A Class catamaran Europeans begin in Spain with new top gate trial

Mar Menor gave the 2026 A-Class European Championships an immediate test on Sunday, with an official practice race that showed both the pace of the boats and the pressure on the race team. The Classic fleet was sent out first, while the Open fleet stayed ashore for a time to keep the start area from clogging, a small but telling sign of how quickly this class can create traffic even before racing for points begins. With 19 nations already represented on the water and 54 sailors signed up by the early-bird deadline, the championship arrived with the depth and speed that make every shift and rounding matter.

Racing is based at the Federación de Vela Región de Murcia centre in Los Alcázares, under the organizing authority of the regional federation, the International A-Division Catamaran Association, the Spanish A-Class Catamaran class, the Real Federación Española de Vela and World Sailing. The regatta runs from May 28 to June 5, 2026, with entries closing on April 28. The notice of race required all competitors to be paid-up IACA members and to hold the relevant national sailing license where applicable, made helmets mandatory in Open and strongly recommended in Classic, and barred Russian and Belarusian sailors as well as Russian- or Belarusian-owned or managed boats and entities. The class is also marking its 70th anniversary in 2026, with the A-Class defined by the association as 18 feet long, with 150 square feet of allowed rig area and about 75 kg minimum weight. The next global benchmark comes later in the season, with the 2026 World Championships set for Tampa, Florida, on November 9 to 14.

The headline development on the water was the new top gate trial, the first major A-Class event to use it for a year in place of the old top-mark and spreader setup. The idea is to give sailors a genuine tactical choice between port and starboard buoys at the top of the course and to break up the formulaic left-hand bias that can creep into racing. The practice day suggested the concept can work, but it also hinted that buoy spacing may need to be wider in stronger wind so the fleet has room to maneuver cleanly and avoid pile-ups at the mark.

That is why Mar Menor matters to this class. The lagoon is sheltered, but it is also a big piece of water where boats can disappear and reappear as they chase breeze, and that makes it a demanding place to read shifts and spacing. Sunday’s practice race did more than warm up the fleet, it showed who can manage the new gate, who can keep clear air in a crowded start area, and who already has the momentum for a championship that is likely to be decided by small tactical calls from the first mark onward.