Asian F16 challenge

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Scott McCook made a race report on the Asian F16 challenge and you can read it here :

http://asiaboatrag.net/formula/F16news/F16Challenge/F16Challengepg1.html

(Or go to http://www.formula16-asia.org/ and click on NEWS )

Things to note in the report are

-1- The 74 year old skipper who was doing very well till he missed a bouy and got a DSQ.

Makes your heart pump, right Rick/Mary ? This skipper was also the guy who started it all in Signapore. Quite a legacy.

Here you can see him blasting along on a reach :

-2- 1-up F16's mixing it up with 2-up F16's.

We said we would and we are doing it. First in wins.

-3- Two male-female crews racing and getting a win and a 4th place in this little event.

And doing so in some stiff breeze. The ladies are definately carrying their weight once again (Jennifer, you have a companion in Alice Lim now).

-4- An A-cat wanting to come along and was being included, thus enjoying himself as well as giving the F16's a hurry-up.

We could have said to him :"Sorry mate wrong boat, you may come back when you buy an F16"; but Scott didn't. The A-cat came in 3rd. Ruled upwind, lost it all downwind. Just as we expected. It also proved the F16 performance. The A was a young Flyer; you don't get much better than that..

Please forgive me for going soft now Scott, but I can not help feeling a little bit proud of the no-nonsense attitude of your group overthere. Especially with regard to the A-cat. You and Steve Mellet in South Africa have fully grasped the real goal of sailing these boats. To enjoy ourselfs and improve our skills with the best the others can throw at us. The only way to do that is by being inclusive and welcome competition in any shape or form it may present itself.

Thank you.

Wouter

Hell yeah! this is only a great example of things to come in the future. Can we now say that the F16 in Asia has a strong presence?

ahhahahha what do you all think? maybe? kinda sorta?

20 Taipans, with 18 of them fitted with spi's. That is more than you guys have in Florida or that I have in the Netherlands. There have been more events than this "inaugural event"

So yeah I think this may qualify as Asian presence

Wouter

Wooter, were these the modified F16 Tai Pans or the stock 4.9's? I mean, were they the wider boats? They look kind of narrow to me.

Tim,

These Taipans were shipped to Asia in 2003. That was before the time AHPC announced their Taipan F16 version, the one that is wider. The two boats of 2.5 mtr width weren't at the event. We sort of made a mistake of holding the event around Chinese New Year and this complicated things for several sailors/boats.

Wouter

Soo...it was a Tai Pan 4.9 regatta? OK, so which boats are being built at the max (2.5M) width? The Blade, Stealth, New Tai Pan F16, what else? And what are the rating numbers for 1. F16 Uni, 2. F16 two up and 3. F18. Thanks, how far are you from Amsterdam? Tim

No, Taipan 4.9 rules don't allow the spinnaker setups or the modified mainsails. So they were not Taipan 4.9 class compliant boats when they were F16 class compliant boats. Also the event waas organised by F16 sailors and not by the Taipan 4.9 class. These things make it a F16 event.

You are correct however that all the boats participating came from one builder including the A-cat, AHPC. We really hoped to see the first Blade F16 AND the first non AHPC build Taipan F16 there. But they weren't ready in time.

Next time !

Isn't that enough choice already ?

Spitfire = 2.5 mtr as well.

And were are waiting for 2 new F16 models; these are in the designing stage. One is by Darryl Barret (Aus) the other is from a secret project.

We won't count them untill they have produced a sailing prototype.

I'm absolutely certain that one of these will produce a new F16 model.

Anyways these will be 2.5 mtr wide as well.

But having said this I think that 3 models with a world availability is a very good sign, already.

Which rating system ?

By the way the Texel will be adjusted this year, they are going to introduce winddependency. I guess NMBR did influence them.

Texel 2002 (the old system) => F16 uni 1-up = 101 ; F16 sloop 2-up = 102 ; Formula 18 = 102
(source : http://www.texelrating.knwv.nl/)

ISAF => F16 uni 1-up = 0.98 ; F16 sloop 2-up = 1.02 ; Formula 18 = 1.01 (They removed the carbon mast penalty and so F16 rating wend up from 1.01 to 1.02
(source : www.schrs.com) And I don't think the F16 1-up can sail to 0.98; ISAF gives a too fast prediction here.

VYC => F16 Uni 1-up = 71.00 (A-cat rating) ; F16 sloop 2-up = 71.5 (= Taipan 4.9 with spi mod) ; Formula 18 = 70
(VYC is a yardstick rating that needs to converge)

USPN DPN; F16 uni 1-up = 67.1 (I think) F16 sloop 2-up = 66.4 ; Formula 18 = 62.5
(I have no particular interest in USPN as I think it is way off. It rates the Taipan 4.9 with spi slower in relation to the F18 than the Aus yardstick rates the bare standard T4.9 (no spi) to a F18. Sure the addition of the spi makes the boat do something different than make it slower)

The rating all swing about a little but as you can see the European and Australian systems all rate the 3 setups about the same.

Less than 20 km (=less than 13 miles for you metrically challenged folks )

I'm even closer to Schiphol airport. That would be about 14 km or less than 10 miles.

Wanna go for a drink or test ride ? Or do you want to settle a score ?

I also posted a reply to the www.1design.net forum to a question you asked there.

Wouter

Thanks, seems the F16 should sail with the F18's for a year over here to get some good data. Anyway, if I get to Amsterdam I'll give you a shout, for a beer, then sailing! See ya. Tim