I personally think that having handicap numbers that are peachy is not in the interest of the class. It is also not fair to the other racing crews outthere. Afterall how do you tell A top F18 crew that they have to give over 4 minutes time to a singlehanded F16 in light winds ?

It is also bad to the sailors in the F16 class. Our goal should be to improve our own sailing skills and not dependent on a peachy rating to propel a mediocre sailor to first spot corrected. Because again, F16 crews in Europe win races on a rating that is over 4 minutes per race faster ! THAT is a HUGE difference. In an F16 class race this will put you back in the tail end of the fleet.

I also believe that we must be careful to not become the new SC20, a design everybody hates because of its ludicrously favourable handicap. I really do believe that we as the F16 class have a responsibility to other racers (Corinthian spirit and all) to make sure that our handicap is realistic. Right now it simply isn't. Handicap racing should not be about who can hustle up the most favourable handicap but rather who is the best sailor.

When we founded the F16 class we never intented it to be a handicap racer. We intended it to be a "first to the line wins" racer. I know that parts of this intent have just been removed from the F16 class rules but the fact remains that this class was never founded as anything other then that. I think it to be shameful "to hide" behind an obviously wrong handicap number for the 1-up version. That is not what I busted my butt over for 5 years, when I was creating this class.

I strongly believe that we as F16 sailors must remain a group with a "Can do" mentality. These US PN handicap numbers are a direct contradication of that. We earn respect and grow our class by doing what we set out to do, win by crossing the finishline first. At the NAM-REM race some of the leading boats commended the first F16 sailors and admitted to being impressed with the speed of these small boats. THAT grows a class in the long run. An F16 that comes in an hour later and then corrects out to 1st will impress no-one and will mostly likely only grow resentment. The latter is very bad for the class.

After having put our trust in the US PN system for 6 years already I think we must understand that doing more of the same and expecting different results is indeed a pretty accurate definition of insanity.

Peachy handicaps breeds complacement F16 sailors and discontent (disrespect) in other sailors. The wise course of action is to prevent this situation from continueing.

Wouter