That's when I very quickly learnt that the viper needs you to get the crew weight right back.
In all honesty this will be same on any F16 design when not fitted with T-foils and even then ... !
The 16's are weight sensitive with respect to the ideal (waterline) trim. That is just a given on LIGHTWEIGHT and SHORT hulled platform. There is only so much you can do with increasing bow height and volume DISTRIBUTION. Afterall, if the crew weights combined significantly more then the overall weight of the boat then crew position will be very important. Especially when the sail forces are significantly larger in size then boat weight as well. All these things combined make the sail trim and crew weight placement the main axis around which the whole boat behaves. The boat (hull design) itself is only a rather small influence factor (trim tab) on of this, much more so then on larger and significantly heavier designs like the F18 and F20's/Tornado's.
Personally I regard this as a mixed bag. I like the very direct responsiveness of all F16's and find F18's and larger boats sluggish by comparison. On the negative side it means you have to perfect your downwind spinnaker technique in shot waves alot further than on the other boats. You get the good with the bad and the bad with the good. There is no magical solution to this, even the T-foils let go at some point.
Last time my Skipper and I had to beam reach with the kite up with tried a new approach. The seas were too confused to put one of use on the trapeze behind the rearbeam (and in footstrap). So the Skipper slid down the trampoline with his rear against the rearbeam and I (heavier of the two) sat against the rearbeam and on the outer gunwhale of the hull. Thus we were both with our rear ends against the rearbeam. The boat would lift a little sooner, but that makes the Blade only faster. We survived about a 40 minutes of higher course spi sailing in confused seas and multiple deep dives. We had very good speed. Coordination between crew and skipper was also very important with me regulary calling the loads on the spisheet and the skipper adjusting course just prior to the main gust hitting.
I really do like the team work on an F16 boat. Good sailing skills and honed team work make all the difference; so much more then being near the optimal crew weigth.
Wouter
