James,





Unproven and largely hypothetical. Also no designer or boat builder I spoke to cares a damn wether some guys puts a carbon mast on their designs. Blade is seriously not threatened by the Stealth carbon mast and I don't have any sign that many sailors are at all intimidated by it.

I have my own personal opinions in this matter but as an engineer/advicer I can not find much ground to support alu = uncompetitive.

Besides, there are clear signs that both builders and sailors prefer the alu superwing mast section. For its price, performance and ease of maintenance. Over here in the Netherlands I even get specific requests for alu masts as sailors perceive them as more robust and maintenance free.

Why does everybody think that carbon is some magical material that is better in everything ?

Simply put, as long as the Superwing sharing agreement is maintained we'll see the majority of boats sail with that mast simply because most builders favour them.






Which part of the fleet is that exactly ?

I mean, the class will certainly loose over 30 boats in Europe if it maintains the 6.5 kg tipweight, simply because those boats would be banned. When the class deletes the rule than we MAY loose a handfull of sailors.

What is next ? Have the width rule limit F16's to 2.34 mtr ? Maybe the F16's should also ban the larger squaretops we are sailing with and while we are at it ban the longer luffed selftacking jib as well ! Ohh and ban glass/kevlar hulls because these surely must be more competitive than timber/epoxy ones. Where does it end ?

How many times was the end result of these changes that it didn't make much difference if it made any at all ? Timber/epoxy platforms still winning championships after 10 years and as recently as 2003 I believe ?

Sure the feel and comfort of sailing improved with some changes (new Taipan rudders and stocks) but did speed improve by any measureable amount ?

I know from my mainsail design that it handles gusts significantly better than the older Taipan mainsail but it did not have a higher topspeed. Same with the Ashby sails. These are easer to control and trim but not any faster when both sails are trimmed right. Maybe we should ban Ashby sails or force him to make more difficult sails so a certain group of sailors can FEEL more competitive ?

Again, were do we stop ? Were is the line.

Fabio and his significant other sail at 115 kg; should we force them to carry a "tip weight" that brings their combined weight at 130 kg ?

Are we serious working ourself up over 3 kg's in a rig that weights in at 25-28 kg in total ? (mast, sails, shrouds, blocks, halyards, spreaders etc)

The cold hard truth is that the standard Taipan 4.9 despite all these "issues" is still a hell of a competitive boat. And the superwing mast is a hell of good mast, on which it is difficult to improve upon.


I understand that several sailors are really in awe about the material carbon, and readily believe they are uncompetitve overnight if carbon masts are allowed (was there a big roar when sails went from Dacron to Mylar/Kevlar/Pentex /). But how much difference can a Carbon mast really make ? Lets make a wild claim 30 sec in a hour ? How many of you finish within 30 seconds of Fabio in any conditions ? Or Andrew for that matter.

How competitive does halve of the fleet think they are now ?

Another halve of them think they won't be competitive with a spinnaker as they are too light, to small or too young. Fabio and crew are both of the first two things and still won their (spi) races at the DCC. With that very lovely small crew of his pulling on a 17.5 sq. mtr. spi in 15 knots and over. I see crews of as little as two 10-14 year olds pulling kites in 20 knots of wind on a Hobie dragoon and then they are bloody hard to catch as well.


What about kite sailing is to difficult for singlehanding ? Tell Hollis Caffee that, did just that in 15 knots and over at Tradewinds. Or Gary of Altered ? Or any of a score of others.

You know what I really do think ?

That uncompetitiveness is a creation of the mind. The minute you think you are uncompetive is the instant in which you become uncompetitive. And this has nothing to do with 3 kg more or less in your mast or (much larger) differences in crew weights.

You just have to learn to sail well and maximize your strong points.




Of course my reply can now only be :

"You think that matters much ? Much, as in relation to those 25-28 kg's allready swinging about up there as well as the 70 kgs of platform being pulled through the same motions by the shrouds, not to mention the 75 kg to 150 kg crews ? "

"You think that being 3 kg over min class weight so you can put those kg's into hulls/boards as well makes you uncompetitive ? More so than sailing with a crew that is 3 kg above optimal weight ? "

How does Ellen McArthur win those big races ? It is not like she is big and strong like 90 % of her competition.

So what does really make a crew competitive ?





Yeah, but F16 is certainly not like most other classes. Thank God for that !

If 2/3 of the class is always right then we would never have had the spi equipped Tornado but simply a dead Tornado class and a different boat in the Olympics. Maybe not even a multihull.

If 2/3 of a class is always right then we wouldn't have 30 Stealths in the F16 class.

If 2/3 of a class is always right then we would not have a spinnaker on fast lightweight 16 footers.

If 2/3 of a class is always right then we wouldn't have Hobie Tigers that can measure up against the other F18's

If 2/3 of a class is always right than we would all still be sailing Hobie 16's and Prindle 16's

If 2/3 of a class is always right than we would still have Tornado classic class. The simple fact that there isn't says alot for the commitment and value of 2/3rd of a class.

2/3rd of nearly any class is made up of scared people; who will vote down ANY change from they currently own. This is a receipe for stagnation and honestly, stagnation in any catamaran class is at this particular time a prelude to death. Even the laser dinghy class he modernized over the last 2 years by allowing more cleats, block and purchase systems on the boats.


Besides we still have not established wether this change is something "MAJOR" to begin with.

Also please note that this vote is only a preliminary one. It guides the follow-up path as I said the accompanying text.


And in addition to that, as a chairman, I don't see much reason in maintaining a rule to satisfy a group of sailors that doesn't do F16 anyway.

However if this issue is creating a big stirr in the rest of the F16 class then we will certainly have a written voting proces where every voter is verified as a F16 boat owner/racer (with race results as F16 in the last 2 years). Than we'll see exactly how many F16's sailor truly think bad fibes when thinking about deleting the tip weight rule.


James, it may be that large portions of this reply may not relate to you personally. Still, the situation is the sameall the time. We hear nothing from the general area near you except when F16 rules are being relaxed or when a perceived uncompetitiveness to the One-Design Taipan 4.9 design is experienced. I will certainly do my best to adress these concerns but put everything in a form that is acceptable to all, but I will certainly not go as far as two years ago. Then the area around you had some value, but now honestly, it doesn't matter what that area thinks or feels. However as I said earlier, I want to to do good by you guys and will endeavour in that direction as I feel the F16 class spirit demands.


Wouter