Nano. The beginning.

In May 2011 a new model of our A-class catamaran - WingFoX Nano will be launched.

We are going to advise you all the details of the new design in a series of articles.

For the start, just a few remarks on the main principles of the new design.  

Through observation of the recent developments in Class A we have come to the conclusion that what we need is to launch a completely new boat. From the start, we discarded the idea of having the old design modified and we decided to apply an entirely new approach to the design process. As a result of this approach, a completely new catamaran was created, both in design, technological and in materials respects.

At the onset we decided that our new catamaran will be capable of raising both hulls out of water while at the same time it will be easy to control, durable and safe. At the stage of forming assumptions these were independent of any constraints, whether regarding design or technology. We set to work on the assumption that human creativity has no limits and difficult problems are solved in due time.

And it was there where we came across the first problems. They came from the class regulations which cannot be circumvented. When creating laws, restrictions and bans, people move around in a world they are familiar with and can make use of their so-far experience. As it turned out later, this interdependence became our chief ally in overcoming the restrictions set out by the class regulations.

In our view, if Class A is to maintain its leading position in the future, it may not be muzzled by the new regulations that appear once and again. Class A owes its high position precisely to the fact that the class regulations are straightforward and limit the designers only to a minor degree. Progress in yachting takes place anyway, so the question is whether Class A will be allowed to fully participate in that progress. Excessive restrictions may cause the progress to evade our class and find its vent in other classes such as, for example, Moth.

The regatta character of Class A and the extensive competition among the manufacturers guarantee continuous advancement. Looking at other classes of large-hull boats one can boldly claim that Class A is the most sophisticated, while at the same time the prices of new boats do not differ significantly from the prices in other classes. Other large-hull boats, in particular the monotypes manufactured by the same producer, are not so extensively modernized and in time become archaic.

As we all know, nothing favours progress better than competition, both among sailing contestants and manufacturers. Time and again, a new leader springs up in this field and to match them it is not sufficient to catch up with them, they have to be defeated both in the regatta and in manufacturing.  This wonderful mechanism has been effectively driving Class A for years. In our opinion this progress may not be hindered through the introduction of more and more bans and restrictions. Can you imagine our class without such manufacturers as Flyer, Scheurer, Marström, Nikita or DNA? And would we be in the same place if we were sailing on glass platforms with aluminum masts?

All new ideas and new designs are ruthlessly verified in the course of the tough regatta struggle. There is no other class where some many new technologies and solutions are being tested. Only the proven ones can become widely known. All elements that fail to give an edge to a contestant are immediately discarded as a natural course of events. What speaks best for our class is that when someone begins his career with Class A he will find it difficult to change to any other boat.

Again in the history of Class A a certain era comes to its end. Last year witnessed an unbelievable  technological and construction progress, but this is just the beginning of changes.

The time shift gave us a huge advantage by providing an opportunity for observing and developing the earlier designs. The WingFoX Nano was designed with the application of the latest 3D software. The design contains every little design detail in order to allow quick and well organized manufacturing once the design phase is completed. The design work on the new boat was accompanied by designing the tools required to make all individual elements. The innovative design solutions open up a new era in Class A.

The approved design solutions guarantee minimized resistances, maximized speed, full functionality and absolute safety for the user. A very important aspect for us was the simplicity of operation. Anyway, a sailor has only two arms. To say briefly, ergonomics comes top. The currently implemented WingFoX Nano project not only crosses another limit, but also charts a new standard in the approach to building A-cats.

Read about this soon.