The International Nacra 17 Class Association is calling for nominations for Class President. The new President will lead the Olympic mixed multihull through a period of deliberate change: growing the fleet, raising its profile, and strengthening the class’s place between Olympic and professional sailing.
Current President Mateo Majdalani is stepping down. Nominations close on Tuesday 27 October 2026, and members will vote at an electronic Special General Meeting later this autumn.
Why the President is stepping down
Mateo Majdalani has told the executive he will step aside. He is still racing and starting a young family, and the role now asks more time than he can give it.
The class thanks Mateo for his leadership and for staying on through the handover.
A class at a turning point
The Nacra 17 is in a position few Olympic classes share, and the next President will decide what the class does with it.
The boat is ready. In the 2016 cycle the equipment struggled. Eight years of development since, including the move to full foiling, have produced a durable, consistent boat that sails properly across the widest wind range on the Olympic slate.
The pathway is real. The Nacra 17 is one of the only Olympic classes producing professional sailors. Its sailors race in SailGP, and last month the reigning world champions, Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei, trimmed Luna Rossa to victory at the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta in Naples. The class wants to make that link deliberate rather than accidental, so Olympic multihull sailing becomes the obvious route into elite professional racing.
The class also has a particular job in developing women as professional sailors. Every Nacra 17 crew is one man and one woman, and the women in this fleet steer, trim and make calls on the fastest boat at the Games. That is the experience professional teams look for, and the class intends to put its female sailors in front of those teams.
What has to change is the size and profile of the fleet. The Nacra 17 is the most technical boat in Olympic sailing, and that has kept the fleet small. Growing it, and making Nacra 17 racing the best broadcast product in sailing, is the core of the President’s brief.
The role
The President chairs the class executive and works as a hands-on partner to the class management team. The class is not looking for a figurehead.
The priorities for the next term:
- Grow the fleet. Break a participation cycle that has held the class back for a decade.
- Build the broadcast product. Make Nacra 17 racing the best television in sailing, the role the class should play on the Olympic slate.
- Link Olympic and professional sailing. Strengthen the route from the Nacra 17 into SailGP, the America’s Cup and other professional foiling, with a particular focus on female sailors.
- Develop the commercial side. Help build the sponsorship and partnerships the class has not yet put in place.
- Shape the circuit. Work with the executive on how the class’s regatta calendar should evolve.
The practical commitment:
- Two-year term, honorary and unpaid, with expenses covered
- Regular calls with the Class Manager, up to twice a week when work is live
- Six virtual executive meetings a year
- One in-person meeting a year with World Sailing
The President works alongside a seven-seat executive, including three sailor vice-presidents and the builder, Nacra Sailing. Day-to-day operations, events and media are run by full-time professional staff shared with the 49er class.
Who we are looking for
The class wants a President with standing in the sport and the time to use it.
Candidates will ideally bring:
- Senior experience in Olympic or professional sailing, as a sailor, coach, administrator or event leader
- Contacts across World Sailing, national federations, or professional sailing and its sponsors
- A clear view of how a small, technical Olympic class can grow and be seen
- The availability to commit to a two-year term
Feedback from the fleet is that the President should not be an active Nacra 17 campaigner, so the role can focus fully on the class.
How to apply
Send a short letter of nomination, covering your background and what you would bring to the class, to Class Manager Ben Remocker at ben@porttackracing.com by Tuesday 27 October 2026.
The executive will review nominations and put them to members at an electronic Special General Meeting. Details of that meeting will follow on nacra17.org.
Questions about the role are welcome before you apply. Contact Ben Remocker at the address above.
About the Nacra 17
The Nacra 17 is the Olympic mixed multihull, raced by one man and one woman on a fully foiling catamaran. It has been an Olympic event since Rio 2016. The International Nacra 17 Class Association governs the class worldwide, and most of its events run alongside the 49er and 49erFX.
- Nacra 17 Class constitution and class documents
- Our coverage: Naples Was Won by 49er and Nacra 17 Sailors
- Media contact: Ben Remocker, ben@porttackracing.com
