Personally, I'm pretty much in favour of the Nacra 500 series (or old secondhand nacra 5.0) and also the new Hobie MAX design if Hobie decides to run with that properly. Both are pretty much excellent "recreational F16's" (if I may call them that) that take a (later) spi addition well.

I'm not too hot on the SL16 personally and I feel the Hobie 16 with a spi is not much in line with the nature of the H16 class.

Wouter

That seems like a wise advice indeed. However, Nacra 500 is 100 lbs heavier than a F16, it is unclear if if can be sailed 1UP, and the price is very steep (north or $12K ??? fully rigged). Hobie has arguably cheaper/better recreational cats.
The attraction to the F16 class is weight and versatility. Being High Performance is a nice bonus for recreational sailor.
Work with me here... I'm trying to convince myself that I need one!

Sail one! That'll do it.

I sailed my Nacra 5.0 many times over in Santa Cruz solo--it was really fun...but...sailing the F16 is even more fun and a lot easier to rig, right, and roll around on land.

Tanks Eric. A lot of comments point to the same conclusion: many boats are nice, but F16s are even nicer.(assuming you are looking for a light 16ft cat)

The question though is: is it that much nicer to justify the extra cost, extra care and maintenance (due to high tech, high perf), the extra inconvenience of being the only boat like that in your area, the extra difficulty finding replacement parts...

Apparently you just need to try one to believe it. As soon as my dealer gets one for demo, I will find out!

There's really no problem with replacement parts--either available locally or easily ordered and delivered to your doorstep. And there's really no "extra" maintenance per se.

The other issue is very personal. You can buy Subaru WRX that goes 0-60mph in 5.1 seconds or a BMW M3 that will get to 60mph in 4.8 sec. The BMW costs over twice as much. Is that extra tiny bit of performance "worth" it???

The F16 will SAVE your back, vs the weight lifting challenge of the 400 pounders.
(lower herniated fluid disc's are vulnerable, be careful)
http://www.chirogeek.com/000_Disc_Anatomy.htm
Be careful tacking/jibing in medium winds, as the centrifugal force can throw the crew over the main beam.
In medium winds the F16 reminds me of tacking a Laser

That's very good news!


At the risk of repeating myself, performance is not necessarily the primary goal. Most people don't drive BMW because of performance, but rather for look, style, finish, safety, appeal... so in summary, to look cool!
I guess the same goes for boats.


This part alone is worth the the extra price, IMHO.

Sounds like you've got this all figured out.

In my opinion the Blade looks very cool. So that's covered. (and it's fast too).