Likes and Dislikes of your current boat.

What are the Likes and Dislikes of your current boat.I am shopping for a new F-18 and want to get as much info as I can. I have been going to look at and sail as many different designs as possible.

Please only comment on boats you have experience sailing. I don't want this to turn into a brand verses brand fight. Just what you think about your boat and what you would like to change if you could.

Boats in the running for me are C2, Wildcat, Infusion, Cirrus R, Phantom, Capricorn(New Design.), Falcon F-18.

They're all over weight pigs. Get an F16....

Hat.
Coat.
Door.

Coming from someone who is 6'4" and and an I.Q. of 64 that's about what I expect from you.

6'-2" & 62. Get it straight yo.

*sigh* damn it....

My bad sorry Karl.

Actually Karl, according to the rules, YOUR boat is the overweight pig!

Rich, I think you are making it difficult for people to comment if you don't want them to say anything about the boat they own
I doubt you will regret buying any of the boats that you mentioned, have raced the Wildcat and Infusion, both are fast but Infusion is maybe a bit more forgiving.

Rich, I've only been on 2 F18 platforms, the Tiger and my Infusion. I am very happy with the Infusion, downwind it is extremely forgiving (coming from the N20, also very forgiving), and it tracks like it is on rails upwind.

I think all the major platforms are fast in capable hands. My take is the Wildcat has the narrowest groove and is the most difficult to sail downwind, difficult being relative (I watched as Mischa walked away on his in narly conditions). Many of the good U.S sailors in the class are on C2's, for what that's worth.

Truthfully I would get the boat with the best dealer support. There are also plenty of nearly new used boats on the market that I would be picking before a brand new boat.

+1

I've had the pleasure of sailing on 2-3 platforms with a variety of rigging setups. At my level I think all of the boats sailed quite well. There were some rigging setups I preferred for ease of use, but may be less efficient than some of the more complicated setups (for instance, the single spin halyard/ tack line vs. separate, aft-led downhaul controls, "quick set" rotator release)

I would definitely pick one with good (local) dealer support. If I was really concerned with close racing, I'd go with the type most common in my sailing area.

If I wanted lots of pickle dishes, I'd drop a Sheet-load of money and time on training and pick any boat.

So are you finally going to wise up and pick up an F16 of the proper weight? Oh wait... their is a movement to fix that isn't there.

Ya know, this probably sounds like we're being ass4oles to an outsider. lol

I'm trying! You know how hard it is to convince Greg to build me a carbon beamed, pre-preg/carbon/autoclaved/nomex cored Viper? Its not quite like ordering a pizza. Then there's paying for the mf'er.....

My 0.02

I am probably not an F18 connoisseur yet, but am starting to learn what I like and dislike.

Really happy with the build quality of the new (to me) C2 I acquired a few months ago.

Hulls- Really like the quality of the fiberglass layup, lack of stress cracks, etc. Platform with bedded beams seems incredibly stiff.

Rigging- Mast/sail seems to respond well to cunningham adjustments.
- Realize this is not 100% specific to a C2, but grommets on the tramp allow the spin halyard and retrieval loop to be run under the tramp - very clean.

From a handling standpoint, I had sailed both a Tiger and an older Nacra F18 last year and the C2 seems to tack much more quickly. Seems to sit higher up in the water and perhaps have a bit more rocker. Could be true of other newer gen boats with more hull volume/rocker.

Have not had a chance to exercise the service side of the equation, but have heard good things.

Speak for yourself Brogger, I'm an absolute delight.

As for the good and bad with the F18... it's a so so ride and it's a bit short. The big positive to the class is the talent and numbers it attracts and the surprisingly small number of princesses in the class, well wait there might be one or two.

Thanks everyone for the input on this thread. The purpose of this was to find out the "Quirks" of the boats that I might not find on a single test drive.

Something you love tell me about it. Something you don't tell me here or a private message if there is something you don't want to post in a public forum.

