Nacra 15 FAQ's

This is a common question, and important to many sailors and parents looking at their future options. There are a range of options when buying a Nacra 15, including race-ready second-hand boats, and new boat options from Nacra UK.

There are often second-hand boats available in the UK - take a look at our regularly updated 'For Sale' page to see the current offerings in the UK, as well as the 'UK Nacra 15 Sailors' Facebook page. As a relatively new class, these boats are all built from 2016 onwards, so are still in great condition and often with lots of spare equipment, road trailers and are set-up ready to race. Second-hand boats are available from around £9,000, very similar in price to good second hand boats in other youth double-handed classes.

See our For Sale page for more details about buying a Nacra 15.

The main running costs associated with most youth sailing campaigns are replacing equipment, particularly sails. In many youth classes, sails are replaced regularly in order to remain competitive, driving up the cost dramatically. In the Nacra 15, the one-design sails produced by Performance Sails are incredibly durable, with a single suit of sails lasting multiple racing seasons. It would be typical to expect to buy a new suit of sails roughly once every two years, significantly less frequently than in any other youth class!

Whilst many parents worry about the difficulty of transporting a catamaran, being slightly bigger than most dinghy classes, the reality is that the Nacra 15 can be easily lifted onto a road trailer by two or three people, and towed behind any normal sized car without any difficulties. Most trailers have storage boxes included for sails and other equipment, and many trailers have the ability to double-stack boats, allowing boats to share transport to international events.

The boat can be easily rigged by two sailors, perhaps with some parental assistance to begin with, but after some practice it will become a fast process, easily rigging the boat within half an hour.

Finding a sailing partner is often the most daunting part of transitioning into any youth class, particularly for sailors from a single-handed background. The Nacra 15 class is regularly contacted by sailors looking to move into the class. We direct all interested sailors and parents to our 'UK Nacra 15 Sailors' Facebook group, where you will be able to create a post asking for sailing partner recommendations, and also recieve updates and advice from our friendly community of past, present and future sailors, parents and supporters.

The Nacra 15 is the World Sailing Mixed Youth Multihull class. This means that to be eligible to compete at the Youth Sailing World Championships and Youth Olympic Games, Nacra 15 teams must sail in a mixed gender partnership. However for all other events, including all UK-based activity and all other international events, sailors can compete in any combination.

While some aspects of sailing a Nacra 15 are different from many junior and youth classes, many of the key skills and principles remain the same, with sailors often experiencing a much smoother transition than they expected. With our open class training held alongside RYA UK Youth Squad training, transitioning sailors have the opportunity to learn directly from experienced Nacra 15 sailors and coaches, who are all happy to share tips and advice. There are also plenty of one-to-one coaching opportunities, which are a great way to focus on getting to grips with the Nacra 15.

Full information on our training programme and coaching opportunities can be found here.

The Nacra 15 is extremely versatile, proving to be completely manageable even for newer sailors, whilst providing a great challenge to more experienced sailors looking to unlock the boat's full potential! The boat can be finely tuned, with rig settings such as shroud tension, mast rake and diamond tension, daggerboards which can be lifted to control the boat's lift/pitch and sail controls such as downhaul, mast rotation outhaul and traveller, all of which allow a wide range of ages and crew weights to sail the boat in the full range of conditions; with sailors as young as 10 already competing internationally and crew weights ranging from <100kg to 140kg+!

Whilst the Nacra 15 sails at high speeds, with the potential to capsize as with any dinghy class, the safety measures seen in the Olympic Nacra 17 class have been replicated at a youth level, with helmets, safety knives and whistles all mandatory whilst sailing. Helmets can be picked up for low cost from suppliers such as Forward WIP, Gul Watersports, Zhik, Magic Marine etc, and greatly minimise the risk of head injuries. Helmets are becoming increasingly popular in youth and junior sailing now, with the Nacra 15 class pioneering safety in our sport.

The Nacra 15 has curved daggerboards and small winglets on the rudders, providing some lift which allows the boat to 'semi-foil' downwind. This adds a dynamic aspect to the boat, with sailors using body weight to control the pitch of the boat and developing a valuable understanding of foiling principles to take into future sailing experiences, whilst not fully foiling, reducing the risk of wipeouts and therefore maintaining safety.

Nacra Sailing produce the fully foiling Nacra 15 FCS; a foiling kit which can be fitted to any Nacra 15 platform. This includes Z-shaped daggerboards with adjustable rake control, L-shaped rudders, and a flatter spinnaker, all of which allow the boat to fully foil. This is a great step for sailors looking to transition into the Nacra 17, practicing their foiling skills on a familiar platform before transitioning into the more powerful Olympic class!

In the UK we have a comprehensive Nacra 15 national racing programme, with the RYA Youth National Championships held each year, as well as the UK Nacra 15 National Series of events around the UK.

There are also lots of opportunities to race internationally, with World & European Championships, as well as the annual European Super Series with events in countries such as Belgium, France and The Netherlands which are easily accessible by ferry and a short drive from the UK.

For full details on our Racing Events, click here.

Our past sailors have gone on to success in a hugely wide range of classes, from dinghy classes ranging from RS200s to Waszps, many keelboat and yacht classes such as the J/70 and Cape 31, and high-performance Olympic Nacra 17 and 49er classes! The skills learnt in a Nacra 15 are transferable to any future sailing.