Nacra NAs news?

As ever, just looking for some news. The official blog had the following post:



No news after that is a bit scary. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

http://www.nacraclass.com/NCW2008/north_american.htm

Results from Day 1 are up......

I'm most interested in the 20 class, but the F17 results are interesting (and surprising). Are those results (F17) right? Does anybody know if Chris Bachelor is running a wing mast?

It's no secret that Wick and I like the breeze. There were times yesterday when the wind pressure dropped a little below our liking yesterday (waves were maybe 2 to 3 feet). For at least three of the five races, the wind was on at about 15 with some gusts a little higher. The 20 class has seen the usual strong showing by Nigel and Alex though they did have one bad race yesterday (as did most). Kurt Korte is really showing some great speed around the course as well. It was a long day with racing from about 11am to 5pm but the PRO (Matt Bounds) wisely chose to do so because the rest of the week had been forecast to be light. Wick and I raced pretty well and had great speed. The switching areas of pressure were a little tricky for everyone and there were a lot of hero or zero tactical decisions that went either way out there.

Report is they had 5 more races again today, with winds building/shifting from 10mph first 2 races to 15mph 3-5. Standing in N20's remains relatively similar, with lighter crews scoring well early, then heavy air teams excelling in the later races.

Bobcat reportedly in climbing in the N17's, but getting a good challenge!

Lots of pics up from Day 2 now....

Yeah - a very frustrating pair of races early as neither side was consistent and if you played the shifts, you ended up going without pressure (unless you really got into phase somehow). One leg, the left would have pressure but you had to deal with some chop. the next leg, the right had the pressure. At one point, the wind at A-mark and the committee boat were 60 degrees different. We did what we could to hang on in those conditions and won the first race, tanked the next, and as the pressure built toward the end of the third, dug out of a bad "way back" 12th place position to 4th in one lap. Once the wind was up, it was a matter of getting a clean start and avoiding mistakes. Alex and Nigel, sailing meticulously, are very tough to catch.

Chris Batchelor does have the new aluminum mast.

Thanks for the updates Jake



Were the class rules changed?

Chris is sailing a 17.

Sorry Chris... no opening of the 20 class rules.

This is certainly an interesting time though.

You have A small niche class with 12 - 15 boats at nationals and another 12 to 15 boats that distance race and no real OD or distance circuit.

A huge price jump on carbon masts making the boats unobtanium.

A manufacturer run class which is now based in the EU... so... no local control

What is the proper way to manage the class. Nacra has three models.

Follow the Nacra 6.0 model... Basically stay with the class rules, reject all changes (NE spin package) until the platforms die.

Follow the Prindle 19MX model... (update the platform soft stuff.). The P19's and N5.8's changed the sail plans and then the class dies.

Follow the Nacra 17 model.... update the platform and switch out of the unobtanium carbon stick. Seems to be working out so far.

What do the sailors want from performance?

A cheaper carbon mast.

PC/Nacra should move to a different supplier. If that means than the design changes, then I think that's a pill we'll have to swallow.

If memory serves, Southern Spars makes those carbon sticks. Is there any way to source them here for less money? Can't PC license a company or sell them the molds/design specs?

Jack says he's tried stateside but to no avail. Carbon is getting chaeper in China, go figure. Maybe that's where they should be built, cheap.(Bite my tongue).Then we'll be replacing them every race. I wish I'd never found out about the price hike, I find myself stressing over mast rotation more than ever. I've heard that the aluminum stick is only 4 lbs. or so heavier, if that's the case I'm all for it. It has more area which means they'd have to cut the sails down, but then again nothing else seems to be consistent one design( sails measure different, diff. booms, different tackers, different rudders,etc.) so why bother.

3 more races today. Winds started SE, then went NE, causing abandon of a race mid-day. Team St. Louis moving up in the N20's with a string of 2nd's. Bobcat pushing past young Bachelor (literally, forcing an OCS in one race). More pics up on the site, look for positions soon to see who needs to make a move on last day tomorrow.

PC can do whatever they want as far as suppliers go. It's written that way in the class rules. Last communication I had was with Southern Spars directly. The masts are made in South Africa (moved from NZ about 1 1/2 years ago). Southern builds blanks, then ships the blanks to PC in Cali. PC then does the assembly and fitout.

I had actually written the class urging them to research a domestic supplier (I recommended Forte). got no response. I know Forte has a mandrel that I believe is an older Tornado mast. Shape is different from the current sticks and I believe the T mast is alittle shorter, but then Forte has built 18ht masts off of that mandrel so I'm not sure why it wouldn't work...

Anyways, at this point, I would just like PC to make a decision instead of publishing outlandish prices which only scares people away from the product. Sailing companies are notorious for marketing blunders and this is no exception.

Whoa, sorry! Day 3 results are now up and I need to retract my N17 report. CB still has BC by 3 points going into the last day. Yikes, stay tuned race fans!

Watch the race for 2nd on N20's. Team St. Louis only 2 pts back!

There is no aluminum mast anywhere for a Nacra 20 nor plans to make one. I'm not sure what they are planning, if anything, to address the price of the carbon stick but I'll try to ask that question tonight.

