New F18 makes its debut at Worlds in Poole

The new F18 NACRA is expected to be racing in the World Championships at Parkstone YC next week

With the F18 World Championship in Poole Bay, starting 15 July there is plenty of activity as the catamaran manufacturers and crews prepare their boats and in the case of NACRA, a new design.



Don Findley, the British distributor of the Inter18 is awaiting delivery of the first of the new F18 NACRA catamarans from the States where it has been in final testing. The original Inter18 is a 1996 design and although it has been, and still is, very successful with particularly good upwind speed, it was felt that improved downwind performance was required to continue to improve the breed.

In order to provide this a new F18 NACRA has been developed with hulls from the French designer Alain Comyn, these incorporate a new bow shape with increased buoyancy and with the front beam moved aft, again lightening the front end.

The sails have also undergone development - by Peter Vink at Performance Sails - and are now produced in Pentax rather than Mylar. Sail area has been removed from the foot of the main and added to the head resulting in a greater roach area within the same total sail area. The change of material has allowed the bottom batten to be removed and the lighter, stronger material results in a weight saving of around half a kilo.

The jib on the new boat has also undergone development and will be of a new self-tacking design; this was thought necessary to free the crew for better asymmetric kite handling.

The new boat is expected at the F18 Worlds being run by Parkstone YC in mid July, where Don hopes to have boats ready for Darren Bundock (AUS) Hugh Styles and Adam May (GBR), Gunner Larsen and Gerhard van Geest (NED) and Peter Vink (NED).

Hugh and Adam are keen to get sailing on the new boat and will be out testing at Poole as soon as they arrive; "I have only seen photos so far but sailing with the NACRA team and the new boat in the F18 Worlds is a great chance for us to compete against the best at this level," commented Hugh who thought that the high standard in the class would also help their Tornado preparation.

Even without the design hitting the water in anger yet, 40 are apparently already on order for eager owners in Holland. Similar keenness can be expected in the UK, especially if there is a good performance straight out the container at the F18 Worlds. Don expects the new boat to sell at around the same price as the existing Inter18, £9250.00

In further developments in the F18 formula, Dart is reported to have sold the Hawk rights back to the original developers, Reg White and Yves Loday. They intend to redesign their original Hawk to bring it up to the pace of the Inter18, Hobie Tiger and now the new F18 NACRA and produce it from a new company, White/Loday, early next year.

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