I recently bought new boards for my Nacra 5.8 NA (I belive they are the same boards that the Nacra 6.0 uses). The old boards had the rope-type stopper, with a line run through two holes near the top of the board used as both a handle and to keep the board from dropping through the trunk.

The new boards are the same length, but have a cut-out at the top, presumably for use as a handle, and a rubber stopper further down to keep the board in the trunk. The new setup appears to loose about 4" of draft on the board, potentially affecting up-wind performance.

Has anyone else noticed this? Does it matter? Has anyone made modifications to get that draft back?

I believe the class rules dictate board dimensions - or at least say that you cannot allow the cut-out handle portion of the board to go below deck.

You're right - the relevant portion of the class rules is as follows:

"3.5 DAGGERBOARD.
The top of the daggerboard may not be inserted below the deck level. Hand holds in the daggerboards may be added. The bottom of the handholds will then be considered the top of the daggerboard and may not be inserted below deck level. No part of the daggerboard or daggerboard well may be removed or added for the purpose of varying rake. All daggerboards manufactured by Nacra are legal for racing except ones which require modification of daggerboard or daggerboard well to accommodate them."

Maybe if I cover up the handholds it'll be as if they never existed. I certainly never asked the factory to give me a shorter board that adds deck clutter.

how sure are you that your old boards were class legal? Could someone have modified the location of the through rope? My 5.2 boards had the same through rope but they still stuck up considerably at the top of the hull - you mentioned additional deck clutter with the new boards that leads me to believe your old boards go down considerably in the hulls?

I keep tearing the bumpers off of my 6.0 boards and I'm thinking about drilling them out and installing a piece of PVC tubing to put a through rope or a double sided solid "through" bumper in them.

My old boards stuck up about 1" when all the way down. The new ones will stick up about 5", if I don't modify them.

My old boards are identical to the boards of the other Narca 5.8s I race with, so I assume that they came from the factory like that in 1991.

Faced with the same problem, I simply removed the rubber stoppers (which quickly disintegrate and start digging holes in the deck, as well as in the crew's backside), and put rope through the handles. Other local boats did the same thing. Nobody complained about legality of this "modification".