Gough’s class of his own

CHAMPION Hobart yachtsman Rob Gough is a man who likes to achieve fast sailing speeds on the water, and last weekend he was hitting some high marks at the world championship for A-class catamarans.

Sailed on Hervey Bay off Queensland, the worlds attracted big fleets for the A-class foiler catamarans and the classic division for conventional A-class boats.

Naturally, Gough chose the foiler version for his move from the small foiler Moth class, in which he excelled and, more recently, from the SB20 sports keelboat class.

Following the SB20 worlds in Hobart last January, Gough bought his first A-class catamaran nine months ago.

He has provided some spectacular dashes across the Derwent River during the winter, his new boat lifting on its foils to achieve 19-20 knots to windward and 20-28 knots downwind.

“They are like a race car with no brakes, not as easy to control as a Moth,” Gough said.

In his first A-class world championship regatta against a starstudded international fleet, Gough placed 14th overall, third Masters, and eighth Australian competitor.

“I’ve no future plans with A-class … I just wanted to do a worlds in a foiling catamaran,” Gough said.

This spectacular regatta on Hervey Bay marks another seamark in Gough’s outstanding international career, including winning a sailboard world title as a teenager, Masters world champion in foiler Moths in 2017, a Moth national championship and a third overall in the worlds in 2012, and second in last summer’s SB20 nationals.

Emirates Team New Zealand’s Glenn Ashby won the A-class catamaran championship for the 10th time at Hervey Bay, following his 11th Australian championship win.

The Australian multihull expert dominated the fleet due to a combination of experience, boat setup, race and boat-handling skills, winning the worlds with six out of nine races.

The A-class catamaran is a development class of boat, where innovation and design continue to drive the standard and lessons of what makes a foiling boat fast. THE first stage of the redeveloped Margate Marina at Baretta is now open, with yachts and power boats moving into the initial 50 berths

All berths are complete with power, water and CCTV monitoring, providing secure berthing facilities vessels from 10m to 25m in length, protected by an attenuator/ breakwater that has been specially engineered for the site conditions.

The redevelopment of Margate Marina represents one of Tasmania’s biggest recreational boating investments and is a significant new addition to the Hobart area’s boating infrastructure, providing easy access to the famous cruising waters of the D’Entrecasteaux Channel and the Huon River.

Designed and built to Australian standards, the berths have very generous spacing between rows,