Article by Richard Gladwell on the Olympic Nacra 17 catamaran: ISAF's experiment gets big tick from top crew

From the following article on Sail-World by Richard Gladwell:

http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=118082

The Nacra 17 is enjoying a stellar rise amongst the sailing and multihull community, both because of its design pedigree from US design team of Melvin and Morelli, and the fact that mixed gender crews are offering a new dimension to Olympic sailing.

The great experiment has worked.

Since the introduction of the mixed gender crew concept, and then the trials conducted by the ISAF to select a purpose designed boat for the 2016 Olympic event, the sailing world has been pondering the options.

Now these are starting to emerge, but as yet no best combination of roles in the boat, weight and height combination, or set up have really emerged.

All crews in the Nacra 17 at December's ISAF World Sailing Cup Melbourne acknowledge that they are on a steep learning curve and are learning with each race sailed.

A new crew having racing their first regatta together at Melbourne, are Olympic Silver medalists Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis.

Bundock (42) oozes multihull experience – a former World Champion in the Tornado class, and Olympic Silver medalist in the same year, 2008, the tall, slightly built Australian is acknowledged as one of the top racing multihull sailors in the world.

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