Nacra F18 Tuning/Sailing

Hi everyone,

I've been crewing on a Nacra F18 at one of the local clubs in my area since early in the summer. Generally I'm out 1-2 days per week for club racing, and I'm hoping to do a few of the regattas in the British Columbia/Washington area next season either as crew or helming my own boat next season. Prior to the F18s I've had alot of time on Hobie 16s, and some crewing on an older Tornado(no spin). I've got a few different questions about rig setup and sailing techniques that I'd be interested in your input on.

First off, regarding mast rake, we've been following the Nacra tuning guide which can be found in the forums on this site. As a rule we've got it set for lighter air, which is the prevailing conditions in our area(8-12 knt range is typical). This means we don't have the mast raked back very much (If we use a section of line attached to the end of our trap wire which reaches the bridles in front, it is long enough to get to the inspection port just aft of the rear beam).

With this setup, it feels as though there is a huge distance between the boom and the tramp, even when I'm on the wire sheeting in the main as much as I'm able. Compared to the Tigers, it seems that they can get much closer to being block to block than we can, maybe 12-18" between mainsheet blocks for them, vs. 24-30" for us. We've only recently played with our rake, and haven't noticed a big performance change one way or the other, it just feels a bit off. How much rake do other Nacra F18 sailors find to be best in lighter wind conditions? And does the seperation between our main blocks seems unusually large to anyone else?

The other question I had was regarding the cunningham. When I was crewing on the Tornado, we had a 16:1 setup for the cunningham, and we would ease it/tension to almost continuously to power up/depower the upper part of the sail when beating. Generally once the crew was out on the wire, they'd take over the mainsheet, and they would pass the cunningham line back to the helmsman. We would then work in tandem to control the heel of the boat. This technique isn't something that I've seen any F18 sailors do, and I was wondering if there was a reason why it isn't popular? The one reason I can think of is that it may reduce the lifetime of the sails if you're putting a huge amount of tension on the luff.

Anyways, I'd very much appreciate any advice you have to offer.

Coming from h16 you are probably a bit obsessive about mast rake! As long as the F18 feels balanced, moving the mast about doesn't make much perfomance difference.
The helmsman uses the downhaul as a coarse setting to keep gust control within the crews armful. if you feel that he is being over-worked - pull it on a bit. if you think he is having an easy ride and nodding off - ease it a bit!

Actually, we race in the PNW and have our boat set up so that the downhaul exits the beam, runs back to the shroud, through a block and then to the downhaul purchase system.

That way the downhaul is always at the helmsmans hand (single wire), or at the helmsmans feet when double trapped.

BTW block to block is not a good measure of rake when comparing the NACRA and Tiger because the main leech length will vary...

The norm now, on most of the pro set ups, is to have the downhaul exit the beam and run through a small single block on the crews trapeze loop and back to the cleat. This has the downhaul come out with the crew so it's quick and easy to adjust for either member.

You need to set up a reverse 2:1 and continuous line inside the beam for the line so that there is enough length and take up. I don't think any of the manufactures do this as standard but I can send you a PDF of the set-up if you want but the lengths will be different as there for the CAP.

Yeah, I think the H16 sailing may have made me a bit obsessive about mast rake and the like. I can see how since the F18s have daggerboards and a totally different hull shape it changes alot of things.

A few of the top guys at my club will set their rake for the day's conditions and carry around a wrench on the water to change diamond wire tension between races. These guys are top knotch sailors, and I realize there is alot of other things I need to improve before I start worrying about my mast rake between races. I'm a bit detail oriented though, so it's one of those things that I'd like to understand, even if its not something I'm going to start altering too much for the time being.

I'd be interested to see a pic or diagram of the two setups which have been mentioned. I'm new to using the forum(though I've been lurking for some time and have picked up alot of tips from different pros on there) can a PDF be attached to a post, or would it be best for me to pass along my e-mail address to you AUS-CAT.