The new designs are more boyant as the Capricorn and Infusion are to the Tiger. Both the Cap and Nacra carry weight better than the Tiger, however ideal weight is still 150 for each. This would have a lot to do with the crew weight equalising system the class has in place, however I would not imagine the ideal weight between the Tiger and the modern F18s was to much beyond 5 to 10 kg.

As for crews with the strength to handle, a fit 60 to 70 kg crew should handle the tiny F16 spin without a problem. One of my Tornado / F18 crews tipped the scales at 60kg and had more than enough strength to handle the T kite. I am talking about peak athletes which will get the most out of the boat, not a kid you pick up off the beach.

I would like to see that. The package looks very good but the weight is a ?....... If you did build the same boat at min weight, there is no doupt it will be superior to the 125 kg unit.


Plan is to hang up the Tornado / F18 boots for a while and teach my Girlfriend how to sail (she currently windsurfs). She is also currently studying for her masters along side her full time job, so I am kicked out of the house often to go sailing  This is where the F16 concept becomes very handy...... one up with kite.
Brent my crew is in a simular situation and is looking at going down the same track.

Yep, that is pretty comparable to how most of us get started on F16's.

Singlehanding an F16 is a ride you will appreciate !

And remember, no F16 sailor can claim mastery of the F16 1-up concept unless he (or she) can consistantly spinnaker it while trapezing ! That is the true "show of force" for 1-up F16 sailing !

Gary is the first to achieve this.

It will take everybody else a while to get there !

Good luck and best of enjoyement.

Wouter

Don't think so, the Stealth owners and the FX1's at Datchet have been doing it since 2001 <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

And this Stealth owner has been doing it since he had one (nearly a year now) and doing it with his Inter 17 for 6 years before that !

LOL, Wouter when are you going trap out with spinnaker up?

All of us FL boys have been doing it since Gary started posting his pictures online. I dont trap out downwind while bouy racing, but any other time I can, I am out there.

I had to do it last week when I got a good puff and ran a little too deep going to the finish line. I had the choice of either dropping the spin and reaching up to the finish line, or get out on the wire to cary the spin higher in the gust, which I did, and it was no big deal. It will allow you to sail higher with the spin up.

Usually I stay in on the tramp to fly a hull and run deep, but if you have become overstood and need to get back up high to the mark, do it!

When Paul, Anne and I did some two boat training under the supervision of John Pierce prior to the Global Challenge it was quicker for me (single handed) not to trapeze downwind. The wind was was around a force 4 and the sea state went from flat to a two foot swell further out in the Bay (Mumbles) On every run Anne would be trapezing and I experimented. My biggest gain was when I wasn't trapezing and flying the windward hull pretty high. The angle of the leeward hull compared to the sea gave a lot of lift to the bow and it also slid across the water really smoothly when I had to bear away in some of the gusts. I think all parties involved were quite surprised at the results. When I tried trapezing there wasn't that great a difference in speed but I was going lower. However, Paul and Anne took lumps out of me on the Gybe and when we started ploughing into the swell I was really struggling to stay in control of the boat and my actions until eventually I went for a closer look at the leach of the main.
This two boat tunning certainly proved to me that although flying a kite from the trap looks cool single handed, when it's blowing around a force 3.5 to 4 it is quicker and sometimes safer to sit in, get a hull flying HIGH (between 3'-4'or 900-1200mm off the water) and keep it there.
P.S I would also have to agree with Wayne. If anybody deserves the 'T' shirt for being the first person to kick butt single handed on an F16 then Aaron Young would get my vote. He was trapezing downwind whilst Altered was still an 'A'

Pictures guys !

Or it didn't happen ! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


Wouter

OK just to show how good Arun was out on the wire whilst with the Spinnaker up have a look at the Stealth promo http://www.formula16.org/videos/Stealth_F16_promo_video_01.wmv where he is helming out on the wire and his crew is down doing the wild thingy.

Even the main man John P is very good at such antics and it is a shame he doesn't attend these races as a competitor as he is leaps and bounds ahead of most of GB sailors ( I guess that comes from doing an olympic campaign on a Tornado )and we could all learn a lot from him ( yes you can get personal tuition from him )

Cheers, trapping handling the kite is something that isn't new to me..... may be not an f16, but the F18 and Tornado. My GF and I sail the F18 at 130kg currently, hence the desire to change.

Just to be clear.

We are talking about racing singlehanded and then trapezing under spinnaker.

We've all done the 2-up spi trapping thing plenty of times and it simply doesn't compare to handling everything by your lonesome.

Wouter

I think Wouter meant, trap with the kite, alone. Still, we know it's been done for years, even Uni. But he has a point about the pictures... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Yep, Aaron was always very quick to get out on the wire 1-up, and very quick full stop.



Does my avatar count? Or this:

http://www.formula16.org/component/optio...;g2_itemId=2637

Or this:

http://www.formula16.org/component/optio...;g2_itemId=2674

? There's another hundred or so where that came from...

Paul

Were you racing there ?

Wouter

Clear and understand. It is not a unique thing to the F16 class or Gary. Many people (including myself)have done it on Tornadoes and F18s, it is just not class legal.

Sorry, I didn't realise the photos had to be taken during racing. This is a silly game.

My racing photos are very limited because it's rare for the photographers to sit anywhere apart from just above the windward mark.

I'll make sure that I take the video camera next time I race 1-up, so you can have some stills off that...

Paul

Gee, Farmoor Reservoir looks a lot more interesting than it did when I used to sail there <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

The Viper looks great!

What is pricing and availability for the states going to be like?

It looks like although there is a lot of comotion going on about the F16's on the web but, it looks to be pretty locallized to just certain areas. I'm not looking to start a whole movement in my area for a new class. I just don't care for the F18 and F17's that are popular (to big and I believe that they are going to be more $$$ than a comparable F16) and I just don't like H16's.

I believe Fun in the Sun can help you out with Viper availability - funinthesun@juno.com

Also see - http://www.catsailor.com/cgi-bin/ad-eagle/remote.pl?rtn=Global_Ads;cb=14

Thanks! I sent an email to funinthesun.

The link was just to a pop up window but, sadly didn't go anywhere.