The boat measures 6.00 meters overall, with a beam of 2.55 meters and a length-to-beam ratio of 2.36. That ratio keeps the hulls slender for a beachable multihull and explains much of the 6.0’s straight-line pace.
Design and Construction
Seaman had been cutting Nacra hull plugs since 1985, and the 6.0 grew out of that hands-on mold-making lineage rather than a drawing-office abstraction. The fibreglass hull was laid up solid in the late-eighties American fashion.
Displacement is just 200 kilograms. With its daggerboard keel, the boat draws between 0.13 and 0.23 meter, depending on load, and can be hauled onto the sand. That beachability is central to the concept: the daggerboards and modest draft allow the 6.0 to launch through surf and recover without a hoist, a trait built into the Worrell 1000’s run-up-the-beach format.
Rig and Handling
The original 6.0s carried a self-tacking jib and spinnaker beneath a fractional rig. This combination trades the foredeck gymnastics of a conventional sloop for quick, short-handed downwind work. The fractional geometry suits the light platform, while the self-tacker helps keep the boat manageable when one or two sailors are working the spinnaker on a reaching course.
With narrow hulls and little weight, the boat lives or dies by its ability to stay level and let the rig do the work.
Accommodation
The Nacra 6.0 is a racing catamaran with no accommodation beyond the trampoline and hull topsides. Its 200-kilogram displacement and open bridgedeck place it firmly in the day-racing and beach-cat tradition rather than the cruising-multihull world.
What it offers instead is carry-on simplicity: sail it, drag it above the tide line, and rig it again tomorrow.
Known Issues
The available technical record for the 6.0 contains little information about service defects, and the boat’s construction era predates the brand’s later methods. The main ownership caveat is simply its solid fibreglass construction from the late eighties. As with any aging composite boat, owners need to watch for gelcoat crazing and osmotic softening, though no specific structural fault is cataloged for this model.
Verdict
The Nacra 6.0 is a pure expression of late-eighties catamaran-racing thought: a Seaman-designed, beachable, self-tacking screamer built to contest the Worrell 1000. Its slender hulls and featherweight construction make it a handful to own casually, but a joy to race where the format rewards surfability and simplicity.
Pros
- Purpose-built for extreme beach racing by its original designer
- Beachable daggerboard draft of 0.13 to 0.23 meter, depending on load
- Self-tacking jib and spinnaker suited to short-handed speed
Cons
- Minimal accommodation; suitable for day racing only
- Late-eighties solid fibreglass construction requires age-aware inspection
