I understand what you are saying but then again the Viper F16 was designed to fit inside the F16 rules and be competitive in that class. In fact, it was specifically designed as a F16 from the very onset. Additionally, both the 2Bsailing and AHPC websites identify the boat as being an F16 and in photo's and drawings the sails show the insignia VF16. Without the F16 class the Viper would never have been designed. Other then that, the rating difference of 2.5 points (taken over about a 100) is small change at best. With that you are not going to correct out to 1st when you come across the line as 5th for example. On the second day, they corrected out to 1st places while never finishing out of the top 3 on elapsed time. So the handicap contributed to at best a 1 or 2 places improvement ; the rest can be fully attributed to sailor skills (and the boat design).

To make a long story short the Viper is an F16, irrespectively of what some rating system like SCHRS says, what its real >107kg ready to sail weight is or to what rating it is sailed in a specific race.

In the past some Hobie Tigers were also awarded different handicap numbers then the F18 class as well and no-one ever made much fuss about that; so why should we do so now with respect to the F16's ?



Other then that the crew Brouwer/Bundock sailed very well even on elapsed time

In their twitter account they themselves state :

"Racing the Viper @ Knokke Heist (VVW) in Belgium tomorrow for the Open Belgium Multihull Championships and ready to take on the larger F18's"

"Good fun racing the Viper against the F18's @the Belgium championships. 8-10knts. Carolijn took line honours in 2nd race. Score of 2,1,1,2."

"Viper wins the Belgium Multihull Championship winning all three final races 2day on handicap and finishing top 3 in all races on line honours"


And of course Ding is absolutely right. When 2 F16's share a start with 14 F18's then "hell yes" you are competing directly with them for position, clean air and the lead.



Either way the cake is sliced, the Viper design proved again to be a very fast catamaran when in capable hands; able to take on much larger boats in open class racing (either on handicap or on elasped time). By extension the F16 setup is working, it is producing very competitive boats such as in this case the Viper.


Can we please stop nitpicking ?

Wouter