A very good question and I think we F16 sailors must help the other crews a bit, to even the odds so to speak. So all you f16 sailors out there give your best advice to these teams new to the Blades !

(This will of course also make the Mac's victory alot more valuable, but don't tell anybody that !) <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />


Advice number 1 :

As quickly as you can sass out the way the rig responds to the mast rotation control. Proper mast rotation is critical. Both too much and too little mast rotation will hurt speed and pointing and note that you can not compare the Blade F16 mast rotation to what you do on other beach cats (except maybe the Capricorn F18). Typically you'll be running less mast rotation on the F16's then on other cats (do not point towards the shrouds unless you are running downwind). When done with the mast rotation then sass out the responses to the downhaul. It is sail design specific but the F16 mast is sensitive to correct downhaul trim as well, again both in speed and pointing.


Advice number 2 :

The mainsail needs to breath freely. Closing off the leech at the top of the mainsail is deadly, the boat may well feel fully powered up but it will be (much) slower then what can be achieved. Pretty much every time the boat feels bound up in sufficient wind to blast along then the leech trim is wrong. If you have to choose between keeping two on the wire and a tight leech or having the skipper sit in and open the leech then choose the latter. Even if both are suboptimal compared to a crew that can stay out and open the leech a little (the Mac's) then the latter is still faster for you. Unless you are really skilled, do not go in and out on the trap continiously, the reason for this brings us to the next advice.


Advice number 3 :

Keep the boat calm, approach sailing the F16 like dancing. Execute every manouvre with prefect control and absolutely measured and smooth movements. The F16 doesn't like rough riders and it will show its displeasure by going less fast then you could be going. On the other hand it doesn't appreciate slow or indecisive riders either. The right procedure is to discuss/plan what you are going to do, cover how your going to do it, then execute the actions in a smooth, measured and snappy way where the actions of skipper and crew are fully synchronized and always complete the planned action before changing the plans. Example do not accidently wiggle the rudders while going through a tack, that is indeciveness and often the boat will stall. Don't bang a tack but arc through it in a fast but smooth way and don't run across to soon. The boat only weights 107 kg while you are 130 kg or more combined. If you move your combined weight in the wrong way then you can stop the boat dead in the water. On other hand if you make use of this aspect then you can bang the corner as nothing swings around as fast as a mere 20 kg hull. Again sailing the F16 is like dancing. In dancing you and your partner need to think and move as one. Sailing the F16 you have a threesome where the boat itself is your dancing partner as much as your crew mate is.


Advice number 4 :

Don't sail the F16 like a power boat. The concept behind the F16 is its low drag nature. It is more like downhill skiing then motorcross. Find the right start trim and then watch the F16 pick up more and more speed while you readjust the trim to gain even more speed. Always try to stay at speed so you don't have to walk through this staged accelleration proces again. Under spinnaker the gusts can come in hard, you absolutely must spot these and steer down and sheet in a fraction before they hit. Then the boat will accellerate forward while staying absolutely flat. Note that no crew is quick enough in getting out in these circumstances. If you are too late you will lift high and have to shed lots of power. Also note that the F16 can accellerate very rapidly in these gusts, thus suddenly changing the angle of attack and the magnitude of the apparent wind and magnifying the onslaught of the gust or collapse your spinnaker. This is why you'll need to readjust your trim BEFORE the gust hits. It is similar to other cats like F18 but the rapid accelleration can make this aspect more pronounced. It gets really funny when your crew is not prepared and looses his balance while on the trap. At the time the crew stumbles backwards, the boat will suddenly "miss" a very big amountof weight (over 60 %) and jump ahead, it weights only 107 kg itself. The same aspect has caused some singlehanded skippers to be thrown of the back of the boat.

In specific to skippers, be very controlled on the tiller. If you make large tiller movements at speed then you can launch your crew into a bare foot waterskiing frenzy.


Advice number 5 :

Under spinnaker in big wind, have the crew trapeze behind the skipper. This is pretty common place on all spi cats now but the thing special to the F16 is to already do this when when bearing off to downwind from being closed hauled. This will keep the bows up when passing through the beam reach. This is really the only spot where the short hull length on the F16 is really noticeable. Do not try to bear off or even "nail the bear away" when both the skipper and crew are inboard and the crew is forward at the spi cleat in big wind. You may not be going swimming, but you'll get a very good shower and loose all boatspeed. Sheeting out the mainsail is simply not enough in big wind. The large squaretop will at some point find wind and start pushing the mast forward and the bows down (a sudden power hit) and the F16 is no I-20. One trick to solve this issue is to have the skipper stay out on the trap while the crew moves in. Then when rounding the A-mark both the skipper and crew move back on the boat. The skipper will then probably be to the rear of the rearbeam and the crew will be sitting just in front of it. Once the power hit has passed you can move forward and prepare/execute the downwind leg, there is no more danger then. This procedure is only necessary in big wind.

