Gary,

Are you mr Sproat by any chance ?

Let me start by underlining that I'm no longer a Formula 16 class official and that all my following statements are to be regarded as those of a private sailor. In some instances my comments clearify some of the F16 class rules and the thinking that was behind them when they were created. Comments of the latter kind may only be taken as historical notes and not as my official opinion as the founder and former chairman of the class. The reason for this stance is that I believe the current F16 Governing Council are the undisputed highest F16 authority at this time and I try to not interfere with their policy, whatever that may be. Besides I will only give my official opinion when officially requested to do so.

Now with this disclaimer I can down to answering on your questions to the best I can.



That is unknown at this time. See my explanation of the grandfather rules later. An official request needs to be made and then F16 chairman together with the GC (governing council) need to decide on this. Normally the organising committee of the event has a strong say in this matter, but at this time the organising committee is also the F16 chairman and the GC so ...

The F16 rules do not forbid the inclusion of the Spitfire per se.





I don't think the F16 class recognizes One-Design-ness is any way; neither positively or negatively. Pretty much as long as your boat is measured and measures in then it is F16 compliant and may race. If it is measured and found to be non compliant then the GC/event organisor may decide to let you compete anyway, but they may also decide not too. They may even decide to let you race under certain conditions.

The only garantee that the F16 class rules provide is that all measured and compliant boats can race race, barring any pending disciplinary actions against the crews themselves.




A measurement form may be wavered by the GC, as it may do with F16 boats, but this allowance is really only intended for small events. The event we are talking about here is really a World Championship and all F16 crews are required to show a measurement form. I see no reason why the GC/organising committee would make an exception for you here. I've gotten mine 2 months ago and yes I paid for it.

Personally I don't know whether the Spitfire will not measured in as an F16. Looking at the builder specified specs; it is pretty much compliant in ever respect except the sail area's. But it wouldn't be the first time that real life measurements were to be smaller then specified by the builder.

My own spinnaker is supposed to be 17.5 sq.mtr. but is really 17.01 sq .mtr after measuring. And I had sailed with it for 3 years before measuring. If something like that is also the case with your spitfire spi then it will be F16 compliant. I've seen to spi measurements of some other spi boats and it is not rare to find spi's to be smaller then specified.

This pretty much only leaves the mainsail and jib, but these are not that much larger then the F16 max allowed sizes.

But lets assume your sails are indeed non-compliant, what then do the grandfather rules say ;





asds

Rule 5.1.1. explicitely states that the dispensations are "limited in duration" and "reviewed yearly", also dispensated boats only become part of the "OPEN F16 class".

Rule 6.1.4. states that dispensated boats are allowed into declared "OPEN formula 16" events.


When I was a chairman I used to dispensate (unrequested) the Spitfires yearly for the "Open F16 events" like the DCC in 2004. I also actively invited them these events.

However I've been replaced by the GC two seasons ago and they are free to persue a different policy. It is however safe to say that they have not dispensated the Spitfires because no official requests have been received. This is not to say that the Spitfire can't still be dispensated. But I can tell you that decisions made in the past are no garantee for the present of future.

Also the F16 World Cup has not been declared as an "OPEN F16 event". Again, this does not mean that it can't still be made "open".

As things stand now, no dispensated boats may enter the World Cup and the Spitfire is not dispensated at this time. Only an official request may change this.

This request must be directed to the GC and or the F16 chairman. At this time they have full freedom to decide either way OR to propose a compromise if they so desire. They are however required to get back at you in a timely manner.

My advice would be to make such an official request.


My personal stance in the past was that "the more boats on the water; the more fun for everybody"

I also regarded the Spitfire as extremely close to the F16 in behaviour and speed; I think that when racing these boats against one another the best crew will be victorious irrespectibally of the boat sailed. As such if should not go against the main criterium of the F16 class; "fair and level racing between boats of different make".

I was never scared of the very skilled Spitfire crews as I believe the F16 concept is strong enough to survive every setback that can be imagined. I also believe that fragmentation of the cat sailing scene should be actively combatted, for the good of us all. That is also why I will race F18's on a first-in-wins basis. I believe that if a Spitfire crew beats all F16's in the fleet then that is because that Spitfire crew was just the best crew of them all and not because the Spitfire design has some special magic enclosed in it. For that the boats are far to similar. Although I'm also sure that such a win would be milked promotionally. But that still wouldn't matter as F16 as a class is too much established world wide and too strong to be taken down by such an occurance. And also this knife cuts both ways; it may also be a F16 crew that ignites the rockets and creams everybody else.

I do feel however that in the past the Spitfire crews would have creamed us. It is commonly known that the Spitfire crews are excellent sailors and very skilled at making their craft go very fast.

But I also feel that this time the F16 sailors have a few hot shots of their own and I personally would really like to see the Spitfire and F16 crews go head to head. Will be great fun to witness, I'm sure.

And I feel that some cooperation between our two classes will benefit everybody. As all F16 builders will be at this event it may also be the right time to explore any future opportunities. I know some builders will be interested in such developments.

Afterall this cat sailing scene is too small and expensive to fight among ourselves. It will be better to work out a mutual beneficial co-existance or even some cooperation. In the end we will all be better off, especially the boat owners !

And I would love to see you guys overhere having fun in the racing and socializing.

But again, these are my personal opinions and I will support whatever the GC decides.

Wouter