I've owned 4 F18s in the last 4 years so I think I can comment well, I've never sailed a Cirrus or Falcon.
2009 Infusion: Sailed great but I felt for our heavy weight we were pushing the wide part of the hulls down a lot in the medium breeze range and slowing us down. Super light air it was never a problem.
Still the best boat I've sailed in big breeze downwind.
HUGE quality issues. Cracks in hull joint, airbombs in gelcoat, it was a chore to keep up with and not worth fixing all of it.
2011 Wildcat There were times where this boat was a blast to sail. It had some amazing modes upwind and downwind but we could only keep it in those modes about 60% of the time, kind of making it a one trick pony. Overall it was extremely hard to sail. Very hard to sail in light - medium air as it was hard to get back into a groove after a tack. It was difficult to sail in choppy conditions heavy conditions and we have always excelled in big conditions. We never had a problem in rolling waves in big wind. The hull quality seemed good but we heard some cracking noises that led me to believe there were interior issues, though this could have just been this boat. It comes with the oem best rope / hardware kit out of any f18 I've sailed, it's very ready to race from the factory.
We thought long and hard about going back to an infusion but there were a few things that kept me from doing so 1) track record with quality 2) track record with customer service in the US 3) I never liked the downhaul system, as it can't be truly continuous 4) medium air performance as I mentioned above.
The MKII does seem to have sorted out most of their quality issues and the new US distributor for Nacra does seem to be a bit more responsive (in my limited dealings with them).
So we ended up with a 2011 C2 and now we have a 2012. Overall this is my favorite boat so far (full disclosure I am a rep for AHPC). While the Wildcat had some amazing points upwind, the C2 feels to be the fastest upwind in all conditions. We've also never been so competitive downwind in light to medium air. I think does give up a little tiny bit to the infusion in big chop but this very minor in the big picture.
My only dislikes of the C2 are that there is a very occasional rear beam slap, we never had this on the infusion. The rudder system is great for buoys racing, very robust and little to go wrong. The Nacra style system is better for off the beach style distance racing, if that's what you're looking for.
I've also done a bit of sailing on Tigers and Capricorns several years ago. They are both excellent boats what for they are, entry level F18s. They both give up a bit in some conditions to the new F18s but can certainly still be competitive. Both are good quality with the Capricorns being a bit better. The Capricorn also has more of a more modern fit out more designed for buoys racing. The newer tigers had improved rigging.

Thanks WildTSail
Those are just the things I am looking for.
When you mention the Capricorn I am assuming that is the older designed Capricorn and not the newer one.

Yes WildT is referencing the AHPC Capricorn Mk.1 best I can tell. None of the new PSA Capricorns, http://www.capricornsailing.com/, are stateside but I don't follow containers for a living.

Looks like a nice ride too.

Very confusing for PSA to name their new boat the same as an old design.

Yes that is extremely confusing. At least they should have named it Mk. 2 or Mk. 3.

Rich, if I were buying a new boat tomorrow I would likely get a C2 or Falcon, for what it's worth. The PSA Capricorn is almost the same price as a Phantom, and the latter has a proven race record. Both don't have good dealer support in the U.S as best I can tell. The Cirrus hasn't been discussed, I think the verdict is still out on its performance. I probably wouldn't buy a new Infusion for the reasons WildT listed above. I picked mine up used in fantastic shape for half the price of a new boat but the sails are a 4 year old cut (even if practically brand new) and I don't have the long boards. If you have the budget for a brand new ride, you can get a sweet deal on some tricked out C2's, and a few Mk. 2 Infusions as well. MWR's tricked out Mk. 2 that placed in the top 10 at World's is still listed: http://www.naf18.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_annonces&view=annonces&Itemid=76

Hi Rich, I have sailed the Infusion and can confirm it is a great ride downwind with high winds and choppy seas. I do not hear very enthusiastic reports from people owning a Wild Cat. After being very dissatisfied with how i was being treated by Nacra Europe (after buying a new Nacra every 2 years for 12 years), i've switched to the Capricorn. I was really impressed with the build quality. The Cap was also really fast upwind , but could be a bit tricky downwind (on it's limts). Overall a great cat. Two years ago i've bought the C2. It has the same excellent build quality and upwind performance. The big plus is that it has much better downwind (high wind big wave) performance than the Cap. hence, they have solved the only issue with the Cap. There is only one thing i really don't like about AHPC's cats and that is their rudder system. It works well if you sail from a harbour. When you sail from a beach it's quite bad. I've got used to Nacra's fool proof rudder system and was really sad about AHPC's system. I managed to break the rudder stock on my maiden sail of my Capricorn (in virtually no surf at all). I've never got any reaction to my mail to Greg Goodall about my AHPC rudder experience. It's amazing how immature the catamaran business is. If my company would treat it's customers like many catamaran firm do, we would be out of business ;-). However, overall i'm very happy with my C2 and can recommend it to anybody who is looking for a great performing F18 that will stand the test of time.

