I"m not going against Les opinion personally but I am going against clearly inaccurate statements.


Les wrote

-1- ... is a foot and a half longer ...

That is just not true. The Nacra 17's (all versions) were measured to be 5.24 mtr (17 ft and 2 inches) long on the hulls. One source for this info is www.texelrating.org. F16's are 5.0 mtr long on the hulls and that is 16 ft and 5 inches. Therefor the difference in length is LESS then a single foot, it is actually 0.24 mtr or less then 10 inches. Of course this is in turn is only halve of the quote "...a foot and a halve..."

We have an nacra 17 at my club and truly you have to line up the boats right along side eachother to actually see the difference in length. It is just that small.


-2- ... I think it is probably more durable than the F16 ...

This is stated as an opinion and there is no arguing with opinion. However, I do wish to underline that no real life experience is available to base such an opinion on. Neither boat has shown to break in a serious way due to wild weather or hard sailing. And the Taipan 4.9 (predessor of the F16's) now has a track record of nearly 20 years; The F16's themselfs having a record of over 5 years now. Opinions and other "gut feelings" won't change that. Sorry.


Wouter