Thank you all (Dave, Mike, Kirt) so much for taking the time to write these reports and make us non participating sailors enjoy the races too.

Although Kirt, Your didn't send in a report but rather a short novel. Not that I'm complaining though, no sir. By the way Luck was definately not on your side during the races.

Here goes

******************************************************************

[Simmons, Kirt E] Wouter-
I seem to have lost my posting privileges (again!!) on the Forums-
You asked for a report on the races- Well, here's mine-

Tampa-
Geert flew into Arkansas from Holland the evening of November 5th. Spent
November 6th preparing and packing boat then I worked until noon on the 7th
at which time I left straight from work to drive to Gulfport, FL. We
alternated driving until about 4AM when neither of us had the energy to stay
behind the wheel so we slept for ~ 3 hours then started driving again.
Finally got into Gulfport on Friday the 8th and spent most of the day
putting the boat together and visiting with the friendly FL sailors. I was
thrilled that we had eight boats registered, including one with a female
owner/skipper and two with disabled sailors (including Geert on my boat). I
had mentioned to Geert on the drive that I had my mast set up for myself cat
rigged and it was "probably fairly depowered". We rigged the boat and went
out Friday evening with Michael Coffman on his boat in very light wind and
near as we could tell we were "okay" so we decided to sail with it as is for
the first day and see how we did (we sort of ran out of time to change it
anyway!). The local "guys" told us if it was light wind we could expect to
follow Jennifer around the course as that had been there experience.
Jennifer's boat was the newest one I had seen and beautiful! It had the
carbon fiber rudder arms and "Flyer" style rudders, carbon tiller, new
Ronstan traveler car (it hinges to keep the block loads in line as you
travel out), etc. We stayed at Michael and Theodora's house which was
great! We were like 4 blocks from the club! First day was expected to be
light air so we set the boat up accordingly. About the time we were ready
to launch the wind really came in! I wanted to be out on the course early
but decided I might need my full harness (rather than the "butt bucket" I
had selected based on light wind and skippering) so we headed back in and I
hurriedly exchanged harnesses, unfortunately as we pulled the boat up on the
beach the traveler line broke at the splice! I hurriedly grabbed some extra
line and we jury rigged a traveler line and took off (in traffic) again-
promptly ran aground, got going again and headed out to the course. We
decided to do some practicing, neither of us having much experience sailing
the Taipan sloop, with crew or with each other. We also decided Geert would
handle the back of the boat and I would handle the front as to play to our
strengths. Well, while practicing downwind we went swimming- righted the
boat easily and then decided it was time to get serious so we headed to the
start. Fairly aggressive fleet and we got off to a good start but it was
immediately apparent we were down on power and speed upwind- everybody else
was easily double trapped and we were struggling single trapped. Then, on
the second beat of the first race, while tacking I had my feet behind me
coming across the tramp and Geert somehow sat squarely down on my left foot.
I heard a loud "POP" and felt tremendous pain. Somehow we managed to
complete the tack with me rolling around in agony on the tramp. I was
pretty sure I had broken something (turned out to be my big toe!) but also
knew there was not much to do except "Stay off it, keep it elevated and put
cold on it." Well, I didn't put much weight on it after that, it was sort
of "elevated" on the tramp, and every so often I just stuck it in the cold
water. And on one leg- while trapped out the jib cleat "exploded" (cheap
old Seaway cleats!) and I somehow managed to come unhooked and go straight
into Boca Ciega soaking my whole body! Luckily I held onto the jib sheet
and was able to clamber up onto the boat, but not before my sea anchor
episode put us safely in the rear of the fleet. We tried everything for the
next two races to power the boat up but were only able to beat John and Rob
in either of the races, falling steadily behind everyone else on every leg.
So, we resolved to definitely check the mast out the next morning. Dropped
the mast and measured the prebend and spreader rake (I had only recenlty
upgraded to the Proctor adjustable spreaders and had not raced much with
them). They were both on the "extreme" side of depowering with considerable
rake and tremendous prebend. We promptly reduced both by about half!! No
time to do anything else but restep the mast, rerig and hit the course. Our
boatspeed was noticeably improved! We took a third in the first race on
Sunday and our spirits lifted. We only managed a couple of fifths after
that though due to various tactical and boathandling problems
(tacking/jibing was quite painful for my foot and I know we lost ground on
every one). Had a great time though and some great meals with more Taipan
sailors than I had ever seen before in one place! We also knew our work
would be cut out for us the following weekend since the only two boats going
to Rick's place- Jennifer and the Harndens- had both beat us in all but one
race! Geert stayed in Gulfport and enjoyed the Coffman's hospitality for
the next several days and tried to address some of our "issues" we had had