My understanding is Martin Fisher the designer of both boats kept the name when AHPC went to the C2 and he lives on the Tropic of Capricorn so he decided to reuse the name and the basic lines of the boat.

It is important to remember that the Capricorn existed before AHPC started building it and I honestly don't know how the licencing/royalties worked, so it is probably like comparing the Aus Flyer to the Boyer Mk5.

We now have a Capricorn 2 at our club and it looks very nice (although it is a little scary when the foils are taller than you).

I checked the web site and the PSA Capricorn is on par with a Wildcat and Infusion MK II.
All three at $25,000 USD
Phantom at $28,000 USD
C2 at $23,500 USD
Cirrus R $24,000 USD (but that's not a recent quote)
Falcon F-18 $24,000 USD

Not really seeing any big difference price wise to promote or deter any boat. I am considering dealer and part availability as well as design and performance.

Rich,

I've sailed the Infusion the most, and have done a couple events on the C2. I don't think you could go wrong with either boat, and I'm pretty well convinced there is not much of a speed difference between the two. Personally, I like the layout on the Infusion slightly better than the C2, but that could just be because I have sailed the Infusion more.

I think the chord length of the C2 boards is slightly bigger than the Infusion boards, so that is a little more forgiving when downspeed or on a startline. That said, we have found the Infusion with the long boards is super fast in marginal single wire conditions. Either boat should work well, and the ergonomics that make me happy as a crew (adjustable traps, cunningham lead to trapeze, etc.) can be added to either boat.

That said, if I were going to buy a new boat, I would look very hard at the Falcon. The boat has been getting some good results down south this winter, and I really like the dealer support combo of Falcon Marine and Glaser Sails.

Good input Jeff I have made a trip to see the Falcon in San Diego. Luckily Dennis Key got me into the Mission Bay Yacht club to see and sail the boat. Never got to sail as there was no wind for 2 days but most of my questions were answered.
Yes the dealer support of Falcon marine or Red Gear racing are both top notch. Nacra is said to be improving, Hobie is well established, Phantom, Cirrus and PSA are yet to be established here in the U.S. However I did get a E-mail from PSA saying there is a distributorship in the works.

I need to make my final decision by the end of March. Happy Birthday to me I get a new F-18. Or maybe a F-17 or F-20 C and keep the Tiger.

Have sailed the F20c a good bit in Singapore- it's a great boat. Do you have handicap events in which you could race it? Be aware that the sheet loads are quite a bit higher than the F18, especially the kite, although this can be helped with running double ratchets.

I have had outstanding dealer support for my Nacra from Rick at New England Catamarans.

Yes New England Catamarans is great but is too far for me to deal with. Mikey at Surf City Catamarans is now selling the Nacra line and is a great guy to work with. My goal is to have a new boat in time to train for the GT-300 and the F-18 American Championship.

I am now 95% committed to my new boat. My Tiger is going to be sold in the next 2 weeks (hopefully) and ne boat will follow shortly after.

Thank You everyone for the input and thoughts. This thread did help in making the decision for a new boat easier.

and? All this lead up, and no money shot? What are you getting?

Karl a last minute sponsorship opportunity has held me up from announcing or placing the final order. I'm quite sure as a business owner you would not sponsor someone if they were on a boat that has a deal with one of your competitors in business. It's not a huge amount of money but it is enough to sway my decision from one boat to the other if need be.

Now I got to pay for the sail for the Tiger that I ripped at the Worlds then give it away.

