NACRA 5.2 Catamaran
Description
The NACRA 5.2 is a classic high-performance beach catamaran designed by Tom Roland and built by NACRA (North American Catamaran Racing Association, later NACRA Sailing) in the USA from 1975 to 1985. Approximately 2,600 hulls were produced, making it one of the more successful early NACRA models. It's a twin-daggerboard, fractional sloop-rigged cat with a rotating mast (anodized aluminum spars) and full-battened mainsail (nine battens typical), optimized for speed, agility, and one-design racing in moderate winds. The design emphasizes lightweight construction (fiberglass), low wetted surface when flying a hull, and responsive handling—great for club racing, beach launching, or recreational sailing with 1–2 crew (trapeze equipped). It's known for its lively feel, excellent upwind pointing (thanks to daggerboards and rotating mast), and planing/surfing downwind potential. Many are still raced actively in vintage fleets or as fun daysailers,
Construction Details
| Designer | Tom Roland |
|---|---|
| Builder | NACRA (USA) |
| Length | 17.000 ft |
| LOA | 17.000 ft |
| LWL | 15.400 ft |
| Beam | 8.000 ft |
| Displacement | 350 lb |
| Max Draft | 2.500 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.400 ft |
| Year Built | 1975 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | 28.17 ft |
| e | 7.50 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | 28.17 ft | 7.50 ft | - | - | - | - |
Documents
Sails
NACRA 5.2 Catamaran - MAINSAIL
| Luff | * 28.17 ft - (8586 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 7.5 ft - (2286 mm) |
| Leech | * 28.74 ft - (8760 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88 ° |
| Diagonal | * 28.9 ft - (8809 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 3.5 in - (89 mm) |
| Area | * 109.08 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.
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