You can't expect the rest of the open fleet to follow the ins' and outs of the F16 pool of boats....In their world... you don't have the same boats that are sometime F18's and sometimes not F18's on any given weekend.
when Viper sailors choose to not play as F16's as is their right when they don't make class in an open event and have a measurement certificate.... it does cause some amount of indigestion in the rest of the fleet when the ratings are quite different. Your mileage will vary as to whether this is an issue for the F16 class or not.
From the fleet's point of view... if the boat carries an F16 sticker on it. (no matter how the owner wants to register it that day with or without a ratings certificate.) ... then it's an F16.... if the owner wants to be something other then F16... he should remove the F16 stickers from the sail, boat etc. It's in the class's interest to preserve their branding, tradmark and rating and they should require the sailors to abide by the rule and register as F16 if they have the stickers..
Bottom line, Even if that's what the vipers did... it will STILL be confusing/annoying to the fleet because few will notice the absence of the F16 labels on the boat. That's just the way it will be.
