The Tornado is a single wire boat and the Hurricane is a twin wire boat.

Before you sail the 5.9 you have an expectation: it will be fast, it will be on one hull quickly and it will accelerate fast because it is light for its size.

So what is it like:

Hurricane 5.9 Test Sail


We give the boat a final check - main up, downhaul set, free off anti-rotation and over-rotation, rudders up, boxes off, jib free. We take the boat down the slipway and into the water.

The helm gets aboard, clips on the main, I pull the boat forward, and push it hard across the wind sit aboard the beam and get the jib in as the helm drops the rudders I get the boards down and hook on. The cat gains speed rapidly and the first thing you notice is the way she cuts through the water.

We are entered in a race so we check our watches and go to the first couple of buoys to see how the tide and wind are running - we look for boats inshore to see how much the wind is turning as it hits the shore.

We head for the line, its an upwind start we stop and wait. 20 seconds to the start we gently pull in the sheets and we move forward a stealth sits in front of us but as we pick up we go down wind of him but unfortunately for him he isn’t big or fast enough as we hit him to blanket us and as the gun goes we pull in front of him.

In toward the beach and we go about - still not enough wind to get out on the wire we move swiftly both hulls in the water she is fast cutting through the water. We clear the wind shadow of the point and up she comes we are both on the wire. Up wind she is fast when flat but as she comes up onto one hull she doesn’t go faster a strange phenomenon but you can point higher at the same speed.

We are dead on the buoy so we go about and head wider onto a reach again we are flat and fast. I sit forward of the beam and the bow cuts through light chop. We are coming rapidly up to the next buoy we discuss going out or going in for the first down wind tack. We decide to go out so we free off the sails the jib by bardour-hauling the jib sheet.

Centreboards up, laying out along the lea hull infront of the beam I adjust the jib to the tell tails and we adjust our direction minutely to the wind speed and direction. We keep the speed up, jibe onto the other tack doing our upmost to not loose momentum through the turn.
We are just not going fast enough.....

We get the buoy on the fourth tack and tighten up to a reach. The sun is out and we fly along with only the crew out on the wire - the windward hull just kissing the waves.

At the next buoy we tighten up go into the beach go about and cross the line for the first time. We are very prone to fluff the upwind tacks. Its this that shows the age of the boat. Suddenly you remember why cat racers avoid tacking often and try to get the buoys in two.

Your instincts tell you this boat should be fast. It is light it cuts through the water well it is narrow so should get onto one hull quickly and therefore be quick - logic tells you a cat on one hull has less wetted surface and should be faster but it seems untrue. It is quit a complicated cat often sailed up wind by its downhaul. But it looses down wind.

One of the 5.9’s main disadvantages in the UK is its handicap which is set so high because its sailors often race Tornados in the Olympics - so in simple club racing you are at a disadvantage especially to those new boats with their made up PH’s.

I helmed the boat around the bay for a couple of hours while we played and adjusted everything. It is an easy boat to sail and going about is easy once you learn to get the crew to go aft onto lea side as you pull the stick toward you wait at the back of the boat until the sail has set and then go across as they move forward and get on the wire and tighten up.

The rule is don’t make a mistake up wind and go like hell on the reach ‘cause you are slow down wind and you need all the time you can make up to save you on this leg.

On the test sail we learned a lot - we like the boat but you can see why it has been sold on - White Formula make new better boats.

Along with the Dart 18 the 5.9 is history on the water.

Buying decision - money for new - buy a Fox, an iF-20 version of the Storm or an Inter 20 - money for secondhand - buy it - there are bargains about.