We had two Isotopes racing with us in the F16 fleet at Spring Fever 2002. J.P. Ayers was kind enough to let me race his shark during race 4 I believe. I sailed it sloop rigged solo. I'm told by them and Kirt Simmons (Taipan F16) that the Isotope is quite a fast boat in the lighter winds. Anyways we did find out at that event that a sloop rigged Isotope or sloop rigged spi-less Taipan was competitive upwind but not downwind. The initial hope of the Isotopes sailors was that their jib instead of the spi could even things out a bit around the course. Sadly it wasn't to be; the advantage upwind was insufficient to compensatie for the losses on the downwind part. Having said this Both J.P. and John (Riley) did very well in the end results.
http://www.twinhulls.com/springfever2002/02results/USA 220 was sailing without a spinnaker and USA 224 was scammed out of a 3rd place in race 2. The RC boat never saw us finish and gave us a DNF apparently. Not surprising though the three boats USA 226, USA 159 and USA 224 finished the whole course in only a good 15 minutes of sailing; the RC probably didn't expect this. In race 1 it was even less than that but the lead group figured we had to do two laps instead of just 1 and they all had to turn around to finish. I don't even think USA 180 even raced the first race where he scored a 4th place but correct me if I'm wrong.
Both J.P. and John didn't persue the F16 status further and therefor it is not official. All the Isotope specs are withing the F16 rules, they only issue with the Isotope is that it sails sloop rigged in singlehanded mode which is against the F16 rules. Now you may succesfully request to fly a jib instead of a spi but we already but the outcome is a know quantity by now. I personally think that having a spi instead of a jib gives a better overall result but I don't know how the boat will react the loosing the jib upwind.
Personally (but he class vote will be final) I will not prevent any sailor sailing a non-fully-optimized (with respect to F16 rules) from racing in the F16 fleet. I've seen capable crews on Hobie 16's and Prindle 16's shame a multitude of F18 crews so boat type is certainly not everything. Basic rule is that the entered design doesn't "loophole" the F16 class rules in an unfair manner, that it and its crew does conform to the spirit of the F16 rules and it may not have a Texel handicap rating faster than the F18/F16 class.
At springfever both J.P. and John with their boats conformed to all conditions as far as I'm concerned.
There is of course an alternative. You can hook on with a F16 sailor sailed a fully optimized design. Same applies to the Taipan class. Several boat owners are alone or can always bring their regular crew. This weekend their is a Taipan Nationals in FLorida and you may be able to crew on on of these. Contact Jennifer Lindsay if you want to persue this; she is organising this event.
By the way pics of our racing and group at Spring fever can be seen on :
http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/SpringFever_2002_pictures.htmlWe have also pics of some of the other sailors
Wouter
