TESTINFUSION

Nacra INFUSION

PHOTOJEREMYEVANS Y&Y

The Infusion made its debut in sailboat top level competition atEurocat in May. Jeremy Evans goesflying on the verylatest Formula 18.

TEST

A

nynew racing boat is judged by itsresults. At their first major race — Eurocat in Carnac in early May, ranked alongside the F18 World championshipand Round Texel as a top grade event — Nacra Infusions finished second, third and sixth in a fleet of142 Formula 18. Why not first? The simple answer is that Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby, who won Eurocat in a Hobie Tiger are currently the most hard-to-beat cat racers in the world, although the Dutch guys racing the top Infusionswere clearly pretty good as well. This is the third new Formula 18 cat produced byNacrain 10 years. They started with the Inter 18 in 1996, designed by Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvin based in the USA. It was quick, but having the main beam and rig so unusually far forward made it trickydownwind. Five years later, the Inter 18 was superseded by a new Nacra F18 designed by Alain Comyn. It was quick and popular, but could

â–²

YACHTS AND YACHTING

35