Boat: Nacra F18 Infusion

Likes:
1) Hull design holding up well in terms of overall competitiveness.
Dislikes:
1) X-beam bolt Designs. Stainless steel/aluminum interface connections at hulls and beams *will* result in galvanic corrosion if not watched , bolts regularly/ carefully treated. Quite plainly, an epic, idiotic design fail. All connections should be of similar metal, esp at water soaked areas, best solution to this issue would be allow non-galvanic titanium bolts in place of steel for the interface (bolts not as expensive as you think), but stainless bolt/stainless thread would be okay too. (heavy though)too. Related: Why design a boat with 2 different bolt heads on front and rear? Please Explain? (Dumb) Rear bolt heads low profile a PITA.
2) Stock snuffer material (i.e. not the sailcloth type, but the black stuff) totally degrades and falls apart in about 2-3 years.
3) Lack of tack-line grommet on tramp means you probably will saw through your tramp if rigged for speed.
4) Stock shroud adjusters are wetsuit carnivorous. Ronstan's design way better.
5) Jib hook arrangement funky/halyard a little fragile
6) Daggerboards nice and sturdy, but trunk panels inside, pretty meager. Stoppers on older boats a little primitive
7) lack of port shroud upf*&^ker hardware
8) Tuning guide a total crock.

Thanks All
http://www.capricornsailing.com/
We will be at the GT-300 with the new Capricorn and hopefully the F-18 Americas also.

Rich, What is your logic here?
The Capricorn quickly developed a reputation for being overly sensitive off the wind and difficult to push hard.
Now you have an older design and an only boat that is not supported in your country.

I believe he is referring to the new Capricorn that is made by Performance sailcraft in Australia NOT AHPC...hopefully these issues you speak of have been worked out with the new design.

http://www.capricornsailing.com/index.cfm?nfid=71&nid=104211
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/F18---the-Hot-new-Capricorn-%28Part-I%29/103505

We are getting the New PSA Capricorn F18. Chris Caldecoat and Martin Fischer took the original design and re worked it. More volume easier down wind and new foils and rudders.

Martin has also done the Capricorn, Wildcat, Phantom, GC-32 and was hired to re do this boat using his original design as a base. It is built at the Fountaindale NSW factory where the laser, byte, RS are built. (the old Hobie factory)

There is a couple different importers that may carry the Capricorn and full parts line. While it is a risk buying the first imported boat into the country I liked what I read about the boat and what a couple people said that had sailed it. I also liked the openness of the builders and information they shared.

This is taken from the web site.



F18 - the Hot new Capricorn (Part I)

1:27 PM Sun 4 Nov 2012
Every now and then a racing boat comes along that has success written all over it. Such is the new F18 Capricorn catamaran, Designed by multihull expert Dr Martin Fischer and built by an Australian marine company with a long, long multihull pedigree, Performance Sailcraft Australia (PSA). the boat is already delivering the goods

Dr. Martin Fischer lives in warm and windy Noumea and that is exactly how he describes the conditions there, which is definitely perfect for cats. This fluid dynamics legend has been and still is, attached to some of the most exciting wind-powered, high-speed, water born craft around. Add to that equation that he’s French and their favourite nautical device is the multihull, and you’ll see that the whole thing is definitely a good match.

Like any dedicated marine enthusiast, Martin is always striving for perfection. Currently he has a new A-Class and the 10-metre CG32 on the go, with another small cat in the mix, as well. Busy. And that does not even touch on his work in climate change. However, our main area of attention here is to his very recent enhancements to his original design of the Formula 18 Catamaran known as the Capricorn.

What follows, are the thoughts that Martin and Chris Caldecoat, the GM of Performance Sailcraft Australia, the highest volume boat builder in Australia have and an explanation of the pathway that has got them to the point of releasing the new Capricorn GEN 2.

Firstly though, if you have not seen an F18 cat in full flight, then you’re certainly missing something.

Even more so, if you have not seen a cloud of these cats approach the top mark, head off to the hitch and then bear away for the set, then the noise from water, sail and humans can only be described as an intoxicatingly, raucous rush.

‘It was really good and a lot of fun to come back to the Capricorn after the Wild Cat. Chris had the initiative, as he’d raced the Capricorn and really liked the boat. At that time we all knew that the Capricorn was a really quick boat, but a bit nosey, so quite difficult to sail downwind. The rights for the Capricorn had come back to me as a result of the creation of the C2, so Chris asked me to have a look at improving the original and here we are.

