designed for the young and young at hear t

The Nacra 350 was designedby Ross Guinea with the goalof creating a craft that wassmall enough for children tobe able to sail by themselves

and show them all the thrills of whatcatamaran sailing has to offer.

The boat features modern day lookswith wave piercing bows and highvolume hulls with a skeg design hulls. Ithas kick up rudders, a boomlessmainsail, non overlapping jib and a fairlysimple layout with a very cleantrampoline area.

A lot of design work and ideas havegone into making the boat very simple.The hulls are a sandwich constructionwith many bulkheads beingincorporated into the hulls, this wasdone to withstand all the treatmentyoung children will dish out to the boat.

The hulls are made in two halves withmore buoyancy down low where it isneeded. Non-skid tread was placedalong the hull to help grip whiletrapezing. The decks between thebeams feature non-skid patterns whichhelp the crew to feel stable while sailing.

The hull design is very unique, wehave been able to incorporate thereverse bow wave piercing formula intoa skeg type design. The result is a non-daggerboard boat with fine entry yet stillobtaining heaps of volume.

The skeg design blends with thecutaway bow which maximises thepointing, tracking and tacking capabilityof the boat.

The trampoline area is large featuringa one piece mesh which can be easilyfitted by one person. There is a largepocket at the front for storing halyardsand other equipment.

The rudders are in two versions.

Shallow draft – which allows them tostay fixed when approaching the beachin shallow waters this was designed forclubs while children are learning.

The other type is high aspect carbonreinforced. The rudder system alsofeatures Ackerman steering whichmakes turning more efficient. A kick uppivmatic is also standard which makes

for safe beaching and will kick up onimpact with under water objects, this isall done with no springs, pulleys orcams, again keeping the simple theory.The rudder system also features the clipon and off system which makes takingthe whole rudder system off whentrailering very easy.

There are lots of other clever designsincorporated. For example the captivemast step system which allows for saferaising and lowering of the mast. This isdone by placing a pin through the mastbase which locks the mast onto thestep system, this is also used in the fullrange of Nacra catamarans. The mast issmall enough to be raised by oneperson very easily and was designed tofit into a 20ft container makingtransporting the boat around the

BY WARREN GUINEA

We wanted to design a small boat that would teach children theart of catamaran sailing again. There has been no new boats likethat built in the catamaran industry for well over 30 years.

A lot of design work and ideas have gone intomaking the boat very simple

above left: Wave piercing bows.above right: Two young girls sailing

the boat, one has never sailed before.below: On trailer with shallow

draft rudders.

country very easy. The boat is under2.1m wide which means the trailer doesnot need clearance lights, again helpingto keep the cost down. The boat canalso be towed on a box trailer or evenon the top of a camper trailer. We thenadded a two piece mast as an option tohelp with towing on these trailers. It is a

simple design but works very effectively.

The rear beam incorporates a built intraveller car which helps to maintain theoverall cost of the boat.

The sails are made out of monofilmand look very modern, the mainsailfeatures a square top sail and isboomless, again keeping to the simple

below left: Part of the test crew we usedover the week.below right: Pulling the boat up on thebeach is easy.bottom: The difference in design –enough said.

theory. The jib is non-overlapping whichmakes for easy tacking and gybing forchildren. A variety of colours areavailable in the sails which is whatchildren are after these days.

Other controls are a 6-1 mainsheetsystem which is more than adequate tohandle the small loads. Thecomponentry is shared betweenRonstan and Performance fittings, theyare all high quality and perform verywell.

A retractable righting system hasbeen set up as well, which makes therighting system very easy to reach in theevent of a capsize. The boat can beeasily righted by small children, over thewinter months we tested this manytimes to make sure the boat was safeand easily handled by one to threechildren.

THE BOAT IS AVAILABLE IN TWO VERSIONSClubman – Designed to be used as a

training boat at a club level. Features

shallow draftrudders, mainsailonly and notraveller.

Sports –Features nonoverlapping jib,traveller systemand a trapeze kitto teach childrenthe art of trapezing.

Pricing for the boat is $7990 forClubman version or $8990 for theSports which is excellent value whencompared to dinghy’s of comparablesizing and cheaper in some cases.

THE BOAT FEATURES• Moulded white sandwich hulls withbuilt in non-skid• Wave piercing design with largevolume hulls• Extra bulkheads – for stiffness• Boomless mono film mainsail –modern design and looks sexy• Pre shaped battens

• Diagional cut mesh trampoline withpocket• Ackerman steering system• Kick up rudders for safe beaching• Shallow or deep rudders• Anodised spars• Plastic coated shrouds –for added protection to sail• Adjustable trapeze system• Incorporated traveller car system

MU LT I H U L L WOR L D 7

Clean clutter free trampoline, this wasimportant as we wanted to make the sailing

free of any sharp objects.

• 6-1 mainsheet• 2-1 jib system• Captive mast ball system• Colour scheme available• Nacra’s five year limited warranty

PATHWAY TO THE FUTUREThe Nacra 350 is ideal for small

children to learn the art of catamaransailing, it is small enough to be handledaround the beach. Over many yearssmall monos have been appearing onthe market place and children havebeen forced to learn to sail on them asthere has been no NEW catamaranssmall enough for them to start on. Withcatamarans being used in the America’s

Cup and now the Nacra 17 back as themultihull in the Olympics children arelooking at multihulls and seeing them asexciting, faster, easy to sail and wantingto start learning on one.

This is part of Nacra’s long term planto design a range of catamarans thatchildren can start on and work their waythough the entire range and have a goalto aim for in the end. We feel the Nacra350 will fit this perfectly, it can be usedas a path through the mulithull scene tostart out on and progress onto biggerand a faster boats one day. (EvenAmerica’s Cup boats and Olympiccatamarans). Children want the latestand greatest in all products in today’smarket so we designed this boat just forthem.

It is still got enough excitement in itfor the older person looking for a smallcatamaran to have fun on. We testedthe boat many times with adults on itand was a ball of fun with the ease ofsimplicity in rigging.

The added trapeze system will bring awhole new life to children who havenever experienced the art of flying a hullwhile on trapeze. At the time of thisarticle going to print we had sold fourboats with many quotes out to clubs forthe boat as a training multihull in thetheir club. We expect to see themshortly around the country.

6 MU LT I H U L L WOR L D

top row from left:6-1 mainsheet more than adequate.Specially designed integrated traveller carsystem – helps to keep cost down.Pivmatic kick up rudder system.Shallow draft rudders.above left: Boomless mainsail.above right: Captive mast step system.

SAILING THE BOATOur test crew were some young girls

aged between five and 12, all of themhad a sail of the boat. Sometimes oneup or three up. The boat sails very welland tacks and gybes very easily, it issimple to use with the boomlessmainsail and all the other simple ideason the boat yet has enough features tomake sailing it very enjoyable once youhave mastered the art of catamaransailing.

One of the girls who used to crew ona larger catamaran had recently lostinterest in sailing due to socialpressures, after an afternoon of sailing

the boat around by herself she wasseen saying to her father to book theaccommodation for the upcomingNacra nationals where she will crew ona larger boat. I went to the club thefollowing Wednesday afternoon whereshe was waiting for me to again use theboat. It was great to see that we hadgot children back onto catamarans.

We are offering clubs a discount onfleet purchases and the boat comeswith a five year limited warranty.

More information can be found atwww.nacra.com.au

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