Stephen,
My goal within a year is to beat a friend of mine that sails a Hobie Tiger. ... Many sailors here are intimidated by the bigger boats and would be much more likely to get a spinnaker boat if it was smaller and lighter, like the Blade.
The trick with the F16's is finding the right sail trim. Yes, this is indeed slightly different from other designs.
With the wrong sail trim the F16 can feel as intimidating like a big boat. With the right sail trim it will be as smooth as a babies bottom and fully under control. With speed just so. If you sail it like you would any standard catamaran then you'll go alright but not really fast.
The thing to remember here is that the F16 need to trimmed for low drag all the time. Both in light winds and strong winds. Only in the mid range winds can you get away with a more powerful trim. This most often means that flat and open is fast. So keep the leech open enough (twist) so the sail can breath freely. When the boat feels bound up, as in that it should go faster in the given conditions then it is, then don't go looking for power. Look for reducing drag by pulling on more downhaul, adding more twist on the leech or having the top of the mast flex to leeward by derotating the mast. In 3/4 of the cases you'll feel the boat speed out while you just depowered your rig. This is a conflicting feeling but it works. The boat will start to stream and will have as added benefit that it will also feel very calm. Just the right remedy for crews who feel intimated. They want a smoother ride and more control not slower speeds !
Read up on the various trim tips that have been discussed over the last 3 years on this forum. And never stop looking for that extra groove, because they are really there in the F16 designs. Often you'll find them accidently by making a trim adjustment and the boat suddenly becoming happy and accellerating. Remember what you did and in what circumstances, this is the only way to learn the right trim for F16's if there are no more experienced crews around.
Several of us got these lessons force feeded to us in 10 minutes by extremely skilled Taipan 4.9 sailors and it took us weeks to digest it, but it also shaved years of our learning curve.
Never accept it when the F16 just can't hang with the bigger boats. It is not the design that is at fault but the sail/boat trim. Gary, Bob and others like myself are finishing ahead of teh majority of F18's/Tiger's regulary and so must everybody else with the right trim.
Best of luck and enjoyment with your new boat. Welcome to the club !
Wouter
