In California we had 6 Foxes on the water. All sailed by very capable sailors. The sailors seemed to like the boat very much. Sadly, they did not seem to give Brandon Wallace, sailing an I-20, too much worry. It was mostly due to the rig and sail area. They all came with comptips that were later changed out to full Alum masts. There was always a thought of making them "Turbo" (sail area to equal I-20) but that was going to cost each team about $1400 for the new sail. As the fleet was changing to Formula 18s Steve Myrter spent the money for the new sail. He was desperately holding on to that boat and had a hard time giving up on it. With the Turbo, he all of the sudden was on pace with Brandon but it was too late to revive the class as most of them went away to other parts of the world. It is a great boat for big teams. Steve and I raced one regatta together weighing well over 400 lbs total and won the regatta.

Sailing the New Nacra is very much like the Fox. I was pacing with Pete Melvin last weekend. I took out my Tiger and he was on the Infusion. We sailed outside in Long Beach which has pretty nice swells out there. We did one lap then changed boats. It took me a while to get acclimated to the way the boat sails but eventually got it. Roger Jenkins who was crewing for me has sailed the Fox a lot. He thought that the characteristics of the Infusion were the same as the Fox. I have not helmed the Infusion in winds over 20 but it seems that the boat would be more forgiving downwind, especially, as the bows do not like to stay underwater for very long.

Later,
Dan