Dave and Jake, and the rest of you with experience, How do you like the F18, and how does it compare with the Nacra 20? I've never sailed on either, but have sailed the N17, and think it looks like a smaller 20. I really liked the way the boat handled, but was sailing in fairly light winds. I was a little surprised at how wet a ride it was for such big hulls. Are the F18 and N20 similar in that regard?

The F18 has a tremendous amount more bouancy than the I17 (F17...whatever). Regarding dry riding, the F18 is probably comparable to the I20 - but they're all wet in the good stuff! Crewed boat around the cans, gimme F18. Singlehanded boat around the cans, gimme I17. Heavier crew around the cans or off shore racing, gimme I20.

The F18 handles very similar to the I20 and upwind this past week at PRW, when it was blowing 15-20, it seemed like our F18s had a slight speed advantage over the 20s going upwind...I was pretty surprised. Downwind was another story however.

I love my F18 and man what a ride! The boat took a beating and smiled! Upwind and downwind in the heavy stuff and 6' seas was not a big deal. However, reaching was terribly precarious in that stuff - kite or no kite. The I20 will handle a heavy air/sea reach much better.

Jake, Thanks! That's exactly the sort of info I was after! I'm so glad to hear you are happy with the new boat! Have you and Bonnie named it yet?

Can you compare the N6.0 to the I20?

I loved my 6.0 and It's hard to make a comparison in a brief statement. In an effort to make a quick reply I'm going to sort of ramble for a minute....

The 6.0 is taller off the water and harder to get back on than the I20 if you've found yourself in the water. The 6.0 has a smaller trampoline and the cross-trampoline jib wire is called "the cheese slicer" for good reason! The 6.0, in my opinion, is a 'bloodier' boat and there's more to scrape and scratch yourself on. That being said, because the 6.0 sits a little higher off the water it will stradle waves a little better. The I20, offshore in waves, will occasionally smack the rear beam on a wave - and it can be quite violent (back me up here Dave!). The big jib on the 6.0 makes it a high reaching monster and I believe the aluminum mast, which is more flexible than the I20's carbon stick, allows you more opportunity to depower. The 6.0 won't point quite as high as the I20 due to the large jib. The 6.0 is a great machine offshore but it doesn't have quite the forward buoyancy of the I20...in moderate offshore chop and the right wind angles, the 6.0 is probably faster. The I20 has more reserve for the heavy stuff.

The 6.0 is more forgiving at the helm than the I20. I remember the first time I helmed the I20 after having a 6.0 for a year or so...The I20 was shockingly twitchy and I almost put us in the water the first time I trapped out. To that point, the I20 is less forgiving and has a habit of punishing the crew for not quickly reacting to a puff. If you get knocked up hard (when you're trying to react with downhaul), the rudders will stall unless you ease the mainsheet. However, I understand that this has been made better with the new rudder profile.

I like both boats very much and both have their strengths and weaknesses. If I were racing on lakes and had a class to race in, I would prefer to stick with the 6.0. The 6.0 is a heavy handed speed machine...the I20 is a finess speed machine....kind of like Nascar vs. Formula 1.

No name yet....it will take some time.