Coming soon

- Following our challenge in 2004 there has been a successful challenge by the Toronto based team of Fred Eaton. The challenge was a highly professional approach which was ultimately successful, however, this was in no small part due to the participation of Steve Clark and Duncan Maclane, owners of Cogito, who not only sold Patient Lady VI to the Canadians, but also gave a significant amount of detail on the Cogito rig.

The Corinthian sporting ethic, (so lacking in the Americas Cup!) is clearly alive and well in the world of "the Little Americas Cup" and it has been this aspect, as much as anything that keeps Team Invictus keen on remaining a part of this truly sporting community

The 2007 I4C was held in Toronto. A highly successful event, followed with masses of enthusiasm in the sailing world, with interest being shown internationally.

Alpha, the new Canadian machine took a lot from Cogito, but she was far from a carbon copy. The hulls were markedly different, and very clean in appearance. She was also lighter, with a lighter crew, and the rig, though functionally the same, was taller and thinner than Cogito

The platform was also different, having a higher prismatic coefficient and symmetrical hulls, the result was a well designed, well engineered and ultimately, the whole package was clearly up to the task of wresting the trophy off the Americans.

Most races were held in light wind conditions. The Canadians won 4-0, but the score was not indicative of the level of competition. Local knowledge clearly paid a part, and Alpha seemed to have the edge in boat speed in light winds.

It was only on the last days racing where the wind and waves picked up. Again Alpha was victorious, though in the heavier conditions, there was no clear boat speed advantage, the Americans losing through unfamiliarity of local conditions, but in reality, this race could have gone either way.

There was a second Canadian boat; "Off yer Rocker" (shortened to "Rocker") was a fully flying hydrofoil C cat, the first in I4C/ICCT history. There was a lot of expectation about this boat, but ultimately she was outperformed, not only by Alpha and Cogito, but also PLVI

This lack of performance was down to a number of issues, but basic cat design was not one of them, as she was almost identical to Alpha. Foiling expert, Rohan Veal also sailed her, and attempted his famous "Veal heel".

Foiling on a catamaran is not an easy task. George and Joddy Chapman appear to have answered many of the issues with Calliope and Ceres, and some of these designs still seemed to be better suited to C class cats than those predominantly Moth based solutions used by Rocker, nevertheless, it was a brave, and fully commited attempt by Fred Eaton and his team

Team Invictus will be meeting Alpha and Cogito on the water in 2010 in Newport RI. The host club will be the famous New York Yacht Club which promises to raise the profile of C class racing. The team will be developing Invictus in 2009 and 2010 with every intention of providing real competition for our colonial brethren.

©  Team Invictus Limited 2006