Another entry to report for the F16's.
Fred Metcalf and Michael Coffman will be sailing on Mike Crawford's Taipan 4.9.
Looking forward to seeing more F16's than A-Cats.
Just to let everyone know the weather at Gulfport the last several weeks has been 10-15 mostly out of the west with great sailing.
Thanks for the update Seth, I was just about to make this following update myself.
-1- Caffee, Hollis [color] (1-up) [color] Taipan
-2- Geissler, Hans [color] (1-up) [color] G-cat
-3- Harnden, Chuck [color] (1-up) [color] Blade
-6- Shannon, Tom [color] (1-up) [color] Blade
-4- Isco, Gordon Hagan, Mike [color] (2-up) [color] Taipan
-5- McDonald, Matt McDonald, Gina [color] (2-up) [color] Blade
-7- Stern, Seth Gray, Kelly [color] (2-up) [color] Taipan
-8- Fred Metcalf and Michael Coffman [color] (2-up) [color] Taipan
-9- Mystery crew on G-cat F16 (still likely to attend) [color] G-cat
It is great to see Michael Coffman on a Taipan again. Haven't heard from him for a while !
I think 9 boats will be the number of F16's that will come out. That is unless Constantine Serementis or Jeffrey Woodard each load their Taipan up in Maryland and Atlanta and drive down. Ricks chances of coming out have just decreased due to family issues, happy ones I may add. And we have have no more Florida based F16 sailors who are free to come out. Robi, Tim, Kirby, etc all have commitments elsewhere.
We may just get another boat from outside of Florida to attend but these show-ups are always uncertain till the very last moment.
So it looks like 9 boats will about right, with some considerable luck we'll make it a nice 10 boats.
Seeing more F16's attend then A-cats will be tricky as I expect a few last minute A-cat additions and our chances of growing passed 10 boats are pretty remote. On the sunny side of things though, we'll have more F16 sailors at the event then A-cats sailors. Currently the score is 14 to 9 in our favour ! Especially with the age advantage we have in comparison to the more senior A-cat sailors; we'll be assured a win if it ever comes to a bar room fight !
I think I said this all the times before: A nice mix of boats : 4 taipans, 3 Blades, 2 G-cats
Wouter
Since this event is as close to a national event as the F16HP class can support at this time here in the United States, I wonder if the winner will be invited to sail in the Alter Cup next year?
Jennifer
Jennifer,
Is there a minimum number of boats required to be able to call it a Nationals? There weren't that many at the first F16 Nationals.
Mary, sshhhhh. ISAF might hear you. You can't say n-a-t-i-o-n-a-l-s! 
If you want to call it the US Plastic Goblet F16 Championship it'd be OK though. Oh, and no, I don't think you'd be required to have a minimum number of boats to call it a Not-The-US-F16-Nationals... 
So why not do it anyway if you think that's going to be the largest concentration of F16s this year? Not very fair on those F16s who didn't know that it was going to be the Non-Nationals. 
That is a good question. Maybe some US F16 sailor should contact US sailing and see if this flies ?
My personal minimum for a nationals would be 10 boats attending and racing; but we are indeed close to that.
Wouter
As far as I know, US Sailing does not have anything to do with approving or not approving Class National Championships. Why would anybody even ask them?
Mary,
our own national association say 10 boats for a national championship if it's an olympic class and 20 boats if not.
Why would an independent class ask the national association? Good question, I dont know!?!?? Perhaps it's an ISAF thing in miniatyre, the NA governs sailing, so they claim a (TM) on words like "nationals", and we are too brainwashed to ask questions?
Well, in the United States I have never heard of a class asking for permission to hold a National Championship. I am absolutely positive that it is not required. (I can't speak for ISAF Classes, but it is definitely not required for non-ISAF Classes.)
We have been holding the Wave National Championship for many years, and we hosted the first and only F16 National Championship (only five or six boats at it ).
The only reason I asked whether there was a minimum number of boats required for an F16 Nationals was that I thought maybe the class itself has put in some sort of rule about that.
So why not have the 2nd F16 Nationals at Gulfport?
US F16 Nationals at Gulfport ?! What the.....
Doc ! Put that guys eyeball down ; i'll call a sub for my classes... Now , how do we get to Florida ??
I need to get my trailer modified so we can stack and go...
Can I enter even if I haven't physically taken possesion of the boat? I think that would make a total of 10 boats?
Jennifer
If I am not mistaken, even if the F16 Class DOES hold a national championship, the winner would not be invited to represent the F16 Class at the Alter Cup.
