There's a new Class 1 Catamaran in town

by Class-1.com media on 17 Apr 2008 Nicolini Offshore has wheeled out its new Class 1 Catamaran with Matteo Nicolini confident that the boat will win races.

'It is a beautiful boat and will be a winning boat for sure,' said Nicolini. 'The boat is called NO C1CAT and a project I undertake using all my experience of the last four years running the fantastic Michael Peters-designed Victory hull and I know to improve and build an even better boat is hard.

'The boat is built using the same basic design and technology but with several key modifications. The tunnel is wider, the area behind the canopy is smaller, the side profile is lower and the deck profile is more curved and overall she is stronger. The modifications that we have made are done to suit the course that we are now running in Class 1 where acceleration and speed in the turns is now crucial.'

The new NO C1CAT is currently being fully rigged and will be put through its paces during May, with Nicolini hinting that there is a possibility that it will be in Budva!

In addition to the new NO C1CAT project, the Nicolini Offshore facility in Italy is also flat out repairing Qatar 96, all but destroyed in Sheikh Hassan and Steve Curtis’ spectacular crash at the season opener in Doha during qualifying, and preparing the spare boat for them for the next race in Montenegro in May. 'The Victory Team has given us tremendous support and provided us with all the internal structures, but we won’t be ready until the race in Moscow in July. So that means we also have to get the spare boat ready, replacing the Mercury V8s with the Skema V12s and making some modifications to bring the performance level to that of 96.'

And as if Nicolini didn’t have enough on his plate – he took time out last weekend to compete in the GCC Class 3 Championship race in Abu Dhabi - winning with Mohamad Al Nasser – in another Nicolini Offshore designed and built boat, Qatar 94, the boat that he won the 2006 GCC Class 3 World and Middle East Championships and the 2007 Middle East Championship for the Qatar Team.

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