Nacra F17 Class

Nacra in Australia decided to design a replacement for the famous, but now aging, Nacra 5.2, a high performance two person sloop.. Performance Catamaran, the U. S. based manufacturer of  Nacra catamarans, was looking to develop a new single-handed catamaran to replace the existing Nacra 5.5 Uni and used Australia’s Inter 17 as a test boat, thinking that design offered without jib would be what was needed. After testing the design from Australia, it was found that significant changes would be required to achieve the desired result and the new design was developed resulting in a longer boat and having less rocker. Much development in conjunction with Elliot Pattison Sails resulted in the Nacra Inter 17 which could be ordered with an optional spinnaker package. The first boats would be available to customers in the spring of 2000.

There is a strong fleet of single handed sailors in Michigan that were sailing the Nacra 5.5 Uni but had an interest in a more modern single handed boat with a spinnaker.  These sailors were using carbon masts on their Uni’s, so they asked for the carbon mast option on the Inter 17. The Inter 17 was developed with the carbon mast and larger main as the “R” option. The first five colorful new Inter 17 R’s with spinnaker package were ordered at the end of 1999 for delivery to Michigan in April 2000.

Single-handing a spinnaker boat would not have been possible without the development of the snuffer, which had been so successful for round-the-buoy racing in the Inter 18 and Inter 20 spinnaker boats. This permitted the single line spinnaker halyard and retrieval line to be used which speeded up the process of hoisting or dousing the spinnaker and cleaned up the trampoline of the boat. Another feature of the Inter line of boats was the rudder system which has a natural tendency to self center when there is no other load on it. This permitted the boat to be tuned with a small amount of weather helm when going upwind, key for safety, but still allowed the tiller to be left on it’s own for the time it takes to raise or retrieve the spinnaker. The process at the weather mark sees the skipper rounding the mark while adjusting the mainsail for downwind spinnaker sailing (sheet out a few inches, travel out a few inches) and steering to the new downwind course. Then the spinnaker is hoisted and then sheeted in. If the tiller is left alone during this spinnaker hoist, the boat starts to head up very slowly until the spinnaker is raised, then head down. By the time the skipper has the spinnaker sheeted in and grasps the tiller, the boat is near the correct course and the boat accelerates quickly. This is when the fun REALLY begins! The skipper steers the boat and controls the spinnaker to get maximum VMG and the sleigh ride is exhilarating! With single-handed sailing before spinnakers on catamarans, all the fun was the upwind leg, flying a hull and pointing high to get to the weather mark. With the Inter 17R, that fun was preserved, but now the downwind leg was MORE fun than upwind, and seems to go by very quickly.

At the Performance race Week in Pensacola Beach, Florida October of 2000, the entire Michigan fleet attended, plus two other CRAM sailors chartered 17s for the North American Championships. There was one boat from Pensacola which was crewed by two young boys that also entered the fleet. There was a good variety of wind and the 1^st North American Championships for the Inter 17R was won by Mark Batchelor of Michigan.

In 2002, the North American Championship was held again in Traverse City, Mi. the regatta attendance increased. With a growing Florida Fleet, Chris Sawyer came from the southern state to challenge Mark Batchelor. Again Mark prevailed for another Championship.  Interest in the growing North American fleet of Formula 18s drew some out of the F17 fleet, the championship was held in the fall of 2003 at Pensacola, Fl. The racing proved to be tight between Chris Sawyer, Ohio Sailor Bill Gillespie, & Andy Zitkus out of the Michigan Fleet. When the sun set on the final race Chris Sawyer took top honors. Bill Gillespie finishing in the runner up position for the championship series.

Photo: Shots by Roxy

It was mid 2004 and Nacra decided to make a marketing change by renaming the I-17R to the Nacra F17. The class rules were rewritten, adding a 18sm spinnaker for skippers weighing over 225lbs. (see rules). The strategy seem to have paid off as the class saw new growth in membership, with a  number of new 17s with the new F17 logo on the side of the boat attending the Tybee Island Championships for North America.  Bob Curry, 1997 Nacra 5.5uni Champion set the pace from the first flag to the last only losing one race in the series to Bill Gillespie.

Nacra Race Week 2004 - F17

Sailed: 10  Discards: 1  To count: 9  To qualify: 0  Entries: 15

 F17 Class

Several people from the F18 fleet decided to step into the F17 racing scene during the 2005 season and the level of competition began to steadily improve.  2005 Nacra Championship Week saw a drop in attendance mainly do to a shortage of gas in the southern states, but the competition was still first rate. Mark Batchelor with 13 bullets captured his third North American Championship on the F17.

2005 F17 Class