Hang on for a minute there !

When Jerry switched the F17 didn't even exist yet. This quote is of Jerry is getting better by the year, I do think we must put it in the right perspective.

I recall that Jerry switched mainly because the Nacra 17's had good fleet racing going on in the Michigan area while the F16's/Taipans did not. I fully support him in that decision and I also did back then. I do not recall he switched because of the reasons you write down. I think alot gets invented or added to Jerries quote.

The reasons you state about the nacra systems I find really funny. The F16's are (true) formula boats, we actively encourage sailors to modify everything to personal preference. If Jerry didn't like a particular system then he could and should have changed it.





And you guys are indeed having great net/forum promotion with it. CRAM is doing very well and it is very nice to see the owners being very happy with their new boats. I'm not going to talk down that. I always say publically that Nacra 17 is strong in the Michigan area, with very good fleet racing. Because that is true.






You had extremely light winds or some F18 sailors need some proper sail training, because there is no way that the nacra 17 boat is 5 minutes faster then the modern F18's in a normal 30 to 45 minutes bouy race. Especially not when teh nacra 17's had to work their way through a zone of dirty air when passing the fleet.






The only crew from Ned were Gunnar Larsen and his girlfriend Lisa, they never were World Champions.

Source :

1st WC F18 (2000) : http://www.f18-international.org/2000wc.htm
2nd WC F18 (2001) : http://www.f18-international.org/2001wc.htm
3rd WC F18 (2002) : http://www.f18-international.org/2002wc.htm
4th WC F18 (2003) : http://www.f18-international.org/koksijde_2003.htm
5th WC F18 (2004) : http://www.f18-international.org/puntala_2004.htm
6th WC F18 (2005) : http://www.f18-international.org/2005goldf.htm

Together with his brother Sacha Larsen, Gunnar was 20th at the last F18 WC and 7th Dutch team from the top. His current F18 ranking is 94 (taken over results in 2005). I don't think Lisa is even listed.

Source : http://www.f18-international.org/erl_listbyname.htm

His last Dutch F18 championship participation was in 2003. I don't think he sailed any championship with Lisa as crew before this Nacra F18 event. Still they appeared to dominate the Nacra F18 world championship with only Alex and Nigel staying close.

Source : http://www.nacraclass.com/PRW05/Results%20Day%205.htm


I'm sorry, no disrespect intended to any individual sailor, they are all good sailors, but the Dutch team was no where near being the F18 world champions. And even though they are currently the NACRA F18 world champions I think we would do well to realize how much deeper the skill level truly is of the many European teams that didn't participate in this event.





And that is very good because the EU I-17 is one slow boat. It has the questionable honour to be the only spinnaker equipped boat to be thrown in with the Hobie 16 / Prindle 16 open class fleets.





Is this proof of Matt ability to sail or the nacra 17 superiority ?




Very good, best of luck to your guys. Honestly.

On a different level however, on class building, I say your are about 4 continents and over 100 boats short. Growth rate is at best 1/4 of ours. I would love to race you guys in this arena as well, makes for a fun challenge I think. But you need to do better then you are doing now and I say that without any emotion. For me, class building is a game of strategy and I now got all the pieces of this chessboard were I want them. A few more years and the game will have been played and the outcome will be known. You'll have to enter the game now or it is just a matter of time.

Therefor I invite you guys to provide us with a challenge. I'm looking forward to that.

Wouter