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Nacra Sailing

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Nacra Sailing is the brand name for a line of small catamaran sailboats, or beachcats. NACRA was founded in 1975 to tap into the market created by Hobie Alter the founder of Hobie Cat, and several other companies offering small fiberglass catamarans designed to be sailed off the beach by a crew of one or two.

NACRA is an acronym that stands for North American Catamaran Racing Association, and as the name implies, the company has remained primarily focused on racing catamarans from inception.[1]

History

Nacra Sailing was founded by sailboat designer Tom Roland who had previously designed the Alpha Cat, an 18-foot beach cat, in 1970. In 1975 he launched the new company with the Nacra 5.2, a 17-foot beach cat, which was an unusual design that featured plumb bows, daggerboards, and a highly tunable sail plan with a fully battened loose-footed main sail.[2] Many of the design elements of this first boat were carried over to the later designs as well as becoming common on other performance oriented catamarans.[3]

The company has gone through several ownership and name changes over the years, and acquired the competing Prindle brand in 1988. At that time the company operated under the name "Performance Catamarans" and relocated from Santa Barbara to Santa Ana, California. In 2007 the company was acquired by a group in the Netherlands and today operates as Nacra Sailing. An Australian-based licensee of Nacra Sailing has operated as NACRA Australasia since 1985 and also builds NACRA branded boats.[4][5]

Nacra Sailing's 20 foot boats dominated the Worrell 1000, a race the New York Times described as "A Tour d'France on the Water", throughout the 1990s, and were selected as only the second one-design for the race in 2001.[6]

In 2012 Nacra Sailing won the design competition held by World Sailing, the world governing body for the sport of sailing recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, for a new Olympic racing catamaran, the Nacra 17, which was used in the new for 2016 Olympic Mixed Multihull class, which requires one male and one female sailor per boat.[7][8][9] In 2017 it was announced that a modified version of the boat with foiling capability will be used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.[10][11]

In 2015 the Nacra 15 was adopted by World Sailing as a Youth World Championships class, as well as a new class for the Youth Olympic Games.[12][13] In 2016 British RYA selected the Nacra 15 as their new Youth Multihull boat, as well.[14]

Recent catamarans built by Nacra Sailing have included rudders and daggerboards shaped to facilitate hydofoiling at higher speeds, among the first commercial sail boats to offer this feature.[15][16][17]

Current and notable past models

Model Length Beam Weight Intro year Current production Race crew Description Designer
NACRA 5.2 17' 8.2' 350 lbs 1975 no 2 distinctive plumb bow Tom Roland
NACRA Blast 16' 8' 350 lbs 2001 no 2 designed at ISAF Youth Catamaran Tom Roland
NACRA 36 36.75' 16' 1975 no 3+ only 10 built Tom Roland
NACRA 18 Square 18' 11' 1979 no 1 distinctive 11 foot beam, uni rig Tom Roland
NACRA 5.5 Sloop 18' 8.5' 1984 no 2 same hulls as 18 Square Tom Roland
NACRA 5.5 Uni 18' 8.5' 1984 no 1 same hulls as 18 Square Tom Roland
NACRA 5.0 16.4 8.' 1985 no 2 boardless, boomless main
NACRA 5.7 18.5 8.5' 375 lbs 1984 no 2 boardless, boomless main
NACRA 5.8 19' 8' 390 lbs 1982 yes* 2 large 1 design fleet and *still produced in Australia Roy Seaman
NACRA 6.0 20' 8.5' 1988 no 2 designed for Worrell 1000 Roy Seaman
NACRA Inter F17 17' 8' no 1 or 2 Unirig with spinnaker or double handed sloop with spinnaker
NACRA Inter 18 18' 8.5' 1995 no 2 Nacra's 1st Formula 18 Morrelli & Melvin
NACRA Inter 20 20' 8.5' 410 lbs no 2 Worrell 1000 one-design, 2001[18]
NACRA F-18 18' 8.5' 2001 no 2 Nacra's 2nd Formula 18[19]
NACRA F-18 Infusion 18' 8.5' 2005 yes 2 Nacra's 3rd Formula 18,[20][21] three different generations were produced, including a convertible full foiling version Morrelli & Melvin
NACRA F-18 Evolution 18' 8.5' 2020 yes 2 Nacra's 4th Formula 18
NACRA 16 16' 8.5' 2011 yes 1 or 2 Formula 16 Morrelli & Melvin
NACRA 17 MKI 17' 8.2' 2012 no 2 Olympic Mixed Multihull for 2016, curved boards, non-foiling Morrelli & Melvin
NACRA 17 MkII 17' 8.2' 2018 yes 2 Olympic Mixed Multihull from 2020, full foiling Morrelli & Melvin
NACRA 15 15' 7.7' 2015 yes 2 ISAF Youth Multihull from 2016 Morrelli & Melvin
NACRA F20 Carbon 20.3' 10.5' 401 lbs 2010 yes 2 C-board, Skimming design with kick up rudders, Not Formula 20 compliant Morrelli & Melvin
NACRA F20 Carbon FCS 20.3' 10.5' 445 lbs 2014 yes 2 Full foiling design with J-boards and T-foil rudders Morrelli & Melvin
NACRA 460 14.8' 7.7' 2004 yes na recreational, no boards, three sail plans
NACRA 500 16.4' 8' 1998 yes na recreational, no boards, three sail plans
NACRA 570 18.5' 8' 1998 yes na recreational, no boards, three sail plans

