Nacra turns 30. This speedy little catamaran, which Tom Roland initially designed, built and first sailed in Santa Barbara, California in 1975 has come of age -- from the agile 17-foot Nacra 5.2 that quickly attracted fellow sailors to the state-of-the-art models offered by the current builder Performance Catamarans, Inc. And, Nacra has proven time and time again to be OAlways One Step Ahead.¹

The popularity of the first Nacra geared the staff towards introducing more catamaran designs including the 18 sq, 5.0, 5.7 and 5.8 models. Over the years, it was necessary for Nacra to move from Santa Barbara to Carpinteria then to the Catalina Yachts facility in Woodland Hills in 1985. In 1988, Performance Catamarans was created combining Nacra with the Prindle catamaran line and moved to Santa Ana, California where it still exists today.

After a second design, the 18 sq., was released in 1978, new Nacra designs were released beginning in the early 80's-, the Nacra 5.0 (16'), 5.7 (18.5')and 5.8 (19¹) designs became the new standards following the Nacra 5.2 in multihull racing. Most open class regattas welcomed the Nacras until their own One-Design race circuit was formed and then Nacra fleets began sprouting up all over the United States, (with the help of the European and Australian distributors) Europe and Australia.

Neil Bernardo and Roman Azanza's entry, named "To Follow..." (Not their expected position on the water one hopes...???), is the 30th confirmed entry for PHC6, marking a fresh milestone for the Philippine Hobie Challenge team.

The first container of fifteen Hobie 16's is already en route from Taal Lake Yacht Club and it will be in Cebu's Tambuli Beach Resort ready in time for the January 15/16 International Hobie 16 Championships incorporating the 8th Philippine National Championships.

This promises to be a red hot warm up regatta even without Hong Kong's Tong Shing defending his Open title (although race organisers are putting a lot of pressure on him to move house the following weekend instead!!!). PHC4 Champion Peter Davies will however fly the HK flag in his stead together with his wife Brenda.

Mike Leneman has designed, built, and test sailed a revolutionary coastal day-sailor trimaran called the L7. It is a pocket-cruiser that can kick butt on many of the much more costly, coastal racing trimarans.

Until now, the biggest difference between a catamaran and trimaran has been the way that the trimarans were designed to primarily sail upon their center hull while leaning on one of their two outrigger style amas. Leneman has made a timely step forward in developing a trimaran that more closely resembles a catamaran.

For so many years, Mike Leneman has been representing a very famous multihull manufacturer who has had the greatest and best trailerable multihull trimaran on the market. That design, brand has been extremely popular and partly thanks to Leneman, has enjoyed tremendous success on the West Coast.

FLORIDA, USA. (December 17, 2004) David Ingram was crowned the inaugural Endurance Sails Series Open Class Champion for 2004. The catamaran series, sponsored by Endurance Sails of West Palm Beach (www.EnduranceSails.com), comprises six distance racing events around the State of Florida. The series had an excellent turnout with 100 individual skippers participating in at least one event. Ingram will be the first name added to the perpetual trophy, "The Endurance Cup" after his excellent finish at the final event, the Steeplechase, held last week in Key Largo, Florida. Ingram sailed on a Nacra20 catamaran.

Asked about the level of pressure he felt going into the Steeplechase against a large competitive fleet, Ingram replied "You always feel the pressure of your competition, the southeast offers a great deal of talent at almost every event you attend. You never know if you are going to be on the starting line with an Olympic medalist, W1000/Atlantic1000 winner, and/or several national champions." Ingram also commented on the popularity of the series and the outlook for 2005, "Now that the sailing community knows the series is for real the amount of talent on the starting line next year will be dramatically different. Every race will be a hard fought contest. The 2005 season promises to be very exciting." When asked if he thinks the series is only for the hardcore racer, Ingram replied "No! Four of the six races are geared towards a more relaxed fun aspect of the sport. The Mug Race and Hiram's Haul are two of my favorites and I have done them almost exclusively with my wife."

1Design.Net (www.1design.net) is very pleased to announce that Harken (www.Harken.com) has signed up as the primary sponsor for a new buoy racing series for 2005! The Harken Buoy Series for the Harken Cup will consists of 6 major buoy regattas in the State of Florida.

The Harken Buoy Series will complement the Endurance Distance Series that will finish its inaugural season this year.

The Harken Series is open to all one design and/or formula classes. Complete rules will be posted in the next couple months, but for a fleet to qualify, it must have a 5 boat fleet at 4 of the 6 series races. There is no registration necessary or no additional entry fee required other than the standard regatta entry fess.

So NOW is the time for your fleet to get together and start planning to attend. Based on past years, A-Cat, Hobie Wave, Hobie 14, Hobie 16, F-16, and I20 should all be able to qualify. 1Design.Net will be happy to provide links on its site for any one design and/or formula class website to help promote your class. Contact 1Design.Net for more information.