Isn't it the same as asking, "Who is the best F18 sailor?"

I'll have some butter on my popcorn, please!

seems like the S hasn't hit the fan as many expected. I think the sailors using this forum know that it is the sailor in the class, not the boat.
HOWEVER, I am not going to give up my right to blame my crew for not being as fast as the other boats in my class

EVERYONE

I HAVE DESIGNED

THE FASTEST

BESTEST

COOLEST

AND ULTIMATELY

SEXIEST

F18 EVAR!!!!!!!!!!

BEHOLD - MY DRUNKEN CREATION!

http://www.velocitysailing.com/?p=40

I will go ahead and answer this one, and you will all agree, the BEST F18 is the one you are sitting on at the starting line! The one you just bought and brought out to play! Don't sweat it, just get a boat and get out and race it. The results are all over the map, which means they are all pretty equal, as it should be, the better sailors are winning, regardless of manufacturer. It's not the boat.

"BESTEST

COOLEST

AND ULTIMATELY

SEXIEST

F18 EVAR!!!!!!!!!!

BEHOLD - MY DRUNKEN CREATION!"


Whats with that bow. Are you aiming to slice your opponents in half or trying to keep the spray off your face?

p.s. did anyone know that a sailor is also a hat?

sailor.
sail·or ( P ) Pronunciation Key (slr)
n.
One who serves in a navy or works on a ship.
One who travels by water.
A low-crowned straw hat with a flat top and flat brim.

refer: Groupama3

on crack.

yes, what would an F18 on crack look like... probably doesn't have any teeth and all the expensive parts have been sold off and you are using hemp rope for line


did a google search on Groupama3.. sketchy 105 feet!!!!

Looks like a mini "Titanic".

Good grief, I go to sleep for 8 hours and nothing has happened. here goes.

F18 is racing class so the best one is the fastest. The Tiger won the worlds so must be the best. AT THE TIME...

F18 is also a developement class and things move on. If you buy anything other than new, you are not getting the best.

If you buy a newly developed boat that has not raced, you have to trust the designers and manufacturer.

There i said something that was not meant to be facetious

Paul [infusion #?]

I have to say I am VERY disappointed in all of you. 12 hours in and noone has said anything particularly contentious - I think I'm going to ask for my money back on this one!

I could always just throw a little fuel on the fire with this statement from Nacra:

"Nacra F18 Infusion.
In Formula 18 racing, all producers have to try to top of the racing results and therefore on top of the market. All sailors know that Formula 18's are innovative racing machines and therefore will continue to change to meet the demands of the market.The Nacra Infusion is made with the latest production technology and hull design by a company famed for quality production. The Nacra Infusion is the most innovative sports catamaran on the World market.
The Nacra Infusion is the only production catamaran that is made with infusion technology."

OK - more popcorn, please!

As said before, the best F-18 is the one you are on......

However the fastest F-18 is the one that Bundy and Gashby are on

OK..... Hobie Tiger has won every F-18 Worlds with the exception of one. That was won by a Cirrus.

Now (popcorn ready)..... A large part of Hobies success is because of the sailors on them.... They have taken the smart route by employing Olympic Tornado campaigners to race. With minimum cost to them they are riding the wave of Government and private sponnsor funded training and sailor development..... The Olympic pros are indead in a different league to other sailors and it was a very smart move on Hobies behalf to utalise them..... Other manufactures should take note.

Now if you take out the top Tornado sailors from the results and then have another look....... Both the Tiger and Capricorn are very solid performers. With Booth and Bundy removed from the finishing results, the Capricorn was the next best placed boat in 3rd and a Capricorn was leading the event outright until it OCS in the last race and threw it away. This was also the Capricorn's 2nd Worlds after debuting at 5th in last years event...... Look out Tigers

The old NACRA...... well there is a reason why they updated the design.... The new boat is untested on an International level and will be interesting to see how it compares to the Capricorn and Tiger.

I also believe the Flyer showed good pace at its first Worlds.... Have not heared much about it since.

I don't really understand Nacra in this marketing strategy. To talk up a boat is one thing, everybody does that, but nacra is almost overconfindent. I would wait and see how the boat does first. The fact that they had to delay production (redesign the hulls ?) suggest that it was not all thay succesful straight out of the mould that they seem to proclaim. Hell, even the Cirrus F18 and Capricorn F18's went through several iterations before they got it right. And even then some will say that they are not completely there yet.

Designing a new and succeful F18 is by no means an easy task anymore, to much development has been done in the class and each new design has to do alot of tweaking before it is level with the former last new generation F18's

We'll see how the infusion will do

Wouter

Good point Wouter...
Has it been known for some time now that the Capricorn is the fastest boat up wind, but easy to pitch pole down hill? The tiger however, is the fastest boat down wind. Therefore the skill of the crew is the deciding factor (boring is it not..). Read this in the last Yachts and Yachting- before you all tear me to pieces I mean..

What is the difference between resin infusion and vacuum..... If nothing, I think you will find many classes use it such as T, A, Taipan, Capricorn and many more......

Marstrom are the #1 quality manufacture on the market and a specialist in prepreg nomex honeycombe hulls and spars baked in an autoclave. Look out if Marstrom decided to join the F-18 class.

Isn't that pretty much inevitable? More 'when' than 'if'?

With the status that Marstrom has and the rapid acceptance and growth of F18, Marstrom's involvement is surely bound to happen. The only problem is they'd have to learn how to build a heavy boat first......

I think Marstrøm has their hands full for the time being. Building Seacarts, VX-40's, dinghy equipment, spars etc. etc.
If the Europe-spars business declines now when that class is out of the olympics, they might have time to look at other markets.

If Gøran and Torbjørn decided to enter the F-18 market, the boat would no doubt be fast, but imagine the price! S-glass pre-preg hulls are _very_ expensive, just look at the Tornado.

Stephen

The difference between vac bagging and resin infusion is not so great, with infusion the stack is laid in the mould dry then a bag put over it and a vacuum applied, then a pipe is taken from the bag to a bucket of resin, the vacuum pulls the resin out of the bucket and into the mould, it is distributed around by a series of channels and the laminate is wet out, when it's all wet the pipe is closed off and it's left to cure.

With vac bagging it's all wet out first then bagged down to consolidate it, results are very similar, but infusion uses a bit more resin and is quicker.

You can't build f18s in pre-preg it's against the rules.

regards

john

I like it, now go build it.

Henry Elliot will cut the foam for your mold using your cad file.

Go do it man.

Bill

This is just an example of the Nacra boys not doing their homework. Other production boats using infusion technology that went BEFORE the nacra infusion. Boyer A-cats, Capricorn, Blade F16. Those are the ones I know of; if anything they are only the 4th builder to start using this technology for their production. A far cry from "... the ONLY ..."




In that case, everybody hold on to their wallets !

Wouter