Thera are hundreds of small sailing dinghys for two people with various nautical characteristics, with various hull shapes, sails types, using buoyancy, gliding or using hydrofoils. Which of them is the best? Which gaves most fun from sailing it? There is no one definite answer for such a question.
There exists however a small two-person sailing boat, which was especially designed so that it gives the most excitement when sailing, yet stays simple to operate – this is Nautica 450. Tremendous monotype sailing dinghy, for two, which has an affordable price and extraordinary nautical capabilities.
Slipping fun for everybody! Nautica 450 is a gliding boat. Thanks to wide and quite flat hull, it quickly accelerates to the speed, at which it glides over the water like the windsurfers do. Thanks to that, even having only 4.5 meters of length (14.8ft) the boat can achieve 11 knots upwind and 18 knots downwind. Quite large sails for its size (14.5m2 main sails + 21.8m2 gennaker), guarantee quite fast sailing even in light winds.
Anyway, there are a lot of fast sailing boats. Let’s take 49er class, or 505 class. The characteristic that makes Nautica450 so unique is “sailing friendliness”. The boat is extremely easy to operate, comfortable for the crew, and has several features allowing quick packing, safe transporting and quick unpacking..
Easy to operate. Nautica 450 cockpit, provides next to ballast belts, a bulge in the center part. This helps when moving from side to side, especially, when the sailing boat is tilted. The deck and cockpit angles are moulded in a way to provide hiking crew maximum comfort. This is very important during long runs (e.g. regattas). Nautica 450 has main sail sheets with double rope shifting pulling at the end of the boom, yet led to the middle of the boom for helmsman convinience. The boom itself is mounted quite high, so it is quite rare to hit it with a head! Additionally, the control line for the main sail twist adjustment is is led back to one of swiveling cleats in the center of the cockpit. That helps tha helmsman to operate it. The cunningham and outhaul lines add to the main sail adjustment. While designing the boat, the constructor thought also about the comfort of the crewman. Both jib and assymetric spinnaker (gennaker) sheets are lead around with one line each. Thanks to that, there is no possibility to take the left sheet instead of the right one (and vice versa). Boom vang of opposite gnav system, does not limit the crewsman space below the boom. Automatic hoist and drop system of the assymetric sail can be operated with single halyard, that moves the sail up and down and launches the spinnaker pole.
Easy sailing preparation. Main sail and jib halyards are led within the mast and doubled from the top of the mast. This helps keeping the halyard from being tow by hazard to the mast top. Instead of hanks, the jib has a zipper. This makes hoisting the jib much quicker. Forestay is fitted through high tension blocks system that controls rig tension. Shrouds of 3mm stainless steel can be easily adjusted with the use of easily operated pins. Main sail and jib cunninghams helps to set the sails to the wind conditions. But in general, the number of ropes and regulations on Nautica 450 is limited. The sailing boat in a monotype and most of the settings are optimally designed, which helps in quick boat preparation for sailing.
Sailing boat endurance. Nautica 450 is designed for sea bay or lake sailing. This is due to its flat-bottom and wide design. High waves can slow down the boat substantially. But the boat can endure even quite strong winds. The regattas are led up to 30knots of wind, and equipment damage are rare. This is connected to the very solid design of Nautica 450. The three pairs of shruds for example, make the mast very solid and braking it really difficut. Capsizing the boat is not the end of sailing. Within a dozen of seconds, Nautica 450 can be put back to its position by the crew. The open cockpit, lets the water flow away within seconds. The sailing boat can be sailed again.
Easy packing and transportation. Covers protecting Nautica 450 are sold together with the sailing boat. For up and bottom side of the hull, for daggerboard, rudder, boom and mast. The slip trolley can be put on the car trailer. After packing and connecting together with lashing belts one can start the journey. An experienced team packs the boat for transport within 40 minutes!
Summary. Nautica 450, is a monotype sailing boat class choosen by people sailing till now on Snipe, 505, 470, Europa or other similar classes and by sailors that till now used ony cruising boats. Thanks to providing fun and excitement and thanks to simplicity to operate Nautica 450 quickly forces the sialor to cross the border, after which one cannot resign of it. Beware it is highly addictive.
Several statements of Nautica 450 crew members:
Nautica is for me the fullfillment of dreams about racing and its an affordable fun. Nautica 450 is a group of extraordinary people that I like to meet and compete with. It bring the possibility to spend time on water and forgetting everything around. – Tomasz Zambrzycki, helmsman.
Sailing Nautica 450 is a tremendous fun. The pleasure is not only connected to sailing, but also to co-operation between the crew members. As a crewsman, I really appreciate sailing on beautiful lakes and coastal waters. – Marcin Końsko, crewsman