Once again, the F17 can be sailed 1 up or 2 up as well, and going by the F16's I have raced against, the boats seem to be about the same speed. The extra weight of the F17 is probably made up for by it's length which is almost 18 feet. All that from a fellow rookie F17 sailor.

One big difference between an expert sailor and a rookie sailor is reading the wind. We rookies rarely talk about that on this forum. Maybe it's because we ain't very good at it. We can drive the hell outta our boats all for nothing if we are racing the day after a strong cold front has gone through, and the wind is shifting all over the place. And you can forget about following because things on the water are different by the time you get there.

I'd also like to point out something about singlehanded sailing when trying to race one of these experts, and that is seeing. Yep seeing, seeing the wind on the water, seeing how the land will affect that wind, seeing the marks, and seeing what's happening on the course (how the race is shaping up). Experience sailors can pick up all this just with a quick glance due to years of sailing. So, if you are a rookie, you are trying to learn how to sail your boat, AND do(or learn) all that other stuff to. So, it's quite hard to close the gap. On a two man boat you can get an "expert" crew to guide you around the course, and you can do well IF you are a good boat driver. I think these expert guys just get a bit frustrated with the "level of knowledge" on the forum sometimes. They probably wish everyone was on the same boat so folks could get up to speed faster rather than making the same mistakes year after year like I used to do with an improperly setup mast for example until the Unirig master gave me a hint..........

But there it is again. It's not just about boat setup and boat weight.

Tom

Compaq Keyboard #124