See also

References

  1. ^ McMillan, Roger. "Nacra revolution - beach cats enjoy a return to the good old days". mysailing.com.au. Yaffa. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  2. ^ Fishman, Joanne A. (1 May 1978). "Multihull: Sports Car of the Sailing Set". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  3. ^ Museler, Chris (8 May 2016). "For Experience, America's Cup Teams Turn to Newcomers". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  4. ^ "Nacra Celebrates 30 Years of Excellence in Catamaran Design and Construction". thebeachcats.com. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  5. ^ "Nacra Sailing: Mission Statement". Nacra Sailing. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  6. ^ Lloyd, Barbara (4 May 1998). "A Tour de France, on Water". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  7. ^ "The Nacra 17 - A History L:esson". sailing.org. World Sailing.
  8. ^ Melvin, Pete. "The Choice". Sailing Anarchy.com. Sailing Anarchy. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  9. ^ "A Wild Beast to Tame: Olympic Nacra 17 Sailing". SailMagazine.com. Sail Magazine. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  10. ^ Nelson, Gunnar. "World Sailing confirms Nacra 17 Foiling version for Tokyo 2020". catsailingnews.com. Catamaran Racing News and Design. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  11. ^ Wong, Jonathan (18 Oct 2015). "Perfecting their craft". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  12. ^ "Youth World Sailing Championship – Multihull selection". sailing.org.au. Australian Sailing. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  13. ^ Johnson, Tim. "Nacra 15 selected as the next Youth multihull". Yachts and Yachting .com. YY Online Services Ltd. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  14. ^ "British Youth Sailing excited by Catamaran challenge". RYA.org.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  15. ^ Evans, Jeremy. "Nacra 20 Carbon". sailmagazine.com. Sail Magazine. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  16. ^ "Foiling Feeds the Mid-Life Crisis". Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Inbox Communications, Inc.
  17. ^ Heppell, Toby. "Boat test: Nacra 15". Yachts and Yachting Magazine. The Chelsea Magazine Company. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  18. ^ "Model of catamaran used in Worrell 1000 under fire". Savannah Now. Savannah Morning News. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  19. ^ https://www.sailingworld.com/sailboats/nacra-f-18-2002-boty-high-performance-day-racer/
  20. ^ Evans, Jeremy. "Y&Y Test: NACRA Infusion" (PDF). nacrasailing.com. Yachts and Yachting Magazine. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  21. ^ "F18: Nacra Infusion MKII". catsailingnews.com. Catamaran Racing News & Design.
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