Most of the sailors that I've spoken with that had sailed the Bimare 18HT's in the inaugural Tybee500 identified several weaknesses in the boat design when it comes to offshore sailing and were not interested in doing it again with the same boat. I've had a couple of days of experience with my Nacra F18 in 4' steep swell and 18knots that gave me indication that I might desire a little more hull volume in the bows if I had to try and reach in those conditions. With the spinnaker up, the boat had to be driven much more conservatively than one would with, for instance, an I-20. Basically, the F18 has proven to be a lot more tender in heavy wind and seas with the spinnaker. Upwind in those conditions, however, the boat is a ferocious animal!

Another area that has my interest is the height of the rear beam. Even the I20 experiences rear beam slap when sailing in a quartering sea. It's hard to express how violent and surprising this event is when sailing with 18 to 20knots of boat speed. At times, the rear beam on the I20 would smack a wave launching the back of the boat suddenly skyward. The added pressure on the bow would usually cause it to dive into the next wave. It's like riding a bucking bronco while someone quickly floors the accelerator and then the brake by surprise! The rear beam on the F18 appears to also be quite low to the water as well and a rear beam slap coupled with the narrow bows could be a handful if rear beam clearance is an issue.

HOWEVER - please don't interpret my comments as negativity toward the boat. I am still absolutely thrilled with my boat...but I also accept that it was optimized for windward leeward racing with focus for the upwind leg. I am also not ruling out doing the Tybee, OBX, or Atlantic 1000 on it (we're still discussing our plans for 2006). In the next year, Team Seacats will be testing the limits of the boat (we have two Nacra F18s now) in various conditions to see if we will personally feel comfortable putting ourselves and the boat through a race like that. We’re starting with the Steeplechase this weekend. Can it be done? Undoubtedly! The only question is whether or not we would enjoy the race.

You are sailing the Nacra F18 right ? They have gone from very bouyant bows on the inter 18 to very low volume ones on the Nacra F18. But still I remember reaching on tigers and making the biggest wipe-out I ever did in my 10 years of sailing cats. We were trying to impress the girls on the yacht, we sure did THAT !

In principle, if the W1000 was done on H16 than it can be done on F18's.

Sure the F20's are more relaxed due to their longer length when compared to the width that is equal to the F18's but the is not the same as the F18 being unfit for distances races.

You just have to be more manly about it. Remember the saying "wooden boats; iron men?"

I think the archipello raid is done on F18's and various distances races overhere have shown F18's to be at the top.

Sure W1000 is a different thing, but then again it was donethe first years on H16's !

Wouter

Hey Folks -

Mine is a less valid opinion than Jake's, since he's actually been out there and done that. But I think one of the reasons you won't see a big F-18 fleet in this type of distance race in the Atlantic is that the sailors want to get off the water as quickly as they can. I've been one of the guys to tape boats and sailors back together every night (sometimes wee morning), and honestly, the less time out there, the better you and the boat hold up. The Nacra 20, even over the 6.0NE, has shown conclusively (if not unexpectedly) that mile for mile, it pretty much eats everything else up. I think hull shape and availability of modified parts, as well as some readily available institutional knowledge, will continue to make it the platform of choice for the foreseeable future.

I can say without a doubt that here in Area D, the sailors that have completed one or more of these Worrell/Tybee type events suddenly jump to a new plateau in ability, particularly around the buoys. I've never seen Nacra 20s sailed as well as I have seen over the last couple of years around here. Sure, these sailors were good before, but now it seems that they're in a very close pack of boats across the line... then a few minutes later, there's everyone else.

If people want to get off the water as quickly as they can, why are they sailors? Doesn't make sense to me.

They're racing! Think about it - the fastest sailors spend the least amount of time sailing.

Plus, the stamina thing kicks in. First few days are trying, middle days are agony, last few days seem easier. Again, this is from a shore crew point of view, but it seems like the sailors physically hit a wall, climb over, and the last part of the race isn't as hard on them. And I've never heard any of them say, "gee, that 14 hours of beating to weather in 8 knots with 6-foot, confused seas was FUN!"

Wouter and John's posts make me want to do it on an F18 even more! For me, racing an event like that is about the mental, physical, logistical, and mechanical challenge of completing it. Somebody telling me I "shouldn't" encourages me even more . I hadn't really considered the extra time on the water - but that isn't really a large concern with me personally (I'm could be an oddity on that point though). I've not yet done a whole 1000 miles and I suppose I was fortunate to have done the Tybee500 on a year with strong wind nearly every day. I have done several light air distance races and while light air is a little different, I love nearly every minute out there. With the exception of sailing downwind for 50 miles with no spinnaker on the way to Coco, I never thought to myself "I can't wait to finish this leg" during this year's Tybee. David did repeat frequently how he couldn't wait to get some Mexican food though...

I'm gonna have to get tips from you guys about what to talk about while you're out there.

Thats down the list quite a bit from other things I need to ask you about first though :P

Hi Mary

The relivancy may be the sence of humor needed when your sailing 1000 miles .
here is the SNL skit
IFILM - Television: Steve Martin King Tut Skit

John you are right about the N20 fleet in Florida, awesome group of sailors and they have really tuned this boat for these(Tybee) conditions. And they are all good! The Mug Race this year we had 10 N20's, and we all finished within 10 or so minutes of each other after 4 hours on the water. And it was closer than that with all boats lined up together very near the end. Something about the lightening and rain that made some people faster!
The 20 is the choice boat for the Atlantic, no doubt, but hey It sounds like a challenge now to sail the F18.
What about it Jake?
We'll see what happens this week in the Keys, good test for this boat, and us sailors.

David Mosley
Team SEACATS

Dave -

Speaking of F-18, I'm hearing a buzz about a big F-18 fleet this year at Tradewinds. I think Kirk and I may team up for that - are you and Jake coming down again? Maybe a new thread...

John,

Check out the "Regatta Attendance" forum on the new F18 site; www.naf18.com. Not everyone is tuned into it yet but there should be around 4 to 6 F18s coming to Tradewinds from our area.