(slippery line used for the traveler repair and jib sheets that would not
hold!!) while I flew back Monday to participate in a clinic I couldn't get
out of. Got up at 4AM again on Thursday morning and flew back into Tampa
where Geert picked me up and we headed off to West Marine to try to find
some new jib blocks with cleats or at least cleats (my boat came "Aussie
style" with ratcheting jib blocks w/ no attached cleats but cleats on the
side stays- hard to work from the low side of the boat or with spinnaker and
the Seaway cleats had already failed us). Couldn't find any ratcheting jib
blocks so just got new Ronstan cleats and headed for Key Largo. Got into
Key Largo about 9PM and dropped the boat off at Rick's place to find 3 other
Taipans. I was a little disappointed but the F 18HT's had only managed to
draw a little over twice that number so that assuaged my feelings. Made it
to the grocery store to get water for the next day right before it closed
and then to Kelly's to our room - small but comfortable and nice resort
(mainly divers but very close to Rick's). Got up early the next day -
Friday- and set out riggin the boat and installing the new traveler and jib
sheet lines, the new cleats, and rigging the spinnaker and "skunk". Only
having raced once before with the "skunk" and not with the F 16HP spinnaker
this was a challenge. I decided to leave the spi bag on TOP of the tramp
since at the last regatta I did when we could not "snuff" the chute with the
line we could at least stuff the spi in from the front while pulling it from
the back of the bag!! Also, it kept the bag from dragging and simplified
setup (no lines under the boat!). I ran a 2:1 halyard but 1:1 snuffer line
as a "trial"- I do NOT recommend this! When the spi is "snuffed" there is
about 20' (it seems anyway!) of halyard laying around on the tramp! No time
for "sea trials" though- we launched the boat and headed out. Decided to do
the same as before with Geert at the back and myself at the front of the
boat. We talked about powering the boat up more (compared to Tampa) but
decided against it. On the way to the line Geert talked me into flying the
spi to see if everything was allright. I still don't know what happened (I
think maybe I was hosting leisurely??) but somehow we ended up "shrimping"
and running over the spi!! I had to jump into the water and attempt to get
the spi out from under the boat and then back aboard the boat and then
"snuffed"! Very tiring and I wasn't sure what would happen then when we
tried to launch it in the race! Small fleet this time, but they all looked
fast- Who to follow/cover? Dave I figured had the "local knowledge" but I
had no idea of his boatspeed while I knew Jennifer and Chuck were fast. We
got a pretty good start but again it looked like we were a little down on
upwind speed. We rounded the top mark behind but popped the chute easily
and found we had good downwind speed, catching everybody but Dave on the
downwind. He went to one side while we followed while Jennifer and Chuck
went the other way. We decided to follow Jennifer and Chuck and Dave got
left out in the cold in a "hole". Rounded the downwind mark and I thought
there was more wind to the right so we went right, everybody else went left,
and we rounded the last upwind mark well ahead and cruised to a first place
finish in the first race of the first F 16HP Nationals! After our
experience in Tampa we were elated! Second race, similar to first- flukey
wind- we rounded the first downwind with the pack- Dave went far right, the
others left. I convinced Geert we should play the middle (we had been
following Dave) so we tacked and got lifted beautifully right to the mark!
No one could catch us after that leg as we covered the nearest boat and we
won the second race! Rick was running races one right after the other so we
got in three more races that day- with the wind building throughout. We
then proceeded to "slow down and dumb up" and steadily dropped places,
although we still finished the day ahead. Launching the spinnaker as the
wind built it became increasingly difficult to get the spi fully raised
(probably due to the mechanical disadvantage) and dropping there seemed to
be a "point of resistance". Made it back to the beach thoroughly tired and
last boat and Rick asked me to be on an F 18HT protest committee! Of course
I couldn't refuse but it was a long night before we got that and the boat
"put to bed" and got ourselves to bed. We awakened very early the next
morning as I wanted to rerig the spi halyard and try to address some of our
problems from the day before since we were expecting more wind than
yesterday. We got the boat in the water and layed it over (about 5 times
total!!) so I could rerig the halyard "Tornado style"- with an upper halyard
and lower halyard connect by a back-to-back double block resulting in 1:1
halyard. We also rigged a bit of bunji across the shrouds at the diamond
spreaders to prevent the problem of the halyard getting hooked around the
diamonds- as we had experienced the day before! Finally got everything set,
rigged and out we went. Popped the chute again going out and only problem
was one of the sheets went all the way around the spi so I retied it taking
it between the snuffer line and the chute- This proved to be GREAT! It
ended up pulling the lazy sheet into the snuffer bag at the bottom patch and
completely took all the "slack" sheet up when the spi was snuffed! Anyway,
got to the line- got a good start and a respectable upwind leg, powered
