The NACRA 17 was designed from scratch to meet the specific criteria set out by ISAF for the 2016 Olympic multihull. entering these products,NACRA also produce a Formula 16 and a Formula 18 catamaran and we had initially considered entering these products,but with some changes in order to more closely match the ISAF requirements.
Since ISAF’s specification did not require the design to conform to any existing class rule, we were considering adding performance-enhancing features like a carbon mast and curved dagger boards. The F16 class and F18 class rules do not allow either of these features.
After doing some further research into the ISAF requirements and what was possible within this design space, we determined that neither the F16 nor F18 platforms would be ideal within the set ISAF criteria and for Olympic Athlete’s.
Since no existing design or class fits the ISAF specs, we decided to create an all-new design that is about 17 feet long, called the NACRA17. Compared to an F16 class catamaran, it is 250mm longer, 100mm wider, has a taller mast and more sail area, and curved dagger boards. Curved dagger boards are a relatively new technology that is quickly gaining acceptance in catamarans. They have been used mostly on offshore trimarans in the past, and used primarily as a way to increase longitudinal stability and shift underwater center of effort forward to prevent leeward helm downwind.
These trimarans all have center-hull straight dagger boards for upwind sailing. In the last few years curved foils have appeared on A Class catamarans, the NACRA F20 Carbon and SL33 catamarans, and some custom and limited production catamarans. All of these designs successfully incorporate constant-curvature dagger boards, commonly referred to as “C foils”. The innovation with the curved foils on catamarans is that they are used to enhance performance for both upwind and downwind sailing. Performance improvements with the c-foils have been well documented in the A class catamarans and c-foil equipped boats have won the World Championships for the last several years.
Other foil geometries have been tested on the A Class cats but so far the c-foils have proven to provide the best all-around performance and are by far the most user-friendly and practical solution.
For the NACRA 17 we chose c-foils for the following reasons:
Type: | Multihull |
No. of Crew: | 2 |
Opt Crew Weight: | 120 – 140 kg |
Designer: | Morrelli & Melvin / Nacra |
Hull Material: | GRP |
Year Designed: | 2011 |
Number of Trapeze: | 2 |
Hull Length: | 5.25 m |
Beam Length: | 2.59 m |
Mainsail Area: | 14.45 m2 |
Headsail Area: | 4.0 m2 |
Spinnaker Area: | 18.5 m2 |
Boat Weight: | 142 |
Pricing Does not include shipping. Shipping available upon request
Call us for more details and delivery quote at 252-489-3491