Interestingly enough this has very little to do with the absolute length of our hulls.

The main culprit here is the length-to-width ratio !

If the F16's had been only 2 mtr wide (as have the same length to width ratio as the Inter-20's) then the whole situation would have been very different.

The Formula 16's are very wide for their hull length and that allows you to really load up the rig. Getting out on the trapeze loads it up even more. This is all fine for upwind legs where the forward sail drive (30%-40%) is only a fraction of the total sail force (100%). On deep broad reaches with a spi flying the forwardly directed sail drive can easily double.

Now we can just DEMAND to copy the Nacra 20 crews and also want to trapeze downwind or we can do what is best for the F16 platform. When we designed the class rules we recognized the situation for what it was. It was best to increase F16 width to 2.5 mtr and get impressive upwind speed while accepting to come of the wire on challenging downwind legs. Loading up the rig less also loads up the bows less. And at least I expected the deeper courses to compensate for the loss of speed due to less sail drive. In my personal experience this has been the case. I have never felt anything other then competitive with F18's on the downwind legs.

It all comes back to the same rule of thumb I throw about often.

The F16's don't like being loaded up, they prefer to stream.

Open up the rig a little so it breaths freely (get off the wire if that is required) point a little low, pick up speed and then luff as high as you can without losing speed. It has been my experience and that of the befriended Blade owner that this results in the best VMG even when other boats (like the infusion) are pointing slightly higher. It is surprising how similar the F16's are in this respect to landyachts. Speed is everything; as with good boat speed comes good pointing.

I feel Greg Goodall is saying much the same things. He regulary tells interested sailors that :

"It doesn't matter much where you are going as long as you are going there fast"

It was a key point in his trim and tuning address at the 2007 Global Challenge.

And I completely agree with the comments by Matt. Sailing F16's is about control, trim and weight placement. They are sensitive boats and small changes can have large effects. Large gains and loses can be made in these fields.

Good discussion Y'all !

Wouter