Robi,
The whole idea of a Formula class is that the boats can all sail together, no handicap, just like racing one-design.

HOwever, the very unique aspect of the Formula 16 Class is that Sloops with two people and Unirigs with one person can race against each other, no handicap. This opens up the class to a greater number of people.

In the case of the Nacra 5.5's, the problem was that the sloop rig was different from the unirig, so you couldn't just switch back and forth from sloop rig to unirig by simply removing the jib.

The Formula 16 has supposedly overcome that problem.

Eric's original post made it sound like there would be no competition between a sloop and unirig. THAT made it sound like the whole concept of sloop/unirig being able to race like one-design was out the window. But then he elaborated and said they CAN race together.

If F16 sloops and uni's cannot race together even, what is the point of having an F16? Let's say you have six Formula 16's at a regatta -- 3 are sloops and 3 are unis. If you can't race together as an F16 fleet, you are going to be divvied up into the appropriate Portsmouth fleets. Yuck! Or what if you have five sloops and one uni. If you can't race together as a fleet, that lone uni is going to be relegated to a Portsmouth fleet, while the other five of you get to race as, basically, one-design.

Okay, I don't know how much more I can explain it.