Wave vs. Nacra 450

Perhaps the group can give me some advice on the question: Hobie Wave or Nacra 450?

I’m trying to decide between a new Wave and a used Nacra 450 in excellent condition. Both are from dealers (not the same one). The price would be approximately the same; I would get the jib on the Wave.

In a few weeks I’ll be 48, married, no kids. We sail on Galveston Bay out of the Seabrook Sailing Club. I’d call myself an intermediate sailor with experience with a Buccaneer 18 and Laser. I also recently sailed a Wave when we vacationed in the Caribbean this winter. We just sold the Buccaneer (still have the Laser) because it didn’t fit our club (often too shallow water to launch) and because I never felt my wife was really comfortable handling the crew duties on the Bucc. When we sailed the Wave in January she seemed quite comfortable. I liked it too but if I had much more experience with it I wonder if I would find it not at all challenging. On the other hand, the Nacra 450, which seems to be a very impressive boat, might be outside of my wife’s comfort zone. The Nacra would be better for simple cruising with four people but that may be a small proportion of the sailing.

So, what do you folks think? Should I get the simpler boat and keep the Laser for a challenge or should I go for the more high-performance boat? (If we turned out to be comfortable with the Nacra we could get rid of the Laser). Am I failing to consider any important points?

Thanks,

-Pete

I'm not familiar with the Nacra 450, but I'll make a couple comments on the Wave:

From what I've read on these forums, the Wave's jib is pretty worthless, and may even hurt your pointing ability, because it disturbs the air on the main.

That being said, my wife loves the Wave, because she doesn't have to tug on the jib sheets. She would much rather be a passenger than a crew, and let me do all the work while she stretches out on the tramp. We sold our Interlake (similar to a Buccaneer) for that reason also.

If you get a lot of wind there, I think you'll feel adequately challenged by the Wave. It really comes alive in higher winds, so you'll be able to sail in conditions that will scare off most monohulls. To get more performance out of it, you can easily add a traveller and tiller extension (see other recent posts) or a spinnaker/hooter (but then you're back to the Bucc problems).

The Wave will handle 4 adults for a leisurely sail with no problems, but will not be fast. Read some more on this forum and on Catsailor.com for Wave information.

_________________
What - Me Worry?


2006 Hobie Wave 7358
"Ish Kabibble"