I think there first has to be a United States F16 Class Association (which there is not), and that the Class Association has to be a paid-up member of US Sailing.
It is unfortunate that a class association has not yet been formed here in the U.S. and that the class has not held a Nationals this year and, therefore, will not be represented (as a class) at the Alter Cup next year when it is held on the Blade F16.
Until there is a class association that is a paid member of US Sailing, the winner of the national championship cannot be considered for participation in US Sailing's Multihull Championship or the Championship of Champions.
If I am wrong, I'm sure somebody will correct me.
It is SO cheap and easy to incorporate a class association and to pay the nominal dues to belong to US Sailing, so I do not understand why it has not yet been done.
You have enough people in the class now to be able to officially form a class association and have officers and hold a Nationals so the class can grow and have credibility within the sailing community. And then when all the country's best sailors are sailing the Blades in the Alter Cup, if new people are interested in joining your class, there will at least be a class to join.
P.S. Obviously, anybody has the possibility of getting into the U.S. Multihull Championship by submitting a petition. And even if the F16's do not have a class association and/or do not hold a Nationals, I would hope the Alter Cup Committee would accept a petition from a Formula 16 sailor for next year's Alter Cup.
Because everybody is waiting on somebody else to start doing the work.
Listen up guys. This is one thing the international class body or active volunteers like Phill will NOT do for you. So if no US sailors will step up to the plate then we can continue waiting for a long time.
Good point on the petition though; that may just work.
Wouter
Except that's really a long-shot because there are only a couple of petition spots for the event, and those usually go to people with a VERY impressive racing history.
or you could win your qualifier.... 
I vote Lake Tahoe for US/North American F16 Championships.
Let's start the Classs association first. A quick tour of the US Sailing site doesn't show an obvious protocol. Anyone know where to start?
How about a quick impromptu vote? Everyone interested in forming the U.S. F16 class association post a "yes I would like to form the U.S. F16 class association ."
Will anyone second this motion?
Pete,
To get a National Association off the ground you need two essential ingredience:- A constitution which expalins how the Association is going to operate and enable the association to be incorporated.
And a group of up to 5 people that are wiling to share the workload of getting the thing off the ground and forming the first committee.
The work isn't all that much at all when shared out. So if you can find 5 people it is a piece of cake.
These people would incorporate the association, set up a fee structure so the association can offord to pay the fees to join groups like US Sailing etc and hold the occassional meeting (in person or over the internet)to plan the way forward.
I was working on a project whereby people would have the opportunity to join a National Association in each country
that in turn belongs to an International Association.
I have had lengthy discussins with others but I have been way laid in this by some other things that demanded my imediate attention.
I will be getting back to this now to finish it off.
It will still be up to people to come forward to make it happen.
So if you can find 5 people that are willing to put in a bit of their time to get this off the ground it can happen.
Anyone interested in helping with this project can contact me via my private email. phillbrander@bigpond.com
Regards,
Phill
yes I would like to form the U.S. F16 class association
AYE!!
Phil:
Thank you. I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting for my boat! 
Let's change it to North American F16 Class Association, just to be more inclusive. Phill is right, constitution/bylaws first, officers next and then divisional reps. US Sailing will recognize such a class association for $100 a year - see their one design class section on thier website. The F18 class is recognized in this group. Other benefits are listed there, as well.
Pete, are you drafting the constitution from Phill's template?
Not until we have a 5 member committee. Are you number three? (hint)
I have no problem with N.A. rather than U.S.
Count me in. See my PM, too. Same stuff.
Oh....forgot this:
8 days.
Fred Metcaf And Michael Coffman might not be sailing in the Gulfport Regatta after all. They were out practicing today for the event next weekend on a borrowed Taipan 4.9 and had a few breakages. The biggest one is a broken boom. We'll have to wait and see if they make it or not.
Jennifer
How did they break the boom?
The Gulfport Invitational is coming quickly.
Looks like we are going to have a great turnout.
Hans will have his new G-Cat F16 at the event and is looking for a good team to sail his new boat in the event.
He is looking for someone with spinnaker experience.
Please email back if you are interested.
Looks like we are going to have around 8 to 10 teams, possibly more. Forecast are showing for perfect weather with winds from 10-15 mph.
I look forward to seeing everyone.
Seth
Call Ding, Alex, JC or BK, they might be able to do it. Or put the request on the www.1desing.net forum where more of the locals reside.
LOL
This silly canuck found himself working in Broussard LA and has the weekend off. So he says to himself that he may drive to Gulfport for the regatta.
Doh, not the Gulfport in Mississippi. Kind of glad I reread the thread.