Should anyone be interested, Nirvana's are available. I don't know if there are hobby shops in the UK or other parts of the world that sell Nirvana's but you can get one from sailrc.com here in the U.S. Have no idea how much the shipping would be, but I am sure they'd check it out for anyone interested. I just read that there have been more than 12,000 Nirvana's sold in the U.S. since 2004.
I copied the information below from an article posted on the sailrc.com web site on the "sea trial" report on the latest version of the Nirvana. The article was written by Steve Lang - owner of Sailrc and accomplished sailor.
I did the very first “see trial” with a sample Nirvana back in 2003. I was sailing on a reservoir in Colorado, and for a trial horse, I used a race-ready CR-914. Today, the Nirvana is well known for her authentic scale looks, performance, simplicity, and durability.
I have had the experience of racing the Nirvana a lot over the years, and our company has handled the sale and service of thousands of these boats. That means that we have more experience with this boat than anyone in the world.
Since we had worked at length with the manufacturer to “fix” a few things, my test sail of a pre-production Nirvana was very nit-picky! After I was done, I went back on Skype with the production company in China, to tweak a few of the new features even more.
If you have owned and sailed a Nirvana before, you will recognize the little changes we made, however some of them are not even noticeable by eye. For instance – we had a number of parts on earlier Nirvanas that would break in rough sailing conditions, or after prolonged sun exposure. Most notably were the fittings that make up the gooseneck and the boom vang. Even though new fittings for these areas are designed, production chose to produce these boats with the old design parts made with stronger materials. So visually, nothing new. Time well tell whether these new parts hold up to the rigors.
Sheet Friction – Likewise, SailRC proposed a new routing of the sheets for the 2014 boats aimed at cutting down the friction in the system. The complaint has been that the sail servo was not strong enough to handle the sails in windy conditions.
So one way to help out would be to make the routing, turning blocks and other turning points produce less friction. In the end (one bite at a time), production only removing the sheaves from the two side-deck turning blocks and replacing the sheet line with a better, more flexible string. This has made a big difference.
Of course the other issue (which many did not recognize on older boats) was the spring-loaded hub on the sail servo arm. So when many thought the servo wasn’t strong enough to pull in the sheets, the real problem was that the “servo-saver” springs in the arm would give and not let the servo fully trim the sails. The new boats have the spring-loaded hub disabled (glued in place) to make sure the full power of the servo is transmitted to the arm and the sheets.
Of course, production also double-checked the specifications on the sail servo and made sure the servo manufacturer was QC'ing their production. The result is an improvement for sure. But we are already looking forward to a complete change to the sheet routing to makes things even better.
Frozen Rudders – How many calls did we get about frozen rudders? Hundreds!!! No matter how many times we warned folks to keep the rudder shaft well lubricated, some didn’t get the word. And one day the rudder shaft would freeze into the shaft tube and “Houston, we have a problem!”
We solved this issue by replacing the metal tube in the boat with a hard plastic tube. So there is no more metal-to-metal contact to cause the corrosion that froze the old parts together. We do have a limited supply of the new plastic tubes in stock and we are writing upgrade instructions shortly for those that want the new shaft log.
Wire rigging is gone. Leader wire is a choice for some larger models even though many of the new strings (no stretch, high tensile strength) are a much better choice, in my book. So all new Nirvanas have line rigging all around, instead of the wire shrouds, and wire forestay, that were such a nuisance.
Boom Sliders – One thing that is really noticeable is the new fittings on the booms. Many of you that sail Nirvanas know that the holes through the booms for the sheets to pass, would soon cut their way through the sheets and that was that. So SailRC encouraged a change to simpler system of boom fittings that are easier to use.
The production version of these boom “sliders”, is a little bulkier than I had hoped, but boy do they ever work well. The “O rings” are still used, but only to insure that the hard plastic fittings stay put when you have set them in position. Bottom line – a much better system for mounting and adjusting sails, and the new fittings will fit older booms too. We have had some problems come out in the first couple of weeks of sailing. Some have reported that these fitting slip if the wind is up. I have witnessed this first hand and know that somehow, the manufactured booms must have an outside diameter (OD) just a hair too small. But testing with a ring of clear plastic tubing (3/8” ID) is a good replacement for the “O” rings.
New Box – First we have a brand new box – at least the outside. Now instead of the difficulty in getting the boat, in its protective foam shell out of the end of the box, the box now opens on the long side. As soon as you lift off the top of the box, you will find posted on the foam interior specific step-by-step instructions on how to unload the parts from the box, and assemble the boat the first time. Yes, there is still a manual inside that explains with pictures how the boat goes together, but these new instructions bridge the gap and get you from box to initial layout of parts.
The boat still has the signature “letter” stickies to help you rigging the boat the first time (hook A into hole A, etc.) And, unlike before, the boat is free of advertising stickers – simply the name of the boat on each side and a smaller one on deck, and the newly adopted Class insignia on the mainsail.
So let’s go sailing! As soon as you have the boat rigged and batteries installed, you are ready to go. Nirvana is so far ahead of other boats on the first assembly, it isn’t funny. No knots to tie, and only one screw that needs a Phillips head screwdriver. Simple, simple, simple. The only boat that I know of that is easier (and not by much) is the RC Laser – hmmm, same designer for each boat!!
From here on, the boat performs as it did before. Very agile (turns on a dime), and easy to control. With the new boom fittings, the sails are easier to adjust to different wind conditions. The electronics are stable and have plenty of range so you can almost sail the boat out of sight before you loose signal.
I happened to be sailing around with some Dragon Force and Micro Magic boats. Both are great racing boats but neither could keep up with the Nirvana, especially when the wind picked up. But that is not totally fair, properly designed boats with different length waterlines, sailed by equally qualified skippers – the bigger boat will prevail.
The bottom line is what Nirvana has been known for her entire existence. A quality boat at a great price – one that is super simple to assemble, and sail, and were one-design heritage demands that a brand new boat has the same boat speed as older models – that’s the rule. That means old boats hold their price very well, and parts are always available and interchangeable. No question this is one of the best club boats in the country and the only one in it’s size range that comes with qualified, experienced service folks at SailRC.
Last thing, Great Looks – Many owners put Nirvana on display at home. That’s because she really looks like a boat. Complete with cockpit seat boards, toe rails, porthole and hatch decals, and a racer-cruiser style cabin deck layout – this is a cool boat to show off in your home.
Written 10/20/2014 by Steve Lang.