It was designed as a smaller version of the Olympic multihull class, the Nacra 17.
In early 2015, World Sailing announced that they were looking for a new youth multihull for the ISAF Youth World Championships with a targeted crew weight of approx 110–130 kg .
After the trials and extensive consideration by World Sailing at their AGM in China, the Nacra 15 was confirmed as the new Youth World Championships class.
[1] It was also un-expectedly announced as a new class for the Youth Olympic Games.
In 2016 British RYA selected the Nacra 15 as their new youth multihull boat,[2] replacing the Spitfire.