As far as the racing goes, there's nothing more painful or distracting than hearing 405 lbs of crew weight slapping the waves with the bottom of the hull while your competition flies over and above you full on double trapped and smooth as silk! Arrrrggg what a painful day. All day was light and then lightish. Big differences in pressure across the course. Mike Hill made a lot of great decisions yesterday and handily claimed our 3rd place position and is now knocking on the door for 2nd. We took a walloping yesterday because of our weight and just not choosing well.

Today, the breeze should be up although it's going to blow from the shore (South south east). It's guaranteed to be pretty gusty and shifty and will be an interesting end to the event!

Saw Mr. Curry at breakfast again this morning and he had his game face on.

You move well young grasshopper....but can you stay focused to finish the kill?!!!

Would a domestic supplier be any cheaper? If so, then it really IS the shipping costs that are pushing the price up, not so much the carbon or labor costs...

Could mast builders propose some quotes for building to PC for evaluation? THey could probalby place a bulk order for, say, 500 masts and then just pay a small charge for inventory storage. PC probably has relatively good data on how many masts they've had to buy each year, and could probably develop some idea of how many they'd use per year.

I would have thought this would be one of their criteria for licensing builder(s). Get the bulk rate on a production run, rather than having to place individual orders each time someone calls.

And if shipping it from Southern Spars to PC, and then to the customer adds so much cost, why not send the blank from Southern Spars (or whatever manufacturer) to the local authorized dealer directly and have them fit out to one design specs? That's why they're an "authorized dealer", right?

Thanks for keeping us up to date on the Happnins.
How about someone start a new thread about the mast deal, it definitely needs to be discussed, and let's not Hijack this thread.

posted in the 20 thread.

Did the cost of other carbon masts go up that much as well? F17s?

If anyone knows you do... what's the skinny?

They just finished throwing Chris Bachelor in the water, christening him as the new N17 NA Champ, dethroning the Bobcat.

A/N 1st on N20's, with Korte, Hill, Wick/Jake, Capt Kirk rounding out top 5.

Look for other positions soon....

While that sounds great, you're really talking about 10 to 20 masts a year at the current rates. Hard to negotiate with that model. The dollar is weak - which also contributes.

Jack escaped tonight before I could ask him about more. I was tied up in the intergalactic foosball championship against Newkirk and Pitt with Holmes at my side....we lost by the narrowest of margins after a "best out of three" that suddenly moprhed into best out of five (with four games)......

*Watching* football can take your attention away from *sailing*
catamarans?

GARY

Foosball, it's a participation sport.

Interesting the tangents these posts take - not knocking foosball though, in fact the Key Team will be in training for the next after hours event in Pcola.

Anyway, F-a-tings didn't get any of the thread talk, but had the closest finish in their standings. Guy/Debbie lost tie breaker for first overall in the last race, and 3rd place was only 3 pts aft. Hope to see you all down in Pcola in 6 weeks for NAF 18 Champs!

Out - JMac

I'm dissapointed that I missed this intergalactic game of foosball!
We were dreading the idea of crossing the Canadian/ U.S. border in the middle of the day before labor day weekend (we drove through at 11PM last nite, not a single car in front of us!) Thanks again to everyone who gave me the advice about crossing the border... it was kind of rediculous how easy it was! It was even easier to get into the U.S. than into Canada, might just have been the customs agents we dealt with though.

This event was certainly top notch as far as sailing and competition goes... really well run! Thanks again to all the organizers!! The foosball was certainly the most entertaining part of the nightlife in Caseville but I vote next time we go cow tipping... that is a participation sport and their is certainly an abundance of cows out there! I already know who exactly would be the champions and who would be those to lag behind... but in an attempt to protect the soon to be guilty i'll refrain from naming names.

Congrats to all the new Nacra NA Champs! It was really cool to watch Alex and Nigel climb from wherever they were in the fleet into first in almost every race. It's almost even cool when you go from being half a leg in front of them to a leg behind them from one windward mark rounding to the next!

I've got to say, this was a REALLY well run event! Matt did a GREAT job as the PRO. All the organizers should really pat themselves on the back!!

I'm just sad that our results don't really show how well we were sailing. I can think of four, 10, 11's and 12's that were 3's - 5's prior to small "issues"... like rounding the wrong A mark... Ugh. Details.

Regardless, a great week of sailing! If you've not been to this regatta site, it's def a grade A place to hold a regatta!

Thanks for the compliment, Will.

Andy should've known better about the change mark - we did that enough to him at the Hobie 20 North Americans. I think we only did the change in 3 or 4 of 16 races.

I was amazed at how quick the 20's were downwind in anything over 10 kts. 11 minutes up / 6 minutes down x 3 = a 51 minute race for the 20's. You guys were catching up a whole half lap on the F18's who were getting a 45 minute race.

(The 20's started first on a course 2, then the F17's six minutes later on a course 1, then the F18's six minutes after them, also on a course 1. The 20's would be just rounding the weather mark when the 18's started - and they would finish together.)