downwind and rounded "C" right behind Dave in the lead. I jump out on the
wire, sheet in the jib, then hear a sickening, Dutch "Uh-oh" behind me and
look back just in time to see Geert succumbing to gravity without a trapeze
line hooked in! I could see the tiller extension in his hand as he was
doing a back roll off the boat and I quickly prayed he would release it but
his survival instinct was strong and he held on for dear life! The tiller
responded by graciously sacrificing itself by bending around the end of the
rear beam. I hung on out on the trapeze as the hull flew higher without
Geert there to assist me in keeping it down and managed to keep the boat
from flipping. Geert hauled himself aboard, I proceeded to convert our bent
tiller into two tiller pieces (of course the longer one was the one that was
now no longer attached to anything!) storing one at the front of the tramp
and we finally got going again after "allowing" the other two boats to pass
us. Dang! Back to the end of the fleet, the wind was building, we had a
four foot tiller "extension" (it only extended about 4" further than the
tiller arms themselves!), our traveler was consistently releasing at any
position other than centered or fully released and it was only the first
race of the day!! Needless to say, next race we got killed upwind as
everyone else was double trapped upwind and driving and our downwind speed
was not good enough to overcome this disadvantage. We decided we had to
change something now or we would be at the end of the fleet. Geert is
taller and heavier than me so we decided since only one of us could trapeze
(and that person could not steer!) I would steer upwind and he would run the
jib while I hand held the traveler (since it had a nasty habit of releasing
by itself!), hiked and steered. We still couldn't drive with the double
trapped boats but we were able to outpoint them such that we did much better
upwind than before (although we were still slower primarily due to slow
tacks). Downwind we had to switch positions so I could launch/fly the chute
while Geert drove. This worked pretty good until when we tried to switch at
the leeward pin chasing Dave and I was low snuffing the chute while Geert
was reaching up we rolled the boat over! Finally got it righted, got aboard
(try that with one arm and your "helper" with a broken toe!), and figured we
had not gone through the gate so I sailed upwind, dived through the gate
(which had drifted very near the start/finish line), jibed around to go back
to the right side of the course and suddenly realized I had sailed through
the starting line (which was an "obstruction" according to the rules!). No
option but to retire so we notified the RC and then noted Jennifer and
Gordon had also rolled their boat! Watched them right it and take off
thinking they would now get at least a third but they too retired. Wind
kept coming up, Dave was clearly now the boat to beat. Both Jennifer and
Chuck seemed to be having spinnaker problems- Our only problems were sailing
the spinnaker smoothly and keeping it drawing in the big puffs- Seemed just
about the time we got it dialed in a puff would hit, we would go low, the
spi would collapse, we would come up, sheet the spi hard, it would snap full
and then the boat would be overpowered, etc. Hoisting was easy but we had
to exchange crew positions first so this accounted for our "slow hoists" and
then we pretty consistently missed our downwind jibe angles so we were
coming in to the gate WAY too high to carry the chute in the puffs so had to
drop early and also had to drop early to change crew positions again. We
finally figured it out and were able to chase Dave while Jennifer and Chuck
had boat problems and "paid us back" so we finished with three second
places. We got everything sorted out with the boat that night and I went
out solo until dark checking the new traveler cleat and tiller, determined
to come back on Sunday and do better but alas, about 3AM I was awakened by a
torrential downpour and a classic Florida squall. I had anchored my boat
securely, being closest to the water but was concerned about some of the
other boats which might not have been secured. My boat did fine but
unfortunately one of the F 18HT's flipped onto Jennifer's boat and did the
most boat damage to a Taipan of either regatta - breaking her spinnaker pole
and denting her hull. We spent Sunday packing up, comparing notes and
watching the wind scream directly onto Rick's beach. The awards/dinner
party that night was great with the wonderful trophies Mary came up with
being presented (unfortunately Chuck and Mavis had to leave early so they
missed it and they were missed!) while we ate great Mexican food. Geert and
I then excused ourselves from the festivities about 9PM and began the long
drive home, non-stop, arriving in Little Rock about midnight Monday. The
drive was fairly uneventful except for the fact by then Geert had my cold so
we were both sniffling/coughing constantly! I did introduce him to grits
and we stopped in Mississippi at a restaurant that had fried dill pickles
but I couldn't talk Geert into trying them! He did try conch fritters in
Florida though!
So- it was a long trip but lots of fun and we got to spend a lot of time
together swapping sailing stories and sailing with some other great Taipan
skippers. Gulfport has offerred to host both the Taipan Nationals and F
16HP (are we still "HP"??) and F 18HT event back-to-back next year so we are
off to a great start for next year!

