finally a picture that lets us directly compare the Nacra F16 with the Nacra 17 !

Measurements on the foto, with the F16 being 5.00 mtr long, shows the Nacra 17 to be 5.28 mtr or 17 foot and 4 inches. Lets round this off to 5.30 mtr to be on the save side. As such it is exactly a foot longer then the F16. The F18 class rule limit F18 hulls to 5.52 mtr overall. or about 8 inches longer.

The distance from the keel line to the mainbeam / rearbeam appears to be identical, about 47 cm or 0.47 mtr in front and 41 cm or 0.41 mtr in the back. That is a good amount of beam clearance and I suspect the boats will handle chop well in this respect. Also the the length of the hull behind the rearbeam is identical with boat boats. Could it be that crosssection shapes of the hulls are identical too ?

The overall length difference appears to be evenly divided over extra distance between the beams and a longer bow section. The F16 has 1.97 mtr between the beams and the Nacra 17 has 2.12. That means halve the overal distance, or 0.15 mtr, is placed in the bow section. The F16 has its mainbeam at 55% hull length from the stern and so too has the Nacra 17.

This picture pretty much says it all, I think. First off all, you really have to line the two boats up to spot the difference. Thank God for the differences in paint jobs (and sailnumbers) or they would have been impossible to tell apart in the ISAF trail pictures. Additionally, I see lots of foundation for the claim that the Nacra 17 is a Nacra F16 hull after it has been scaled up in length rather then a Nacra 20C hull scaled down.


Click on the provided link to see a larger picture.