Doug and Warren,
the NOR says :
This will be an Open Class Race for Catamarans of 18 to 22 feet and equipped with a spinnaker or reaching sail. The race committee reserves the right to qualify a boat for the race. Please call if there are any questions.
Mr. Warren placed an additional constrained in his post :"and will sail with crew of two meeting a minimum weight of 290#"
This excludes indeed the F16's. And specifically the McDonald crew even though they have done many a florida distance race on their F16. I think they weight combined some 275 lbs or so.
But, Doug, I think the best approach to this is for a specific F16 crew planning to attend to contact mr. Warren personally. As it is written that "The race committee reserves the right to qualify a boat for the race". Several F16 crews can "proof" their ability to do this race on their F16 by refering to other distances races or earlier participation in this race.
I'm sure nobody intentionally excluded the F16's. It is just that 16 foot boats are typically considered to be slow and for most 16 foot designs this is true. Nothing a quick phone call can't fix.
Wouter