Kirt (Now with mainsails bearing Aus 159, 184 and 032!)


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>> are we still "HP"?

Yes, our full name still is and will remain :""Formula 16 class for High Performance Catamarans"; " rule 2.1.1

This rule continues as follows :

"and her official abbreviations in order of preference are Formula 16, F16, Formula 16 HP and F16 HP"

Therefor our listing in handicap systems has been changed to Formula 16 and F16 rather than Formula 16 HP and F16HP.

Especially with the identifiers to seperate singlehanded mode from doublehanded mode make the older identifiers as
Formula16HP(1) overly complex; Especially under D-PN where a Taipan with spi would be denoted as TF16HPuni

So we simplified this to F16uni and F16, With for example taipans as TF16uni and TF16. Stealth will become SF16uni and SF16 and so on. That is when the D=PN committee decides to use the uni identifier to describe the solo configuration.

The second reason for this adjustment is that their is a change that a new Formula 16 class might be formed by a specific builder. It is likely to receive the name F16HT; as F16HP is hardly distinguisable from the the F16HT name we felt it would only lead to unnecessary confusion. Ofcourse this is just a precaution to a possible future development. At this time we are the only formula 16 class in the world and working at it to stay that way.

Wouter

Would you want the name of this Forum Changed too?
Rick

its easier to say F16.. take the whole area... if anyone wants a F16 based on H16s then they can be F16 S&B...

Well, I leave the handicaps systems free in the choice how to list individual boats. D-PN uses the TF16 notations and Texel/ISAF don't list individual boats at all just the class as a whole. That is their perogative.

Wouter

Rick,

I'm happy with the name "Formula 16 High Performance" that teh forum has right now. Although when browsing on the forum itself it's name still is

Formula 16 High Tech >> Formula 16 High Performance

I would very much like to loose that name Formula 16 High Tech. So if you can change (without loosing posts ! )

Thanks for your offer Rick.

Wouter

Come to think of it; if you can change the main index name to "Formula 16 class for High Performance Catamarans" then that would make it perfect.

Thanks.

Wouter

Great report Kirt!

Sorry I missed the sailing, but was busy with too many projects to get away. My poor Taipan has been covered for over six months, but I'm now to the point of seeing light in my many projects and expect to back sailing soon.

My ISP went bankrupt (@home.com) and the servers were acquired by Comcast so my @home email has been bounced. Hope to see you guys at the next bash. Sounds like you're light years ahead of where I left off with the spinnaker/snuffer setup.

Jon, Taipan 217

Jon-
Great to hear from you again! Been missing you- Glad to hear everything is sorted out and you'll be able to get back into "Taipaning"-
Have a Great Holidays!

Kirt

Hello Jon,

It's been a long time, great to see you back. We've been missing you a bit. I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. Hope to see you mixing it with the other Florida T's soon.

Can you send us your new e-mail adres to F16HPclass@hotmail.com ?

With regard to spinnakers, I heard that AHPC is working on a snuffer setup and Guys in Eu are converging on the midpole snuffer setup but with just a large diameter hoop and a flexible bag. Seems to be the trend in the tornado class too.

Anyways, welcome back Jon !

Wouter