TEST INFUSION

A ny new racing boat is judged by itsresults. At their first major regatta —Eurocat in Carnac in early May, rankedalongside the F18 World championship

and Round Texel as a top grade event — NacraInfusions finished second, third and sixth in a fleetof 142 Formula 18. Why not first? The simpleanswer is that Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby,who won Eurocat in a Hobie Tiger are currentlythe most hard-to-beat cat racers in the world,

although the Dutch guys racing the top Infusionswere clearly pretty good as well.

This is the third new Formula 18 cat produced byNacra in 10 years. They started with the Inter 18 in1996, designed by Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvinbased in the USA. It was quick, but having themain beam and rig so unusually far forward madeit tricky downwind. Five years later, the Inter 18was superseded by a new Nacra F18 designed byAlain Comyn. It was quick and popular, but could

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The Infusion made its debut in top level competition atEurocat in May. Jeremy Evans goes flying on the verylatest Formula 18.

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Nacra INFUSIONP

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36 YACHTS AND YACHTING

never shift the Hobie Tiger’s domination of majorF18 events. So Nacra opted for a third generationFormula 18, the curiously named Infusion whichwas launched at the start of this year. Nacra wentback to Morrelli & Melvin for the design, followingthe success of M&M’s Nacra A2 which won lastyear’s A-Class world championship for ultimatesinglehanded cats.

Build and finishThe name ‘Infusion’ relates to the vinylesterresin-infusion system, which is used to mould thefoam sandwich hulls. Instead of manuallysaturating fibreglass cloth with paint brushes andsqueegees, resin-infusion uses vacuum pressureto pull resin into the laminate. This technique hasbecome widely used in the USA, removing theneed for skilled hand laminators and the nastychemical stench associated with laying on resin. Itclearly has the potential to produce consistentlyidentical mouldings with resin maximisedthroughout the laminate.

While testing the system, Nacra built several oftheir previous F18 designs with resin-infusionwhich they described as significantly lighter, sothat additional fibreglass could be used for extrastrength, stiffness and durability. Only time willshow if resin-infusion really does produce superiorcatamaran hulls. In the meantime, it’s clear thatInfusion hulls look beautifully finished and don’thave the obvious seam lines of the hand-laminated Nacra F18.

Design and rigWe sailed the first Infusion in Britain, so new thatthe hulls had been flown to Europe from the USA!Paul Butler (ex-commodore of Highcliffe SC) hadjust taken delivery as a replacement for his trusty

Above The Infusion’s

‘gybing’ daggerboards

have a thicker trailing

edge at the top, allowing

them to twist in their

cases and provide extra

lift upwind.

Right Helming on the

wire, the Infusion

appears not only big and

steady but a very

powerful boat.

What is Formula 18?

Formula 18 is a development class open to all boat builders,sailmakers and mast makers. The 2006 F18 world championshiphas an entry of 160 teams from 16 countries racing at Hyères. Nextyear’s eighth F18 world championship will be held in Australia.

Carbon fibre and other expensive materials are forbidden to keep costdown to the current level of around £12,000 ready-to-race. F18 cats have amaximum length of 18ft, minimum racing weight of 180kg ex-crew, and arating of 1.01 (measured by the Small Cat Handicap Rating System). Themainsail area is 17sq m. Two sizes of jib (4.15/3.45sq m) and spinnaker(21/19 sq m) are used — crews weighing less than 140kg must race with thesmaller sails. Weight equalisation is required for 140-150kg crews. Inpractice, most competitive F18s have crews just under 160kg.

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TEST INFUSION

Nacra F18. Our sailing locations were PortlandHarbour and Weymouth Bay.

The Infusion stands out in terms of design. M&Mdescribe the hulls as ‘third generation wavepiercing’ to prevent pitching and increaseresistance to pitchpoling, but what really strikesyou is that this cat looks bigger than theCapricorn, Tiger or any other F18 with massivevolume in the main hull area to carry both rig andcrew. What’s more, both hulls are canted outwardsby about four degrees. Nacra claim this increasesrighting moment, reduces water resistance,improves steering response and reducespitchpoling downwind. Whatever else, it suremakes the Infusion recognisable!

This new cat is also packed with neat designfeatures. ‘Gybing’ daggerboards have a thickertrailing edge at the top, allowing them to twist intheir cases and provide extra lift upwind. The rearbeam is angled to align the monster 10:1mainsheet — topped by five sexy sheaves withtapered Maffioli sheet as standard — with thetraveller which should clearly reduce friction. Thefront beam is aligned with compression of themast and also sunk into the decks. This isdesigned to deflect water smoothly over the topwhen the cat hits waves at top speed, instead ofbeing slowed down by a spray explosion.

Nacra have followed the Capricorn’s example witha 380cm circumference wing mast that is almostfull depth under F18 rules. Interestingly, it’s the onlypart of the boat made in Europe and by PaulButler’s rating feels extremely light when you rigthe boat. Tornado-style diamond wires finishinginside the mast base are another neat feature,reflecting the expert attention to detail on this boat.

SailingHow easy a cat is to handle on the water will bereflected in its performance. The first thing younotice sailing the Infusion is that it feels like quitea big boat, with a style that’s steady, smooth, fastand reassuring in moderate winds. For sure, crewcontrol requirements will ramp up in strongerwinds — normal for any high performance boat —but all that volume should help keep the Infusionon course and under control, without unpleasanttendencies to take trips down the mine.

