I don't think the M20 is supposed to be an F class is it?
Mike
Correct There is no F class for 20 footers. Nacra calling their new 20 footer F20 is just marketing... there is no buy in from other builders to the box rule that just fits their boat. It's also not clear that at 20 feet... a box rule is even needed since physics limits what you can do. Racing the M20, and F20, boat for boat will probably depend on the crew and execution... not the design box.
I think it's supposed to be a one-design Texel killer..an open portsmouth rocket ship! If that is the case, it really doesn't matter.
Mike
The M20 was designed to replace the Tornado for Olympic competition.... the idea was that on a WL course the sail configuration put a premium on Sailor Skill and that's what the Olympic competition was about... I was supposed to be a technically challenging boat to race. Since then... the actual buyers have modified and modified the rig to make the boat a distance racing machine (since there is no buoys circuit or a racing class for the M20's or the 20 footers in general). It is not one design by any stretch.
Nacra and Hobie have a HISTORY of producing class killers of their OWN classes. This is just another iteration of building another boat that's "updated". Nacra has already given the middle finger to the 20 owners.
Mike
I completely disagree with this conclusion. The nacra 20 owners screwed themselves. The notion that the nacra 20 owners could do it all ... Week long ocean distance races AND a viable buoys racing circuit proved to not be the answer to forming and growing a one design class. No visible leadership apart from the factory running a NA's for 10 plus years will do that. With just barely enough critical mass for both pursuits the top sailors slowly exited the loosely organized owners group and joined the slowly growing F18 class. Notice, you have no doubt what the F18 class priorities are ...
The factory builds boats and organizes one week long event a year. When the numbers of boat sales and racers attending the NA's falls below some threshold... The factory class is all but dead.... Nacra moves on....
You can't deny it's a nice boat, and it's fast, but it probably won't sell well here in the US. Not because of people being hesitant to go to a newer 20, but because of price, 30,000??? is that correct?
Mike
Your conclusion doesn't hold up. .... Melges built and promoted the Melges 20 in the last three years... It's a sport boat that is at least 40 to 50K. They already have more boats racing on a published schedule then any 20 foot catamaran in the world. The Viper 640 retooled with a new mast and a national race circuit and it's the sport boat class to be in the USA.
Owners buy into a PROGRAM... That would be boat plus race circuit. That's the take home of looking at the F18 in the USA... The boat is not fun under 10 knots (which is the vast majority of east coast sailing) yet the race program gets racers to buy in and go racing... (who cares if everyone on the water is going slow).
I know it's different in Europe, but here in the US, F16's are getting more and more questions. There hasn't been a new Nacra 20 sold in the Panhandle of Florida in a couple years, which has a BIG Nacra 20 fleet. And most of the new boats have been F16's. And, most of the Nacra 20 owners are asking about F16's.
I can see where he is coming from, and his opinion is STRONG, and he is entitled to it, just like all of us. Rather he is right or wrong is yet to be seen cause our class is relatively new. Yes, we can use some rule refinements, but that will come with age.
Just my OPINION so don't shoot me!
Mike
I conclude that the remains of the nacra 20 class and beginnings of the F16 class are finding common ground at the level of recreational club racing. The 20 guys will down size or not when the crew issues get to the level of PIA. The challenge is to make a recreational club racing program as viable as possible... What that means is the big question for F16's (as well as the N20's).
IIMO, In the USA... the Nacra F20 sales will depend on how many owners want a boat to go distance racing and the viability of the distance races themselves. Several events have died (C100) or barely survived (Hogsbreath and it's successors)moreover, other events are looking at leadership succession in the next few years (Tybee and Steeplechase).
IMO, the N20's should see the writing on the wall and organize all of the 20's.. Tornado's, Supercats, Nacra's Marstorms and the new F20 on a distance circuit under a very loose formula rule/ measurement
handicap rule. In order to keep everyone in the game for as long as possible, limit the number of new sails per year to be measured in.
IMO, The F16's should think about racing the single handers against the remains of the Nacra 17 fleet.... the competition is as much about managing the boat around the race course as strait line speed. The fantasy that the one up and two up F16's are fairly competing gets more extreme after each event. My hunch... after you look at the racing for single handers and double handers as separate issues the rules debate gets much easier.
Just my OPINION so don't shoot me!
