Hi all,

just in case some of you guy's are like me and don't visit the catsailor general forum to often. Have a look at one hell of a growth spurt for F16 in the US. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Here. http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...7&an=0&page=0#Post105277

Make sure you scroll through all the pages and check out some of the great photo's. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> Check attachment for a sample.

Wow. What a great commitment by Vectorworks and great effort by the Southeastern US F16 sailors to pitch in and help. I know a lot of the "help" with boat transport/assembly came from the Florida F16 sailors. You guys are awesome. Great pictures, too.

The boats look fantastic and have heard from two crews that the boats are immaculate and assembly was very easy (no tweaking, grinding, etc.).

I can't wait to follow the progress of the regatta and hear some comments from the sailors.

Maybe I can bury this in this thread and not catch hell for it...

There were probably 8 or so broken rudders at last year's alter cup and at least one board. Yes, the wind was good a number of days but for brand spanking new boats by a long time manufacturer it was inexcusable. I am surprised no one else ever brought it up (flaming manufacturers is obviously frowned on- but look at the evidence... NOT anecdotal, NOT conjecture). Especially since the manufacturer did a sort of "bait and switch" by changing the boats a few weeks prior to the race.
I think the blades will do much better but I guess we will have to wait and see. As a very likely future blade owner I want to hear the "skinny" on how the boats hold up and what the "pros" (no offense to anyone, the Alter Cup is the Alter Cup) think of the Blade.

I had a broken rudder and a broken weld that secures the small metal "loop" that the spin pole attaches to. Matt replaced both items without question or hesitation. Each replacement item was of improved design i.e. much more robust.

There were some rigging problems that were probably as much my fault as anyone elses. Because I sail uni so often, I still have problems sorting out the jib self tacker.

I'm rough on boats, so I'm very glad I got the kevlar upgrade.

Really no complaints and I'm constantly amazed at the boats' performance. Honest, no bs!

Of course, I'm not a "pro"! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Well, I guess the carnage happens every year. Sheared tiller connection, broken mast, broken spin pole so far. hmmm.. guess I'll shut up now

http://www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/usmhc/alter07/Daily%20Update/Daily%20Report.asp

The spin pole issue was because a knot came untied, the line from the end of the pole to the bow. The mast I will bet got jammed in the bottom of the river and then had the weight of the boat, crew, waves and wind pushing on it when it broke. The tiller connection, that happened before the start of the first race so the part was defective, nobody else had a problem with their tillers in 3-4 races in 20 knot winds.

I was impressed by the speed of the leaders coming downwind with the kite up in 20+ knots of wind. They were flying!

The Blade is not a heavy F18 with a Standard Hobie/Nacra mast. You have to learn how to trim the mast as it is a very important part of the sail, due to it's wing-like shape. Because it is a skinny profile, if you turn it sidways and load it up, you will probably hurt it.

The boat is two feet shorter than an F18 and has wave piercing bows. In that wind and chop, only a few capsized going downwind, I was impressed. When you see what a good skipper and crew can do with that boat, you realize it's not the boat that is holding you back, it's you. So get out there and push it hard, they are, and there have only been a couple problems, and these boats are being pushed by some of the best. That's pretty good for a small builder and a relatively new design.

Oh no, the wind here just died! I hope they get a seabreeze up there, 'cause there's nothing going on down here! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Melbourne
observations @ 1:53pm
Partly Cloudy
Wind: SE 14kts (g23)
Air: 84F

Sweet! Must be the seabreeze, It's still flat calm on the lake.

And after reading about the crab pots, I wonder if some of those capsizes yesterday were due to snagging the pots? They were hard to see with all the whitecaps.

True ... remember seeing on just around the windward mark ... and one at the start--committee end of the start line

Is the course visible from Ballard Park?

You are saying they are continiously running into crab pots and the rudders/boards are holding up fine ?

Mark that one down for the board design.

Wouter

Sorta, but a better view is from the top of the Melbourne Causeway ... about 1/3 mile north of the committee boat.

2007 Alter Cup -- Melbourne, FL

Not necessarily, only that there are more than a few ... and on Wednesday I noticed 1 at the start line and 1 where the skippers would round the windward mark. Of course, the river is scattered with crab pots .... and on a rough day with white caps it would be difficult for the skipper/crew to spot these.

Edited: I see from reading today's recap that many boats in fact got tangled within these scattered crab pots. I can certainly understand that in the middle of the course, I'd hope the RC does a better job of setting the S/F line and the windward/leeward mark to be clear of said crab pots.

I hate to jinx anything, but I was a little concerned when the Blade F16 was named the Alter Cup boat - mainly because it is a newly designed boat with a fairly new builder.

To me, this was/is a HUGE make or break week for F16 in the US. Great racing on great boats makes great publicity. Great racing on a boats prone to malfunction/breakage will not make so much "great publicity". It is NOT a given that the coverage will all be favorable.

It looks to me that, so far, the boat manufacturing is holding up great: some breakages, but explainable. I've heard more positive comments on boat construction, hardware quality, etc. than I can comment on. Bottom line: the boats are COOL (maybe that should be our tag line - F16: these boats are COOL).

I personally LOVE my 2006 F16 VM Blade, but certainly covet these Alter Cup boats. Luckily, I get to go head-to-head with one in the middle of May at Birmingham Sailing Club and the following week at Slip-to-Ship at Ocean Springs, MS.

Seeing those F16s lined up for the start really makes my heart beat a little faster. Love the Carolina Blue luffs (sorry MaughanN20 and Trey, but you know UNC rules).

Again, thanks Matt and Gina for all the effort you put into making this happen ... You guys are awesome.

Come sail with me: BSC Cat Caper, Oct. 27 and 28.

Same weekend as Hiram's Haul (Space Coast event) and Matt/Gina's favorite distance race ... probably a good bet that, unless the date is moved for CatCaper, the McDonald's won't be there <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

What if we have 8 F16s there?

yep, had the wife on the Pontoon boat Weds and she said she liked the sail color better than my Smoke Pentex.

I said, "great because I bought one!".

She said, "What, you bought a new sail?"

I said, "No, the whole boat"!!

She said, "Then I'm getting a house keeper".

I said, "Good" <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


I gotta go talk to Matt .... SOON!! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Fantastic. How many boats are left from the AC group? Anyone know? I like the MYC burgee, too.

Back in the day, the Australian's would put kangaroo cut outs on their NACRA sails at their chartered North American boats. Those boats were always "fast" and would sell for more $. Oh well.

Tom, there will be 2 blades at Slip to Ship??? Sweet. Maybe I can scam a ride on one! I saw robi's blade at the seminar last year but was usually too exhausted to bug him for a ride.