rick,

Your comments haven't fallen of deaf ears, the class has only decided against it.

There are some major drawbacks of the hooter you know !

How about trying to win the Texel race or Carnac under ISAF handicap rule with a rating that is significantly faster then ALL other beach cats available and with which YOU'll have to give a beefed up tornado spi 3 minutes time on the finish line. Now the Taipan is fast but not THAT fast. And that is only with a 10 sq. mtr. hooter. Now try a bigger one => 5 minutes time to the intl. tornado with spi.

And that is one reason.

Another is the fact that the F16 class wants to be the light to medium crew weight alternative to the F18's and be able to race them first in wins at club races ands sorts. They feature spinnakers and not Hooters. If we wanted to be fastest class around then we would have build a class around the ARC-26 boat or club Med.

The class decided in favour of the assymmetric spinnaker a while ago and we are not going to force all the members to buy new headsails because the fashion just changed. This maybe okay for other classes but this is not what the F16 class is about.

Some builders won't garantee their product with hooters on them when they will with spis.

All (safety ?) considerations that I think a class should take seriously.

Sorry Rick, no matter how much I personally would like to experiment with a hooter it is not going to be in the F16 any time soon.

Wouter