Chris is a very good sailor and has had a lot of input based on all his observations and knew exactly what he wanted to improve, so this is the way we progressed together’, said Martin.

‘The F18s are bit like the V8 Supercars and NASCAR, where if you win on the Sunday, you sell on the Monday’, said Chris.

‘They are a people orientated brand and the only sailing class that I know, to which this phenomenon occurs. F18s are the biggest cat class around the globe and I believe this is because it covers a wide demographic and is relatively affordable. Perhaps that’s a bit similar to Etchells.’

‘If you look at the F18 races, you can have two 18 year old kids out there, a girl and a boy, just like the new mixed Olympic multihull, or a 65 year old steering with a young bloke up the front. The latter is still winning races at the World Championships, so they mightn’t win the regatta overall, but every now and then the dog has its day and that’s enough to keep them in the class, which keeps people buying and it goes back to being a true club sport.’

‘F18s have a crew weight limit of 150 kilos, so you can either put a 90 and 60 kilo crew together, or you can both be 75. If you go under, you do get a little lead penalty, which means it all stays very competitive and that all helps to ensure a widespread appeal, as well.' said Chris.

So the original Capricorn was designed by Martin and built in Bendigo. Its name was more of an homage to the particular degree of latitude that runs through Martin’s adopted home, than to any goat bounding around the hills of country Victoria. Not only was it a sales success, but out on the track it took its fair share of World Championships, too.

More info at www.capricornsailing.com.

After five or six years, it has been superseded by the not new model and we’ve already seen how Chris, from PSA and Martin, with more accolades than an honour wall, had the genesis of a great idea.

Martin explains, ‘What we did is to basically take the original shape and just put a sort of wedge in between the middle. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but the principle was adding a flat underwater shape, because we knew from the newer boats that it doesn’t do any harm. With the first Capricorn, the boat was slightly rounder and narrower, so the easiest thing to do was to just add a flat part in the middle, along the centre line, and that is what we did.’

‘Another key change was to increase the freeboard a bit, mainly in the rear beam. The main beam basically stayed where it was but with the rear beam, we increased the height by about 60mm. This is to account for the fact that in strong winds and choppy conditions, the original rear beam hit the waves when you are sailing downwind. That is quite uncomfortable, as it really slows the boat down and can even lead to capsize, because if the rear beam hits a wave and you are at full speed then you really get a sort of shock. The guy on the trapeze may lose balance and then you capsize.’

‘Now with these modifications, it means more volume overall and more freeboard at the back. You can push the boat out much harder than before. Chris tells me that with the new boat you can really go hard downwind and it seems upwind it’s full of speed. Overall, it seems the modifications were quite successful’, commented Martin.

‘I have a huge passion for this class. I’ve sailed every type of F18 and the Capricorn is by far the quickest. It just needed some work to sort out its performance downwind, as it was too hard to sail. Martin and I have taken the original boat, kept the same look, spent a long time on the drawing board (i.e. computer) developing the modifications and it’s now a bigger, faster boat’, said Chris.

‘The new Capricorn flies and it goes better upwind, too. There are a whole heap of technical changes we have made to it, especially in terms of the design, location and construction of all the foils. For instance, the rudders are underneath the hulls and we have two-metre long, solid carbon centreboards, which have been moved further for’ard, the beam’s come further aft and the whole geometry of the boat has changed.’

‘From about 10 metres away, the boat’s profile looks like that of the original Capricorn, but it is wider and there is a lot more volume up for’ard. So much so that you can nearly make it plane up wind’, said Chris.

That’s all wonderful, but if you race a class with a box rule, then you either have to compromise or get creative to meet certain key elements, such as minimum dry weight, which for the F18 is 180 kilograms. Compromising can get dangerous, but creative can allow you to build the proverbial better mousetrap. It would appear that with the Capricorn, the latter has served as the guiding principle.

