Seems like Bimare has really thrown the cat among the cat sailors !
Reading most of the replies there seems to be much confusion about the boat - Looking at the web-site pic it looks like Mr. Petrucci designed a double-handed boat with no jib, not a single-handed boat as many seem to think. The relatively narrow beam & long mast also lead to this conclusion. In my opinion the boat looks like it is a baby Jav 2 - not for single-handed sailing unless you are over 120kg, or only sail in less than 5 knots. Whether the boat fits into F16 rules / design intent is debatable. Firstly, the fact that the prototype has been launched, sailed & photographed proves that it was designed before the F16 class members decided to change the rules - something Bimare did not know would happen unless they were kept informed, which I doubt, as the decision to change the mast length rule within the class is a fairly recent thing. If Bimare intended to design a boat that would fit within the class rules then it seems unfair to change the rules after the launch of the Javelin 16. I do not believe the boat was designed to fit within the F16 box-rule, as the boat is underweight, corrector weights would have to be added to comply. I also do not believe the boat was ever intended to sail single-handed. I may be wrong, but a 9m mast & 17,5sqm spinn. is a bit of a handful ! Regarding the mast length, I believe that as long as the sail area & mastlength produce the same mainsail efficiency ratio, it should be allowed to race within the class, provided that it also complies on all other levels ie min. weight. This was the original spirit of the F16 class rules - to allow different designs to sail against one another on equal handicap, without limiting design creativity, but maintaining a level of equal performance.
Why did the class members originally believe that a 9m mast would be acceptable, until someone actually built one ? Why not let the boat be handicapped according to Texel & ISAF, if it`s h/cap is the same or within 2% of F16, then allow it to race against you, even single-handed. All boats have their own optimum wind range, this boat may perform better than another boat in lighter wind, but may be slower in more breeze. Only by sailing against it will you really find out. If you change the mast length rule now you prevent this builder from boosting the growth of your own class, a strange idea indeed ! If this is the intention of the class then you may well rename the class to "F16HP - for Taipans only".