For the design the Nacra team again joined forces with world famous design office Morrelli & Melvin from Huntington Beach, California as we have been doing for many years. Morrelli & Melvin are known for their America’s Cup involvement and many other successful multihulls projects such as: PlayStation, Gun boats and many others.
This design chosen for the Olympics results into:
- ■ Full compliancy with ISAF criteria
- ■ No interference with any other successful multihull class today
Wave piercing design
- ■ Wave piercing designs have a minimum draft resulting in a boat which has less drag and tends less to rock, creating a more constant high speed than conventional designs
Stiff platform
- ■ The Nacra 17 and the Nacra f16 are the stiffest production platforms available in their class, resulting in direct response in the boat and the energy of wind is maximum being transferred into forward motion
Light boat
- ■ The Nacra 17 being light for its length ensures superb handling on and off the water
- ■ Broader wind range during regatta’s
- ■ Resulting in a agile and therefore challenging boat to sail
Robust
- ■ Strongly build in epoxy/glass/carbon and therefore durable and long lasting
Modern rig
- ■ Powerfull carbon mast to ensure both safety (re-righting moment versus crew weight) and performance
- ■ Modern High aspect ratio cut sails
- ■ Easy power up/power down
- ■ Engineered by one of the most experienced multihull sail makers in the world
Curved foils
Nacra was the first company to successfully implement curved boards in production multihulls. Over two years ago we launched the Nacra F20 Carbon successfully. This boat is being regarded as the benchmark for heavy crew in over 20 feet market. Why did we want to have curved dagger boards for our Olympic submission?
- ■ Curved boards lift the lee bow out of the water reducing drag significantly
- ■ Creating pressure and therefore sooner hull flying and trapping
Sailing with curved boards extensively we came to additional findings:
- ■ Sheet loads are reduced
- ■ Crew weight less critical
The Nacra 17 results into a agile high speed machine giving both sailors and spectators a spectacular close racing fleet.