ISAF Multihull Evaluation Panel Report

Interesting that the result was so decisive. Nacra 17 the first choice of 14 out of 18 sailors. And a one piece mast is being recommended.

Also interesting that the hulls for the top three boats are all built in the same factory - Composite Marine in Thailand.

All righty then, let's all run out and get a new Nacra 17!

So, what's it gonna cost?

More, or less, than the F18??

Comments on the Hobie 16:

Difficult to sail

Not challenging enough

How do you spell o-x-y-m-o-r-o-n???

Mike

Looks like the Nacra 17 is the most expensive option except for the Marstrom Tornado. 16,750 Euro for the first 100 boats or until Oct 31, whichever is earlier. Thereafter 19,000 Euro.

so, with more volume the price goes up??

New Nacra marketing tool. Look how well it worked on the F-20c.

seriously though- spreading the marketing and R+D over more boats should theoretically bring the price down right? what is the thought process behind the price increase?
this is stupid. Not a fan of Nacra in general though.

monopoly.

and why I'm not a fan of SMOD

This is great... If ISAF sticks with the rec... the existing fleets won't be bothered... Mixed multihull will go off and do it's own thing. The mixed multi class will look like the Tornado class did in most of the world.

My read of the docs suggest that ISAF has enough of a reason in the report to select a boat based on the non technical factors. Will that be the right way to go... who the hell knows.

BTW... was anybody surprised at the rank order of the top three. Was anyone surprised that the Hobie 16 did not rate well with the sailors that were sent.

So... does ISAF have an ounce of wisdom to pick a boat, explain why, and have the participation from the world that they want?

Congratulations to Gino Morrelli & Pete Melvin! From looking at the evaluations you blokes really nailed the design brief.

The Euro is about $1.32 US Dollars today, so that makes it $22,144 for the first 100 and $25,118 for the rest.

and that excludes taxes and delivery

Did they ask anyone on the selection panel if they were going to buy one?

At least they are honest and up front in the fact that

once we have the Olympic selection locked up, we will increase prices

.

Too funny!

You know how Airbus markets their airplanes?

They sell them cheap (they gave them to Jet Blue...FREE!) then they kill you on the parts!

That's exactly how Oracle and MSFT do it too. Tech support is license to print $$$. Larry is a douche but he is not a tard.

Psst... the equipment was selected a long time ago.

Thats the same, maybe even than new 49er pricing and they break a lot more than cats do and it's less boat than a Nacra 17.
And for guys doing am Olympic campaign that is a small chunk out of a 250k yearly budget, the boat(s) always are the smallest part of the budget and I suspect serious campaigners won't complain like you guys are.

Just double checked... I was at Miami OCR when the new container of 49ers came in, my friend said he paid 28k

Plus a new kite for that 49er runs in the order of 3k. Imagine if the prices for all the cats were the same. Everyone here would be ecstatic about the prices listed here. And thats first hand from an olympic medalist

Well I'm glad they chose something 'different', so to speak, and will now leave us weekend pogues alone, to race our 'cheap' boats.

I would have hated to see them choose an existing class and then start a new 'arms race'.

$28K for a 49'r?? What are they made out of?? Platinum?

Nothing has been picked yet.

Well if 14 of the 17 evaluators liked the Nacra 17 best, what else would they pick?

I mean, why even have the

trials

if they aren't going to listen to the evaluators?

remember the trials selected TWO candidates for the final selection. They didnn't ONLY select the nacra 17.

And...what else did they select?

Why trials?.... because one new boat was created for the event. If you did not have a trial.... you would not shake the tree and have a new boat submitted. Half the world had never seen a spitfire... Most of the world had never seen a Nacra F16... Of course you need a trial. It produces data.

Now you get to evaluate the data and then make a judgement.

If you think the Sailing properties are the only factor... You must think that Hobie was CRAZY to put the Hobie 16 with spin into the trial. I don't think Hobie was crazy...

When ISAF tosses all Keel boats.... I think a fair read of the Tea Leaves is that MNA's want affordable Olympic boats. I bet they think

Elite Olympic Boat

is part of the problem... not the future. For example... do you think the LASER is an elite Olympic Boat.... or a boat sailed by elite Olympic Sailors?

Back when all this nonsense started, I said they should just choose the Hobie 16 and be done with it, for all the reasons you've mentioned Mark. Years ago, when the put the Laser in, I though,

They must be NUTZ!

but upon further reflection, I realized, in the Laser, the Sailor wins the regatta, not the boat.

That's why I supported the Hobie 16, less -go fast gadgets- on board means the sailors become more important, to make it go fast.

Oh, and it's available world wide, and the cheapest racing boat available.

NOW...the only draw back is, watching a bunch of Hobie 16's go downwind in 10kts. or less, is about as exciting (for the spectators) as mowing my lawn, so they need to pick a very windy venue for the regatta, if they want to 'thrill the crowd', so to speak.

You are sort of making my key point.
ISAF has not stated exactly what the key feature is.

TV appeal? (Big... Bigger the better = Tornado
State of the art sailing catamaran? = F17 with curved boards
Laser equivalent. = Hobie 16
Modern design but affordable. (All of the F16 flavors and a Tiger)

My take home from the sailor reports is that ISAF gets to pick between these 4 philosophies. with the Viper coming out of the trials as the choice of the F16/F18 flavor.

Obviously they don't want to tell you what the top objective is... This Keeps the options open. On the other hand... the cat world will scream at the selection this way....