Hi all,

thats right Altered is on the road again. This time heading for Botany Bay N.S.W., hope some of you N.S.W. and A.C.T. F16's can make it. Program I think, is long race Saturday and short course Sunday. Tim went with F16 Mosquito last year and said it was great lots of fast cats. So be there and show them F16 speed.

Regards Gary.

Right,

I think I will contact some of the Aus sleeper cels and see if we can get something going for Kurnell. Seems it is time for them to help you, Gary, in showing off the F16's. I don't know how far Kurnell is from the other NSW F16 sailors but it is in their state so ...

Lets see what I can do.

Wouter

Would be great but unfortunately I can't make it. Will be looking seriously at the Batemans Bay Regatta on Anzac weekend though.

FYI
Area of NSW is 801,400 square kilometres
Area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres

I know this doesn't take into account population density which is mostly in Sydney and along the coast but nonetheless, NSW is a bloody big place

Surely the regatta's are held in places where a significant concentration of sailors can be found ?

I understand what you mean Andrew, but still it would be wise to see if we can get a few of them out to Kurnell.

Wouter

Hi all,

didn't get to Kurnell, only responses were people that couldn't make it, so some other issues got in the way.

Did go sailing around Melbourne though,

McRae Y.C. Saturday, 14 Aclass, 2 cat rigged Taipans, 1 sloop rigged Taipan and Altered the only spinnaker boat. Became apparent why when I looked at the course 3 triangles and only one windward and return, with two races. That wasn't the worst of it conditions gusted from 5kts. to 20kts. and shifted direction enough to blow on the wrong side of the main upwind. Far from ideal conditions for Altered although she did enjoy the flat water. Managed to use Spinnaker for part of 3 of the 6 reaches (in between gusts) and the return of course each race.

Results. Over the line, First Race 14th. beaten by 13 Aclass. Second Race 9th. beaten by 8 Aclass.
V.Y.C. Yardstick (handicap) results using same Yardstick as Aclass, First Race 17th., Second Race 9th. Beating Taipans on Aclass Yardstick.

Sunday Beaumaris Y.C. one Aclass (Auscat Flyer, fathead Ashby main all the best equipment some still being tuned though), one Mosquito and Altered the only spinnaker cat. Course 4 windward and returns, two races. First race flat water wind 8kts. to 12kts. Second race very choppy in parts (race area is over reefs) wind 12kts. to 20 kts.

Results Altered first over line in both races. Lapping Mosquito in first race and half a leg ahead of A in both.

Conclusions for F16 one up. In lighter wind A has advantage upwind but F16 can hang around if you get it right, downwind spinnaker more than compensates for lack of upwind speed. As wind increases F16 becomes more competitive against A upwind and the spinnaker gives less advantage at same time downwind. Although even when nosediving and having to let spinnaker flap it is still faster downwind if you can keep it up.

Regards Gary.

Gary,

Thanks alot for those comments.

This is working out exactly as was planned using mathematical and physical models.

Perfect equality to the A's (as we nearly have with F18's) is a utopia, but this really sounds that we kept it close enought to make it fun. I'm especially happy that the increase in performance upwind with increasing winds counteracts the diminishing returns of the spi in harsher conditions. It was the best we could do considering the limits the doublehanded version put on the overall F16 box rule setup.

This sort of takes care of the last open issue we had. It seems the engineers did their job right back in 2001 and 2002.

When I combined your experiences with my own in 2004 and those of the Asias as well as others, then a picture is becoming very clear that makes me personally very happy. I always valued the versatility of the F16 in the way of 1-up and 2-up sailing as the most important. I'm actually quite convinced now that we've done the right thing and made it work out on the water as well. Within limits of course as some difference will always remain. But it is close enough to make most (local) racing on first in wins fun and fair.

So take it from me that you make a certain guy more than a little happy with your race reports.

Wouter

Wouter, can you elaborate on the diminishing returns downwind. Is it that with shorter length and more sail area the F16 reaches the pitchpole threshold sooner?

Mark.