Ehh yes, and it has been there since 2001. It is the same website that is listed in the catsailor "geat links" section with the wrong link and we tried to get that adjusted for the last 2 years. And even recently, on Ricks general request on the forum, I have send him an e-mail asking to list the correct websadres. The www.formula16.org adress. Neither the less since 2001 we have a dummy website at the wrong link to make sure people can find us.




You did think to look :

-1- in your own catsailor great links section
-2- in the post on top of the F16 forum with the subject "New to the Formula 16 forum ? Read this !"
-3- type in "Formula 16 catamarans" in www.google.com
-4- simply type in www.formula16.com or www.formula16.org in your browser.

All four approaches would have landed you at the class rules within 3 steps.

How much easier can a class make it ?





There is a permanent post right at the top of the F16 class forum with the subject "New to the Formula 16 forum ? Read this !" that lists the website and contact info together with other important information.

I do understand that eyes and brains have to register this first before action can be taken by the hand moving the mouse but I feel I'm sort of at the end of what we can do to make it even more easier, accessible and more "in front of your nose" than it is now. (teasing you here a bit !)






Membership is free of charge and has been since 2001. We do thing a little different at the F16 class. Typically I only ask membership fees in the shape of volunteer work that helps the class. Up till now this has suited us really well.

The people who voted for the orginal rule set where all F16 owners. Only 1 vote per F16 boat allowed. There were some 50 votes back then. All verified with boat make and boat numbers.

For less important votes we simply allow anybody to vote that has some interests in F16 class. So owners, crews, to-be-owners and people taking a serious interest in the class.

Up till now this has never caused us any problems as votes are always well prepared in advance and the guys/gals scanning this forum behave themselfs very admirably.

As a class we also have no qualms about redoing a vote when a single party questions the accuracy or dependability. As a class we know who owns boats and with what sail numbers and sails with which crew. With this listing we can easily check up on the voters.





Like I said for the important votes you need to specify your boat type and sailnumber. You can still vote and we'll look at these votes as well but as a class we do weight them accordingly to your "F16-ness". It is often quite clear if somebody wants only wants to spike the vote or is serious about it.

As said before the F16 class is a little bit different. We don't have "a majority vote decides the outcome" structure. This is to prevent "Tiger OD"-sation of the F16 class where say a large group of one particular F16 makes highjacks the vote and favours their own designs.

The F16 class is run with a group of engineers, boatbuilders and experienced sailors. This committee decides things along the lines set out in the rules. This means that majority support must be sough when ever possible but never to the detriment of loss in equality, fairness, survival and continuation of the formula rule set that allows maximum freedom to tinker to individual sailors.

The F16 also doesn't want to go the way of the F18 class were they have rules that limit how light a daggerboard may be and set it at an adsurd high level. As a class we don't want to measure daggerboard weight, nor do we think it matters AT ALL in performance what they weight and my 2 kg glass daggerboard is both cheaper and stronger than any 3 kg F18 board. So what was the purpose of this F18 rule again ? To ease the minds of scared weekend warriors who aren't competitive anyway, even if they tried really hard. Sometimes the decisions need to be left to the people that understand the situation and the designs.

Some call this undemocratic. I call it darn smart. Did I tell you about the time that 70 % of the members voted down the Tornado upgrades or the time where Tiger members vote down each F18 upgrade to it so there is no Tiger class in Europe anymore ?

Having said this, we in the F16 class do really try to explain the issues as good as we can before we hold the vote. We want to educate people and allow them to understand what is going on. So you can't call this a dictatorship as well. We are somewhere in between. Actually we are more how 90 % of the businesses are run. There you don't lay the future direction of the company in the hands (Brain) of the Janitor as well despite the fact that it is often very wise to really listen to what he has to say.

F16 class is different. And we have a reason for that. We are fighting some big powerful competition out there that don't like nothing better than to seel you 150 kg singlehanders cobbled together from left over F18 parts. Also we are bringing advances in sail design within reach of mainstream sailors. Things like wingmast. That was something that was about to be lost in the loud screaming of F18's and Tornado's, both of which still haven't caught on to wingmasts.

In way the F16 class is a project and a show case of what can be done when you put your mind to it. It is also a great show case that the use of carbon does not have to be expensive as we are made to believe. In many cases it is just smart. In other cases its use is not smart.

Recently I discovered one remarkable thing. We have differences in tipweight of 1 kg in the F18 class and nobody gives a darn. We had the same differences in tipweight between alu and carbon in the F16 class and halve the class feels uncompetitive. Luckily the F16 class is a class with a few capable designers and engineers and they spot these things and this difference in their rightful place.

Anyway I'm on a tangent here and I should stop before I bore you guys

Wouter