An alternative is to keep the crew out on the trap while the skipper moves in (or is in) and have the crew move back on the trapeze and hand him the tiller (and mainsheet) the crew then continues to steer around the A-mark and do the bear away (using the mainsheet to pin himself to the hull and using the rearbeam to prevent him from being launched forward). The skipper can then prepare the spi hoist and even do the first downwind leg working the spi sheet. During the first gybe you can switch the roles back again. This alternative can work really well actually and is certainly worth considering if the Alter Cup racing rules do not specify that only one person can steer the boat during the whole race week.


Advice number 6 :

It may well pay of to have the skipper work the traveller at the same time as he steers when sailing under spinnaker. Of course you'll leave the mainsheet cleated. The F16 mast has proven that it can fully withstand this even if its top bends significantly. You'll find that the luff hull drops down inmediately and that you require alot less rudder movement to make the curves. This procedure is probably only attractive in unstable wind conditions or in very rought water conditions. In stable conditions you should be able to get max performance with careful steering alone. I personally use this trick to make the finish line under spi if that is located on a reach from the C-mark. Personally I believe the bending of the mast top because of letting out the traveller slackens the luff sufficiently to be able to carry the kite higher. At the same time you are depowering the mainsail and thus can keep the boat down even in relatively big winds. I found that I could stay higher then the other spi boats (F18's) even when only single trapping on this reach to the finish.


Advice number 7 :

You have to check whether what I'm about to say is still true on the 2007 version of the Blade.

In my experience the response to the downhaul is too slow to correct in time for the F16 lifting a hull during a gust or something. An added drawback is the sensitivity of the mast to the downhaul setting, if you can not find the exact same setting quickly after the gust has passed then you are losing too much performance. I've found it pays much more to set the downhaul to a good average for the conditions on the upwind leg and just work the mainsheet in the gusts. It is also my experience that the skipper is too slow on the mainsheet to make good use of this and if he tries to be quicker then he is moving the rudders about too much. So we as a crew settled down on the procedure where the skipper steers, adjusts the traveller, downhaul and jib as well as looking what the competition is doing. The crew is trimming the mainsheet constantly and is looking ahead for windlanes, shifts, gusts and favoured sides. The crews then gives tuning orders to the skipper where the skipper gives tactical feedback.

I won't go into scientific details of why this is but it is my experience that you want to limit excessive lifting of the F16 hull to a absolute minimum. The F16's don't like at all to be riding high. It can then take ages for the boat to come down and speed ahead again. It is absolutely true that it is far better to prevent the luff hull from lifting then to bring the hull down again even if that means slacking the mainsheet significantly. This is an apparent wind/low drag boat. Losing speed results in a big performance hit and it will take time to back up to speed again. So what I have found works best is to have the crew sheet out (sometimes rapidly) at the onslaught of the gust keeping the luff hull only inches of the water and then pull back adjusting it continiously to the windstrength in the gusts and the accelleration of the boat. If you do this right, you can really feel the boat jump ahead and go up a speedgear with every gust. Only a fully dedicated crew is fast enough to ride the gusts like that. The skipper is there to hang his butt overboard and carefully help the crew by steering up and down a bit in synchronized way with the actions taken by the crew. And of course adjust the downhaul if the conditions stay changed after the gust. And that includes sailing the boat at a higher speed after the gust has passed, that too will sometimes require adjustment of the downhaul.


Advice number 8 :

Weight placement is an important factor on the F16, and even more so on the blade as it doesn't have T-foil rudders as the Stealth. Any crew who is not moving about (on the trap) is not doing his work right. Nearly all changes in sail trim and conditions are linked to a certain weightplacement readjustment. Example, when a gusts hit upwind, the crew in the trapeze needs to sheet out (possible rapidly) step back and then pull the mainsail back in to keep the hull out and accellerate the boat, then he steps forwards again. The skipper does the same when on the trap or leans overboard during the onslaught and steers (very) gently up at first and possible steers down again during the accelleration phase while moving back in. Pretty good abdominal work this is. Another example, when bearing away from upwind to downwind or a reach the crew moves back together while arcing the boat away from the wind. When passed the beam reach course the crew moves forward again, adjusting their weight placement as to keep the bow riding flat. All this weight adjustment is simultanious to any other action that is going on on board and accompanied by the usual talk about future actions and strategy.


Like I said guys and gals, sailing F16 is like dancing. Smooth synchronized movements and multitasking your way towards glory all the way. It is probably a very good choice to have so many (superior multitasking) women on board this Alter cup. Now if the men will loose some pride and volunteer to do the grunting up front pumping the main upwind and the spi downwind, everything will be all right.

Good luck to all crews !

I'm hoping for a very tight race.

Wouter