We’ll be back with just what Martin and Chris have done with the new Capricorn and why their combined creative talents have created a perfect F18 cat. One that can be sailed far easier and still be very dangerous to the scoreboard, as their very impressive results showed on the weekend at the NSW F18 titles on Botany Bay have showed.




by John Curnow

F18 the Hot new Capricorn (Part II)

1:29 PM Sun 4 Nov 2012
In Part One, we saw how multihull designer Martin Fischer and PSA's Chris Caldecoat had set out to build a better mousetrap for the F18 cat class. Not only was the it perfect pairing of talents, but the result would seem to be pretty perfect, too - Speed, strength and agility. Now just like the larger of their feline counterparts, these are somewhat mandatory prerequisites for a high speed, twin-hulled sailing machine.

Chris commented, ‘When we started out, we were thinking that the new boat should be a bit like Henry Ford’s early cars and borrow parts from all over the place. Early on, the feedback was that customers were going to want it to race, full tilt boogie, straight out of the box. So we’ve spent the money and built a better product.’

‘If you add volume and size, you do get weight, so we had to look at the vessel from a holistic point of view and find the areas where there was the potential to get some of the mass back. There are new sails and a new mast section on which to carry them. The result is an overall weight saving. So too, we have hollow beams, which whilst being bigger are stronger than before, are now also lighter.’

Interestingly, the early craft had hulls made from 6mm core and they are now 12mm, which prompted Chris to say, ‘They are so stiff, it’s not funny!’

Martin went on to explain some of the elements in greater detail, ‘Chris has worked a lot on the structure of the vessel and we did make a few, but very distinct changes. That new section we designed for the beams is much bigger and stiffer. It’s very important to have a stiff platform and Chris also did lots of testing on the way the fibre was laid up for the hulls, with the result being an extremely stiff platform.’

‘The same principles apply to the daggerboards, which Chris built in plain carbon with a press, which allows for much higher pressure than you get with a normal baking system. As a result, they can be long, don’t break, are very stiff and we can even make them thinner. Right now, they are the thinnest in the class, to my knowledge, which is an advantage in terms of drag.’

‘There is also a complete new rudder system. The rudder blades are the same as on the Phantom, which is also a new boat that I designed and just won the Worlds some six weeks ago. The rudder heads come from England and are really very nice’, commented Martin.

‘We also worked quite a bit on the so-called, Ackerman effect. With a catamaran, when you go around a corner, the radius of the inner hull is smaller than the radius of the outer hull and therefore the angle of the rudders has to be different, just like on a car. We ran a detailed analysis on that and found that the setup for the rudders could be improved. According to the sailors who’ve tried these new rudders, the boat tacks much better now’, explained Martin.

‘Speed through a tack is critical, especially racing at a World Championship with 90 boats in the fleet. It is absolutely crucial to have good tacking capabilities.’

Having designed, sailed and observed many of the cats out there, how does Martin feel the new Capricorn compares with another of his creations, the Wild Cat? ‘The Wild Cat is extremely quick in light to moderate conditions, say up to 15 knots of wind, but if it is blowing 20 knots or more, then downwind it is an extremely difficult boat to sail well. It can be sailed quickly, but it is very difficult, especially for the bare away at the top mark, as the tend to nose dive.’

‘The level of design today in the F18 Class is such that you can no longer design a boat that is quicker in all conditions. You have to make a choice and we made the choice to have a boat that was a bit more taut in stronger winds.’

‘The new boat is much easier to sail, so you’ll be able to maintain a higher average speed, whilst taking fewer risks and on average, that all pays dividends. I reckon it will be the better all-round boat. It might be that in the very light stuff it won’t be the quickest boat, but it will be much easier to handle than the Wild Cat. The racing will tell all.’

‘You’ll be less likely to see the new Capricorn doing wild things at the bare away and we saw a massive example of how that can come very unstuck, just recently with the Oracle incident. Of course the top crews in F18's can manage the Wild Cat, no problem, but it is difficult. With the Wild Cat you are much more on the edge than with the new Capricorn ’, Martin finished by saying.

There are four or five pre-production Capricorn in circulation at the moment and PSA is open to hearing from some local sailors that want to get involved with the new Capricorn and help push the development along. They’ll be happy for that, as they are keen to get the tweaks done and move to the final specification for the production vessels sometime in December, with the Australian Championships flying up quickly behind that, in January 2013.

