Nacra Sailing
Nacra Sailing is the brand name for a line of small catamaran sailboats, or beachcats. NACRA was founded in 1975 to tap into the market created by Hobie Alter the founder of Hobie Cat, and several other companies offering small fiberglass catamarans designed to be sailed off the beach by a crew of one or two.
NACRA is an acronym that stands for North American Catamaran Racing Association, and as the name implies, the company has remained primarily focused on racing catamarans from inception.
History
Nacra Sailing was founded by sailboat designer Tom Roland who had previously designed the Alpha Cat, an 18-foot beach cat, in 1970. In 1975 he launched the new company with the Nacra 5.2, a 17-foot beach cat, which was an unusual design that featured plumb bows, daggerboards, and a highly tunable sail plan with a fully battened loose-footed main sail. Many of the design elements of this first boat were carried over to the later designs as well as becoming common on other performance oriented catamarans.The company has gone through several ownership and name changes over the years, and acquired the competing Prindle brand in 1988. At that time the company operated under the name "Performance Catamarans" and relocated from Santa Barbara to Santa Ana, California. In 2007 the company was acquired by a group in the Netherlands and today operates as Nacra Sailing. An Australian-based licensee of Nacra Sailing has operated as NACRA Australasia since 1985 and also builds NACRA branded boats.
Nacra Sailing's 20 foot boats dominated the Worrell 1000, a race the New York Times described as "A Tour d'France on the Water", throughout the 1990s, and were selected as only the second one-design for the race in 2001.
In 2012 Nacra Sailing won the design competition held by World Sailing, the world governing body for the sport of sailing recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, for a new Olympic racing catamaran, the Nacra 17, which was used in the new for 2016 Olympic Mixed Multihull class, which requires one male and one female sailor per boat. In 2017 it was announced that a modified version of the boat with foiling capability will be used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
In 2015 the Nacra 15 was adopted by World Sailing as a Youth World Championships class, as well as a new class for the Youth Olympic Games. In 2016 British RYA selected the Nacra 15 as their new Youth Multihull boat, as well.
Recent catamarans built by Nacra Sailing have included rudders and daggerboards shaped to facilitate hydofoiling at higher speeds, among the first commercial sail boats to offer this feature.
Current and notable past models
| Model | Length | Beam | Weight | Intro Year | Current | Race Crew | Description | Designer |
| NACRA 5.2 | 17' | 8.2' | 350 lbs | 1975 | no | 2 | distinctive plumb bow | Tom Roland |
| NACRA Blast | 16' | 8' | 350 lbs | 2001 | no | 2 | designed at ISAF Youth Catamaran | Tom Roland |
| NACRA 36 | 36.75' | 16' | 1975 | no | 3+ | only 10 built | Tom Roland | |
| NACRA 18 Square | 18' | 11' | 1979 | no | 1 | distinctive 11 foot beam, uni rig | Tom Roland | |
| NACRA 5.5 Sloop | 18' | 8.5' | 1984 | no | 2 | same hulls as 18 Square | Tom Roland | |
| NACRA 5.5 Uni | 18' | 8.5' | 1984 | no | 1 | same hulls as 18 Square | Tom Roland | |
| NACRA 5.0 | 16.4 | 8.' | 1985 | no | 2 | boardless, boomless main | ||
| NACRA 5.7 | 18.5 | 8.5' | 375 lbs | 1984 | no | 2 | boardless, boomless main | |
| NACRA 5.8 | 19' | 8' | 390 lbs | 1982 | yes* | 2 | large 1 design fleet and *still produced in Australia | Roy Seaman |
| NACRA 6.0 | 20' | 8.5' | 1988 | no | 2 | designed for Worrell 1000 | Roy Seaman | |
| NACRA Inter F17 | 17' | 8' | no | 1 or 2 | Unirig with spinnaker or double handed sloop with spinnaker | |||
| NACRA Inter 18 | 18' | 8.5' | 1995 | no | 2 | Nacra's 1st Formula 18 | Morrelli & Melvin | |
| NACRA Inter 20 | 20' | 8.5' | 410 lbs | no | 2 | Worrell 1000 one-design, 2001 | ||
| NACRA F-18 | 18' | 8.5' | 2001 | no | 2 | Nacra's 2nd Formula 18 | ||
| NACRA F-18 Infusion | 18' | 8.5' | 2005 | yes | 2 | Nacra's 3rd Formula 18, three different generations were produced, including a convertible full foiling version | Morrelli & Melvin | |
| NACRA F-18 Evolution | 18' | 8.5' | 2020 | yes | 2 | Nacra's 4th Formula 18 | ||
| NACRA 16 | 16' | 8.5' | 2011 | yes | 1 or 2 | Formula 16 | Morrelli & Melvin | |
| NACRA 17 MKI | 17' | 8.2' | 2012 | no | 2 | Olympic Mixed Multihull for 2016, curved boards, non-foiling | Morrelli & Melvin | |
| NACRA 17 MkII | 17' | 8.2' | 2018 | yes | 2 | Olympic Mixed Multihull from 2020, full foiling | Morrelli & Melvin | |
| NACRA 15 | 15' | 7.7' | 2015 | yes | 2 | ISAF Youth Multihull from 2016 | Morrelli & Melvin | |
| NACRA F20 Carbon | 20.3' | 10.5' | 401 lbs | 2010 | yes | 2 | C-board, Skimming design with kick up rudders, Not Formula 20 compliant | Morrelli & Melvin |
| NACRA F20 Carbon FCS | 20.3' | 10.5' | 445 lbs | 2014 | yes | 2 | Full foiling design with J-boards and T-foil rudders | Morrelli & Melvin |
| NACRA 460 | 14.8' | 7.7' | 2004 | yes | na | recreational, no boards, three sail plans | ||
| NACRA 500 | 16.4' | 8' | 1998 | yes | na | recreational, no boards, three sail plans | ||
| NACRA 570 | 18.5' | 8' | 1998 | yes | na | recreational, no boards, three sail plans |