perhaps too soft a description for what confronted us when Helena and I drove up to Bristol on the 30th of August to see the state of affairs. We had had very little involvement prior to this but were curious to see how our old team were getting along. We wanted to get involved and actually I felt a little guilty for just waltzing up this late in the program. I soon lost that sensation.

A key delivery of major wing components had just arrived from overseas. They consisted of the flaps and the entire wing leading edge. We all decided that this would be a good time for us to arrive as we can be quite handy around the build side of things and finishing the details so the boat can actually go sailing. We walked into Dan Emuss' shed preparing to say hello to friends old and new and was greeted by a group of shocked and stunned people. I looked to my left at what was on the table and my mind raced to piece the scene together. For one reason or another the components that the team were waiting for had arrived in a form that was completely useless to us. The design and construction had changed so much that we simply had to write it off. There was now only three weeks to go until the actual race started. The wing build was already way behind schedule and now it had been dealt a death blow. We had a main spar with the ribs bonded on and that was it. No flaps, no leading edge, no hinges, or control systems...and no tooling to make the flaps or leading edge... oh...and next to no money.

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