F16 Nationals

Fly, SquidPig!!!

Make that mark your own!!

Ok, tack is off!!

Heading up!!

Why is this man smiling?

Might still save it!!
<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4519663126_26187cd53b_o.jpg" alt="" />

Ahhh Jeez...
<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4519026709_6889211fb6_o.jpg" alt="" />

Crewless.
<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4519026729_1844e1b0b7_o.jpg" alt="" />

The boys were in a very solid second place and this was the last gate in the race. Breeze was on and they were smoking. Sucked they lost it in the rounding, but they got back on their feet quick.

Thanks to Wendy Daunheimer for the pics!

Great series of photo's.

Is there a website somewhere containing the rest ?

Wouter

Thanks JW (and Pete, and Karl)...
I personally LOVE the pics of the squidpig on Robbies/red gear FB page... i will leave it to

you

to find them <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Photos from day 1 of the F16 Nationals can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wendyspics/collections/72157623725636189/

A special thanks to Wendy Daunheimer for taking the pictures and for Jill Nickerson being willing to take her out on a coach boat getting her closer to the action.

I almost forgot to mention. The photos on Flicker are

web

quality. If someone wants one a full res, send me a PM.

PS congrats to all that raced and to Robbie and JW for the win

Thanks for sharing. Looks like there was some pretty close racing. Fantastic to see such a well attended event and a diverse fleet. Now that the event is done, are there any conclusions to draw about the different boats and singlehanded vs doublehanded? In general what were people's impressions of how the Viper, Blade, Falcon and Taipan competed? Any obvious speed differences that you wouldn't just put down to crew work? Any thoughts on whether any of these designs go better 1 or 2-up?

From a performance stand point, the boats are amazingly similar! The real difference is the nut on the tiller. At around 12 knots, maybe ten, the sloops begin to pull away. The greatest separation seems to come at the windward mark as the sloops get their spinnakers set faster. From my vantage point on the beach this was really obvious. <img src="<>/wink.gif" alt="wink" title="wink" height="15" width="15" />

One thing that doesn't show in the results is that each of the top three boats was able to pull at least one horizon job on the rest of the fleet. Another, Matt & Gina on the Falcon did an amazing thing on Sunday. They were fully four minutes late to the start (after beach repair) and still pulled off a fifth place finish. You had to see it to believe it.

The real story is consistency; Robbie and JW are machine like in their precision. They just don't make any noticable errors.

I have no freakin' idea how anyone can singlehand one of these boats. I'm not arguing for job security's sake - seriously... when the breeze is on, I just don't see that being alone on the boat is fast. There were no one-ups in the top ten... it seems to be a crew-intensive class to me. Even in the light stuff, the two-ups constantly gained ground at the corners...

UNI's RULE! We are waiting for that young rock star to bring order to the universe!

In 6-8 knots there is a pretty clear advantage over the sloops.

I believe that in certain conditions the one-up will be favourered and in others the 2-up boats. Probably you will be faster with 4 hands in heavier winds.
I also believe that the advantage or disadvantage you have as one-up is rather small and that the skipper is still the biggest factor in the end. (cfr first 2 GC).

Thanks for the compliment, but I'm pretty sure the sun must have been in your eyes a couple of times. <img src="<>/eek.gif" alt="eek" title="eek" height="15" width="15" />

or perhaps he was focusing on your hair (can be distracting)
<img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

I'm still driving...........................

Did you get stuck behind a school bus or something?

John, I think at least one Uni finished in the top 10 in nearly every individual race, just not overall, mostly due to breakage and DNF's. Your point is well taken however, in 20 knots of wind, it is very difficult to snuff and drive at the same time, and the two ups deffinately have an advantage there! Kris Hathaway had a 4, 3 and a 5. Ed Mills had a 6, 4 and 8. Constatine Seremetis had a 5 and 6. I had a 9, 9, 9, and in the last race, still in pretty good wind, a 3, but of course you were already on the beach by then!

Hey Tim -

Yes, I meant the final standings. I have enormous respect for someone who decides they would rather singlehand this boat. I'm just as busy on the front of an F16 as I am on the F18 - there is absolutely no difference. As absorbed as I get during mark-roundings, I can't imagine trying to drive a smooth line at the same time. Hats off, bud.

Thanks JW, but there was nothing

smooth

about it! I ended up swimming during the

Snuff from hell

. Nothing like having the boat gybe on you while the spin is only half way down! ;^)

It's a lot more like a one legged man in an butt-kicking contest!

If it's blowing I would prefer to sail with crew, I just can't find anyone willing to put up with me. I am trying to train my 13 yr. old daughter, I'm just affraid it will cost me in the long run...like when she turns 16 and wants some -payback-!

I think it MIGHT be a time and crew issue....

Lots of people in the UK sailed with crews adn then crews stopped sailinmg for various reasons; or we (in my case) could not commit the time to have a crew as I cannot always plan when I sail). As a result; most F16's in the UK sail single handed.

Is it hard - you betcha
Is it reqwarding - VERY
Is it scary - yep when it's windy!!! But it's fun!

Missing sailing a LOT at the moment.....

Yikes! i hate when that happens! (any pics/video?) <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Haha!

Just got in, finally.

We left Clearwater at 9:30am Monday morning. Drove to Piss-stain Mississippi to take a look and possibly pick up a 5.2 for a guy in Omaha. Turns out it was soft, so we were back on the road. About 2:30am near butt-punch Arkansas I was getting extremely tired and pulled over to swap with Dan. I get out, and theres steam coming out from under the hood because the bearings in the water pump took a crap, and grenaded the seal. Good thing I stopped when I did, we were losing water at a pretty good rate. So seven hours later with a new water pump we're back on the road. Got Dan's last evening and after a few Greygoose & Redbulls I wasn't too enthusiastic about driving another five hours and I crashed at his place.

I love vacations, but after being gone eleven days I'm glad I'm home.

Be glad you got out of piss stain and butt-punch.

maybe you should move closer to the nationals! <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Pure luck! If you'd run that rad dry, you damn sure would have been in a tight spot. Glad you made it home - and that was me that yelled from the restaurant when you were pulling out. I yelled something like,

Yo! That truck is too loud!

Everyone in the place piped down and rubbernecked to see what was up. Right on cue, you revved her up, never even turning your head. Classic.

Purebred honky, that'd be me. <img src="<>/laugh.gif" alt="laugh" title="laugh" height="15" width="15" />

Taylor and Matthew practicing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y1bzMljkwM

haha, i just saw this on Robbie and Jill's facebook page. nice peter pan action

And that's why I don't sail with crew, they are always going out front to check the spin tack line when you least expect it!

Thats not the reasons you gave yesterday! haha <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Dude - put her on the tiller and be done with it! You'll be suprised how much better you will perform in this arrangement. There are countless examples of the success of this strategy.

You want to get kids in the sport - 3 easy steps:

1 - don't be

Coach

. Grab the camera and become the photographer. Shut your pie-hole and let the kids figure out how fun sailing is for themselves. By

ooh-ahh

and taking pictures, you're seriously boosting their self-esteem.
2 - give the kid the tiller and say

here you go, let's sail!

. Let him/her decide WHERE to go. They don't need the physics/aerodynamics discussion or a schooling on race tactics (yet)
3 - the rest of the crew should adapt to where the kid is sailing (in terms of trimming the sails)

Intervene only when they are going to put the boat on the rocks or something drastic like that. Let them keep the tiller as long or as short a time period as they like.

By the way, this works for spouses / love interests, too...