Nervously joining the club

Welcome! I'm envious, the 500 is an awesome boat with the self tacker and a better rudder system over the 5.0. It will take some getting used to over your laser, but it is definitely a faster and more stable platform.

Did you get the spinnaker package with it?

Sounds like a sweet ride, be sure to post some pictures of it for us.

gregjohnson1024 wrote: Hi folks,
Just sent the cheque to the Ontario dealer for a Nacra 500 - getting quite excited! I'm up in Ottawa, close to Mississippi Lake, and work in Kanata, near the Ottawa river. Looking forward to getting out on the water again - it's been a few years since my Laser days, and your enthusiasm got me into this!

Cheers,
greg

Greg, Welcome to TheBeachcats.com and to sailing whole boats! 😀

The Nacra 500 is really nice and we have a good number of Canadians and Nacra sailors on here to help. As soon as you can take a picture you can setup your Avatar.

I'll send pictures, promise! Just spoke to the dealer and the word is "Saturday"... now I'm checking the forecast incessantly... (and yes, Dave B, I got the kite. I thought it was way too much extra $$$ but then I thought I wouldn't go back for it later so just went for it)

Hi Greg, I got the 570 two years ago. Nearly the same boat. It's a great platform. Fast and forgiving. Good call on the spin. kit. It would cost you more later to piece it together, so you actually saved some money. The 570 is in some ways overkill. The 500 is just about perfect. Enjoy.

This boat is lovely! I've had her for about four weeks now, and am so impressed. There have been pretty constant problems (the dealer, whom I've not met in person, seems to know a ton about the boat, but is the most disorganized person I've run across) with the spin pole (rivets in wrong location, jib sail not cut for the spin version of the boat, no blocks for the jib, spin chute wrong length (too long), wrong setup (the guy sent to deliver the boat didn't really know how to assemble the spin rigging, so I had to take that all apart and figure it out) BUT none of this will matter in a year or so when the boat is still lovely!

Compared to my previous experiences sailing Lasers, I am amazed at the stability and the acceleration. Safe enough to take small kids without traumatising them, but enough oomph to get the other engineers in my lab very excited!

A question about weather helm - I've got about 30-40cm of mast rake (and 200lbs tension according to my new Loos gauge!) and the rudders are still in their initial factory position. It seems incredibly well balanced, with almost no weather helm at all. Is that okay, or should I really add some helm as a safety? I haven't tried to see if she'd sail up into the wind if I jumped off yet, but I'm curious...

you should have a small amount of helm so it rounds up if you fall off