I've already stepped down from a 20 foot boat to an 18 footer. I'm not going to a 17 foot boat. Not only due to the size of the boat, but it's light and small making it even more sensitive to proper sailing crew weight. I'm pretty happy with my F18 and while it's heavy by F16 standards, it evens out the playing feild a little...and when two of us can no longer manage moving the boat around on shore, I need to quit anyway.

You can choose YOUR Olympic cat between the 7 of Santander on www.catamag.fr

You may be surprised at how complicated that decision can be!

Which is heavy by A cat standards... Where do you draw the line? Apples and oranges.

Jake, don't confuse weight with volume, my betting the new 17 alongside a F18 will be not that noticiably smaller and will carry two fully fit male crew no different than the F18. What you will get is that accelaration in the puffs from the much lower overall weight and semi foiling. Perhaps we should ask someone who has owned both an old N20 and the new F20C which boat they would sooner sail.

Macca I bow to better knowledge but I haven't seen a brand new F18 for a couple of years now other than at the F18 national champs where it was I think the Nacra dealers demonstrator. Would those same buyers stick with the F18's if a more modern class appeared and on the water was more fun to sail, I would suspect not.

As to business economics, yes they can make money by selling parts at grossly inflated prices in OD closed markets. Most business advisors would say that is not the best way to make money though as you limit your market to such a small cliental that your overall sales figures will be low. Has any manufacturer tried a get them out the door with widely available parts and change the model every two years other than the A Class which has a high initial cost, I can't think of any. By changing the business model maybe they would make even more money.

You need to get out more. I was at a regatta in FL last weekend, of the 11 F18's present, at least 5 were less than one year old!

I think he was talking about F18 Designs being 'old'. The Hobie Wild Cat F18 is pretty new, right? And that French Cirrus? How old is that design? And the C2 isn't more than a couple years old, right?

I think you guys are going down the Nuclear Arms Race track though, if you want a class that is dominated by a "New Design" every year.

I thought the whole point of Formula boats was to get the boats pretty even, and let the Sailors win the races?

But if a new design every year is what you want, the A class is available right now.

I doubt that the typical F18 crew fall into the 120-140kg weight range that the Nacra 17 is supposed to be optimized for. (or do most F18 crew sail with the small jib and spinnaker, or maybe you don't think that most F-18 sailors are "fully fit"? :-)

Somehow, I don't see "fully fit male crew" in the 160kg range jumping out of their F18s and into a boat that is designed for a mixed crew.

My wife and I don't even qualify for F18 racing because of the minimum crew weight rule.

That's why God invented the F16.

Better to ask... who they race their F20C (N17) against and how often?

If you are buying a race boat.. well... you need to trust the community that there will be races. That is why the F18 is going strong. to steal a phrase "It's not a fad"

The big regatta happening in Thailand could never happen in the USA. The 40 boats would be chopped into small OD fleets with separate starts. the two N20C's would be racing themselves. Very tough to grow from two boats.

Lord Wouter is laughing hysterically at this comment!

I'm glad you both got the joke!

Wouter, I bow down before you, and pray for your mercy.

Of course, I'm a Pagan..no, wait, a Wougan!

Went kiteboarding today because we had a regatta rest day... came in to the beach to find Nacra 17 hull #1 being assembled! The builders put together the boat in south Pattaya, then Coen and Gunnar met them with the 16s. All three boats sailed back to Varuna around sunset.

I have a few pictures, but will wait to post until Nacra releases images. It was cool being there (accidentally) for the champagne and first sail of the boat.

The boat looks absolutely awesome. The finish is beautiful, sails look good, and the curved foils are longer than those on the 20! Overall, it is a great looking package, and it was a privilege to help lift it into the water for the first sail!

Got an actual picture but no specs yet on the rig of the Nacra 17

http://www.facebook.com/multihull2016

Posted a couple photos to the Multihull 2016 Facebook page. They are from earlier in the day with more light. http://www.facebook.com/multihull2016

Guess NACRA liked the original AC45.

This indicates that the N17 was also designed by M&M.

Yep, M+M designed the platform...