No, as the ideal weight for the F18 is centred around 150 kg with a span of 15 kg to either side.

F16 is centred around 140 kg with again a span of 15 kg to either side.

The two weight ranges overlap but the F16 range is not situated above or beyond that of the F18.


We must really not forget that the F16 rig has evolved beyond the Taipan rig and it requires 143 kg on two trapeze wires to hold it down when a 150 kg F18 crew holds down their boat. In the way of hull volume (and related drag) the F16 achieves F18 equivalence (F18 with a 150 kg crew) when it is sailed at an overall weight of 245 kg. Basically this means a 138 kg crew is the F16 is at minimum boat weight.


No I know that many people "feel" that this must be different, but then again 90% of the world simple "felt" that the world had to be flat 6 centuries ago. Feelings are often not very dependable.

Also we must not continue ignoring hard statistic data that directly disproves your "Taipan 4.9s are best around 120 kg" claim. It may be so that YOU "feel" that 120kg is optimal for the Taipan but this was not found to be the case in the scientific analysis produced by Elliot Tonkes. You can read that article here :

http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/F16HP_optimal_crew_weight_analysis.html

I should at this point probably also add that Jim Boyer and Daniel van Kerckhof were adament that sailing the Taipans as light as 120 kg (= crew) was not an advantage in their perception.

As this theme is recurring every couple of months I would like to lay this issue more broad then just as a reply to your post Stephen. As such the next comments may well not applying to you personally Stephen.

I found that far too many people simple look at the hull length of the the F16 and feel that they "understand" the boat in every aspect and "know" what it is like and what it likes. This may work surprisingly well for some of the 70's and 80's boats as build by Nacra and Hobie but with the Taipan and F16's you'll be deceived completely. As you would be with many other Australian designed catamarans.

The Taipan and F16's are simply on a different tangent from the basic catamaran design and fail to live up to such crude rules of thumb. Although there are also many people who apply the "maximum hulls speed rule" to cats so there is plenty of ignorance going around.

In the end of the day. The Taipan and F16's are much more powered up then their size suggests. With the new large squaretop sails (incl Taipans now) and spinnakers you want some body strength on board. Not plenty of it but still an ample amount. Being below 130 kg means you that start lacking in that area. Being 120 kg and less means that you ARE lacking in that area. I've sailed/raced often enough with 60 kg and lighter crews on my F16 to have learned that. As I'm 90 kg and sufficiently endowed I can then help out when needed. If I had been 60 kg skipper myself then well ...

Basically what I'm saying here is that every time we focus far to much on one single aspect. In this case we ONLY look at how a 120 kg crew is lighter then a 140 kg crew and concluded that they are therefor advantaged. But the real world is never as clear cut. Every advantage comes with a disadvantage. You pay for every achieved benefit by accepting a drawback. The real trick (performance) is in balancing the factors of the these groups. This is also why a crew weight somewhere in the middle of the competititve range has the best potential over all possible weights.

Many believe that competitive crew weight ranges run from the lightest crew being maximally favoured to the heaviest crew being maximally disadvantaged, but this is simply not the case.

A real life competitive range runs from light to heavy crews in a dome shaped arc with its peak somewhere in the centre. The crews at the extremes being more or less equally disadvantaged. Most likely being so in different conditions, but over the whole still equally disadvantaged. A scala of factor causes this result and crew weight is only one factor out of several. Interestingly enough crew weight can actually work out in both direction, advantagious and disadvantagious, depending on the conditions. And even there it is not as simple as light wind favours light weight and heavy wind favours heavy crews. For example, heavy crews in light winds but heavy chop can be advantaged again as the boat has more momentum to punch the waves. In heavy winds and large waves the light crews are able to catch the wave easier then a heavier and get a speed boost that way.

Basically, things are never as simple as many rules of thumb suggest they are. And yes F16's do have an optimal crew weight range that many feel is almost the same as the range for the F18's. It is my personal opinion that far more people underestimate the optimal crew weight for the F18. Certainly in the USA they do. Many of these boats are not featuring 10:1 mainsheet tackle systems for nothing. Now I can work my 7:1 F16 mainsheet singlehanded during a 3 hour distance race (with intermitted cleating), when I had to do so on a nacra F18 with a 9:1 tackle system in the same conditions, I had to use both hands and was worn down afterwards (again despite intermittend cleating). And this is one of the most often quoted reasons why crews below 135 kg really don't race the F18 very hard in anything over 12 knots. Same with respect to women. It is a body work-out. Very light weight crews (below 120 kg) on the F16 will experience similar drawbacks. Of course there are always some exceptions but these don't not really disprove the general trend.

Wouter