Accordingly, Chris says, ‘We are making an open offer to come and purchase a boat and trade in/trade out with us, whilst we nail the last bits. But with our great result at the NSW F18 titles on the weekend we have already received a flood of orders’

Since 1973, Performance Sailcraft Australia has been based out of 2 Catamaran Road, Ourimbah, NSW, 2258. In those days, it was all Hobie Cats before Laser, RS and the Byte CII became the mainstays. The Capricorn 2 has been the first cat to leave Catamaran Road in around 25 years, and yes, the PSA team are pretty happy about that.

‘For this part of the world, we’ll sell and support the new Capricorn directly out of this factory, with the PSA trucks and trailers providing regatta support. We are a production boat facility and this vessel very much fits our company ethos. In full flight, we make five Lasers a day. With the new Capricorn, the team have been able to tinker and work away at improvements, which is something you obviously cannot do with our other craft, so it has brought a renewed joy to the factory floor.’

European and US distribution agreements are already in place and they hope to sell very significant numbers in both those markets.

Martin concluded by saying, ‘I am really happy that Chris has launched this project. I am really hoping that he will reach the top and I am optimistic about that actually happening.’

Given the recent 1, 2, 3 result at the weekends F18 NSW State Championships, (second place was an earlier Capricorn with the latest appendage upgrades) you’d have to think that they are being guarded with their enthusiasm.

That Chris actually took out the title certainly augurs well for both he and the craft itself.

Ultimately, you get the notion that Martin is so very perfect for cats, which would be just like many of his fellow countrymen.

Now in conjunction with Chris Caldecoat’s dedication to the F18 box rule and being out on the water, it’s more than a perfect match, so we expect this cat continue will continue to get the winners hat.

To get a further appreciation of the new Capricorn, go to www.capricornsailing.com




by John Curnow

Rich, good luck with the new ride.

Not trying to bash and I am all for more boats, just though it strange that you would ask a question here, where my view of the responses was such that you then went and did the polar opposite.

Local availability and support being the most common theme - kind of not the thing for a first boat or a builder across the globe.
Proven design - while they may have done some things, 1 look at the bow in the picture and the biggest issue with the hull shape on the original cap is still obviously there.

Must have gotten a really good deal.

What was posted here was just some of the responses I got. I got quite a few that didn't want to talk in a public forum.This was not an easy choice by any means as I have been shopping since last year.

Yes it is the same bow but with more volume. The hulls are bigger, 20mm wider from about 1.5m in from bow.

I got a little deal but not a screaming deal like people are hinting at. I am buying the boat and being given anything for free. I also am not working for a dealer or distributor. It is just my boat we are looking forward to getting her. Once I get it set up and rigged if you want to check it out let me know. As many people have let me see their boats and help me make this decision.

I'm sure you'll have a great ride! Be fun to give it a go at NA's if you make it down!

I will fore warn you that you will want to push that boat HARD before GT. i'd also get a spare of each foil. New boat designs have a habit of failures racing offshore in big wind and waves.

I have a spare rudder and dagger coming with the boat as well as spare sails.

Sailed the Capricorn 2 today. Nice well built boat, setup is pretty typical and works well. Only had two small issues. 1. Daggerboards are so long that you can run aground before you see the bottom. 2. We fducked up rigging the spanner and retrieval line and the spanner was catching pulling the kite halyard out of the cleat.

"spanner": Australian for any kind of lever or arm.

No that would be hammer.

He's talking about the rotator, Karl - I had to learn Aussie English when I got to sail with Goodall.

My new Capricorn being built.

Thats quite cool.

I dont know crap from clay when it comes to boat building. I had no idea the frames were finished of in 2 halves like that. Makes a fair bit of sense i reckon. Means you can do a really neat job before the halves are joined.

Are all f18s done like this?

super cool.

And you just glop on some thickened resin and glue the two halves together?

I will find out the exact process. I was offered the chance to go watch my boat be made but it was too much to fly there for a couple days.

You should ask them to put covers on the lasers, you don't want you boat catching a case of slow and shitty from them.

They want to show the Lasers what they can be when they grow up.

Almost. Here is a time lapse of a hull build Matt at Falcon Marine put together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ZcOl5v8c4

where do you put the lazer beams?

On the fricking sharks.

Nice.