The ergonomics of the boat appear superb. Onmany older cats, it can feel uncomfortably clumsyto go in and out on the wire. On the Infusiontrapezing is a perfectly fluid movement, with theultra-rigid trampoline flowing into the side of thehull and no ‘Mind the gap!’ feeling. When you’reout, the side of the windward hull feels nicelyrounded and comfortable under your feet. Movingaft to sail downwind, the crew can trapeze verycomfortably by the rear beam — this position feltreally secure, which is just as well when you feelthe power of that 21sq m kite.

Talking of kites, the hoist is very neat. Thespinnaker tackline is led under the trampoline so itcan be pulled or let off by the helm or crew oneither side of the boat, on or off the trampoline.Normal racing sequence is for the helm to stay onthe wire for the spacer leg at the top of thecourse, pulling the tackline out while the crewstands on the tramp and pulls the chest highhalyard hand-over-hand which gets the kite up in afew seconds. Not forgetting to lift the

daggerboards 60cm above the deck, or the‘gybing’ design will twist upwind rather than down!

Helming on the wire, the Infusion appears notonly big and steady but a very powerful boat.However, it may not be easy to sail the Infusion toits maximum. As with any current F18, the size ofthe roach on the square top mainsail makesmainsheet tension, downhaul and sailing anglecritical upwind — lee helm shows you’re stoppingthe boat. This is clearly a matter of learning to sailthe Infusion specifically, so it’s good to find precise(right down to measurements in cms) tips on theNacra Europe website relating to mast rotation, jibcars and daggerboards.

The verdictNacra is a hybrid cat range, built in California andmarketed on this side of the Atlantic by two ofHolland’s leading cat racers who run NacraEurope. Gunnar Larsen and Peter Vink have a longhistory of racing Nacra in Formula 18 and helpeddevelop the Infusion alongside top Americansailors. Peter Vink also runs the specialist catsailmaker Performance Sails, which produces thestock mainsail, spinnaker and jib for the Infusion.

It’s early days yet, but at Eurocat the Infusionappeared fully competitive with the current top F18s— Hobie Tiger, Cirrus, Capricorn and Diam. The windat Carnac was mainly light or moderate and withthose big hulls the Infusion could find plenty morespeed in stronger winds. What’s more, Infusions willsurely get quicker as people learn to press all theright buttons to maximise performance.

Paul Butler is certainly delighted with his new cat.‘The gybing boards are brilliant. You need to comeout of the tack without pinching to get enoughpressure to let them bite. Then go to work on themainsheet and the boat climbs to windward — we dida mid-line start at the cat open on Lake Bala, thensailed faster and higher to cover the whole fleet.’

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s

Above top The front

beam is sunk into the

decks and designed to

deflect water smoothly

over the top when the

cat hits waves at top

speed.

Above The Infusion’s

monster 10:1 mainsheet

is topped by five sexy

sheaves and a tapered

Maffioli sheet as

standard.

38 YACHTS AND YACHTING

He continues, ‘I have never sailed a cat that canbe driven downwind in breezy conditions like thisone. Even with my crew weighing less than 60kgout on the wire, I can sail high to pick up speedand drive off downwind as the boat accelerates.The only time I’ve not been confident is downwindin light conditions when it seems very difficult toget the hull “unstuck”. More time on the water isobviously needed!’

So is this third time lucky for Nacra? Whateverhappens, the Infusion is a beautifully presentedand very welcome newcomer to high performancesailing, while the F18 class of open design cats isclearly on a roll. n

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Above The hoist is very

neat. The spinnaker

tackline is led under the

trampoline so it can be

pulled or let off by the

helm or crew on either

side of the boat, on or

off the trampoline.

LOA: 5.51mBEAM: 2.6mSAILING WEIGHT: 180kgSAIL AREA: UPWIND 22.9sq m

SPINNAKER N/ASCHRS: 1.01GUIDE PRICE: £11,295*

LOA: 5.52mBEAM: 2.6mSAILING WEIGHT: 180kgSAIL AREA: UPWIND 21.15sq m

SPINNAKER 21/19sq mSCHRS: 1.01GUIDE PRICE: £12,499*

CONTACT: The Dinghy StoreQueen Mother Reservoir

Horton RoadHorton

Berkshire SL3 9NT

TEL: 01753 681001EMAIL: info@dinghystore.co.ukWEBSITE: www.dinghystore.co.ukCLASS ASSOCIATION:

Infusion specifications

DESIGN: Morrelli & Melvin in 2005BUILDER: Nacra, CaliforniaLENGTH: 5.52mBEAM: 2.6mSAILING WEIGHT: 180kgSAIL AREA: MAIN 17sq m

JIB 4.15sq m SPINNAKER 21sq m

SCHRS: 1.01PRICE: £11,950

COMPARISONS… Where does the Nacra Infusion fit in? Here are some alternatives…

n Capricorn Very hot F18 built in Australia withslimmer hulls than the Infusion. Topperformers include three ‘Corinthian’GBR teams who regularly manage toembarrass pro-am sailors. Same F18specification as Infusion.

n Hobie TigerThe Tiger is the biggest class withinF18 and a one-design class in its ownright with world and Europeanchampionships. It has won five out ofsix F18 worlds to date. Same F18specification as Infusion.

Guide prices are approximate, *including sails, ** excluding sails

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