Congrat's on the new design.
I'm utterly confused.
The f16 rules were designed for sloop-rigged doublehanders. Otherwise they would have been open in placement of sail area like the a-class.
What I gather is that Bim has designed is a 16 foot singlehanded 16hp. Unlike the Stealth, T4.9, etc, they chose not to build a doublehander. Why would this be an "equally good" single or doublehander? I have trouble buying the concept that the ideal upwind sail area is the same for 300 lbs of crew weight and 150 lbs of crew weight. Could you explain?
The 16hp, from the start, has had the concept of just removing the jib to change platforms. It sounds like, with a .5 meter shorter mast, the boat would be on an even footing with all the other f16's (i.e. winning because of a better skipper/sails/hull design), and the owner could just add a jib (per the intent of the f16 rules). Why would this be a problem?
thanks in advance for the info.
Michael Coffman
T4.9#32
P.S.
I don't mean to start a bunch of trouble, but I don't see a boatyard's "trademark" of making unirig boats as being of greater importance than the wishes of the class. I mean, Nacra's trademark in the 90's was "massively overpowered boats with huge jibs," but I bet we'd all be opposed to allowing them extra sail area if they designed an f16...