A little teaser!!!

More spin.....

Robi, is that a Redhead main in that photo? Kind of looks like an older Taipan main. What was the reason for changing from the Ullman?

Time to change your signature line Robi.

Yes, they were stock for a while. Robi, Tback and I have them. I think TT as well.

I think you were planning towards a new Blade - no longer?

Mark.
I did not change from the Ullman to the redhead. I fell through the redhead at a local regatta with Tback onboard. You can see the repairs in that image. The image of the rehead is from a club race down in Key Biscayne. I only used the Ullman in big races. The Ullman was only used maybe five or six times max. I had both sails available at all times. So in essence I did not go from the Ulamn to the redhead but in fact it was the other way around.

Gary
I will change my sig eventually. Thanks for the notification though.

Mark
I am at a cross roads with a boat purchase. Matt is very slow to reply to emails so we'll see what happens. I did enjoy a lot sailing the f18. It does carry heavy weight much better than the f16 does. I am not a light weight person either. The only drawback is the crew issue and boat weight. Like I said we shall see.

Robi,
Have you tried the Viper F16? Seems like it would carry more weight, if that is your concern.

Mary,

Greg is quoted as saying that the Viper is aimed at the lighter sailor.

Back on thread...ish...or at least back to the first fork in the road.

Timbo, To assess if you need to move your spinnaker block forward, try pulling the kite all the way to the mast and having the gap at the pole. If this fixes your leach issue then yes you need to move the sheeting point forward.

Thanks, I will try that first.

Simon,
I think you are talking about what it says on the AHPC web site about the Viper, which is just generically talking about the F16 aiming at lighter sailors than other classes of boats, as opposed to other brands of F16's.

So I wrote to ask Greg Goodall about this, and here is his reply:

Hi Mary,
You are correct; they have got their facts the wrong way around. The Viper will carry heavier sailors much better than any of the other F16's. The Viper is the most buoyant and stiffest F16 being built. The Viper is about 10% more buoyant than the Blade and 50% more than the Taipan.

When I designed the Viper I was very conscious that the weight for most crews for F16 was 120 to 150 kg (165 - 330 lb). Hence I designed the Viper with plenty of buoyancy to carry this crew weight. Too much buoyancy in a hull design is only a very small penalty in performance, but an under buoyant boat is a much bigger penalty.

Having extra buoyancy has the added benefit of making the boat safer and more comfortable to sail.
Regards,
Greg

OK

The viper is not built to minimum class weight. I would not purchase a boat that is substantially overweight.

If you look closely at a viper you are in essence looking at a capricorn with two feet cut off. The beams, rudder stocks (not sure about the rudders) are straight off the capricorns.

The Viper is an over engineered boat, which I am sure makes the boat extremely rugged, but at the same time this causes the boat to be overweight. Although if you look at the last F16 - A cat invitational you can clearly see that boat weight has very little to do with performance. Robbie Daniels won the event on a Viper with CF mast. That being said, put Robbie Daniels on a piece of plywood with a bed sheet as a sail and he will beat everyone on the course.

I guess when you build trucks they can be driven by truckies.?? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I find it very strange that members of a class like the Formula 16, which is trying to build itself up, would not be supportive of and encouraging to new boats and to designers and builders who are creating boats specifically for the F16 class.

Mary, what makes you beleive the F16 class members are not supportive and or encouraging?

Personally I do not think the F16 class is "trying" to build itself up. People come to the F16 class because they are looking for an alternative to high performance cat sailing; a light weight spinnaker boat with the ability to race one or two up. People do not come to the class because of what the members preach, people will only preach what the class preaches.

The F16 class members do not need to support any builder. I think it should be the other way around. The builder should support the class members. Remember there wouldnt be a builder if it were not for the class members. The members are the people who put money in the builders pockets by purchasing boats, hardware and sails.

The F16 class is in a very comfortable position as of today and I am sure it will only get better. Obviously any boat added to the fleet will only make the class bigger. But to say the class is trying to grow itself is not an accurate statement.

I rest my case.

Can you at least answer my question please.

The mast is 9,00 m long and the advertised weight is 100 kg.
Therefore the boat does not come from factory F16HT compliant.
The exchange rate prevents the X-16 to be exported to the US. On the other end the weak USD is making reach the European importer of YS built boats