Originally Posted by Ventucky Red
Originally Posted by JACKFLASH
Absolutely not!!! That is the dangerous talk that is helping to divide what is left of the I20 fleet. Besides, I would bet money that if I put Tomko or Mischa on a Tiger and borrowed their boat, they would still whip me. The older boat designs are dated, no doubt, but they can still be competitive in certain conditions. As far as I know the Tiger still enjous a pretty active Tiger One Design class.


This is apple to oranges as to what is happening to the Inter/NACRA 20 Class. There you have a bunch of sailors... well maybe two or three owners to be realistic, that want to pull away from the OD class and make this a Formula or an Open Class. And to be frank I don’t blame them for doing this. I ordered a new set of centbaords for my 20 back in December, and from what I understand they are still not available from NACRA….glad to see the factory is 100% behind the fleet and glad I sold the boat last March.

I do agree that you can take a top notch competitor and put them on any platform and they’ll win, and the one design option is always there, but OD is not F-18 sailing and this is where the most action is. Hell I use to watch Brad Lackey show up at our local MX races with an old tired enduro bike and smoke the likes of a Jeff Ward, Rick Johnson etc… back in the day.

Put it in this perspective, you own a 2003 F-18 with better that average sails etc… and you show up at an event where there is a bunch with the latest Infusion, Wildcat, Capicorn, newest sail designs and the other go fast bells and whistles. During the race you constantly finish at the back of the pack and you know you’re better sailor that what your race results state… What do you think is going to go through your head the next time a race comes around?

I know what you’re thinking, time to upgrade if you want to win.. Nope not an option… some of us have mortgages, college & retirement funds, and a life outside of sailing that eats up a good portion of our entertainment dollars. Or sail harder and more often…again revert back to the statement a life outside sailing!

My opinion, this would help build the class, get more turnouts for the races (think entry fees and what it cost to host a regatta) and make it fun for those of us that are casual racers.

Yep it seems the portsmouth rating could be adjusted for allot of boats. On the last leg of the Gt300 team Chums on an I-20 was quoted as miles ahead of the of the group but was passed by Cirrus R F18. The rating system shows the I20 at .593 and the F18 at .624 yet with a few miles ahead and according the numbers a faster boat Cirrus R beat him by 13 minutes? I did not hear of any boat problems with Chums and they have sailed the GT for years and leg 4 is Lee's home port and he is very skilled sailor so what happened?
If the newer F18 were the same as older one there would be no reason to buy a new one. So people with more money have an advantage its does not mean you will take first if you buy the newest F18 sailing is a skill even an art.
I almost forgot people are having trouble locating boards for the Infusions so keep NACRA's superior customer service in mind when narrowing down your choices.