"catsailor!"-
Welcome to our forum! We like to use our real names here so everyone knows who everyone really is and what their "agenda" may be, especially when they are challenging and/or antagonistic in their posts (and name other people). We do not want any "secret" agendas here. We wish to be inclusive and that is why the BIM yard and dealer were contacted in the past but did not respond. The single, solitary BIM 16 in the United States is in the possession of their dealer. Have you seen this boat yourself or sailed it or weighed it? It's available for the F 16HP Nats coming up but no one has expressed any interest in sailing it there and the BIM dealer is probably not even going to bring it. Yes, the "BIM 16" has been around since 1990 but even BIM admits it's had at least 3 different mast configurations since then, presumably culminating in the 9m. It also had a quite small spinnaker last time I saw it sailed, at Cat Fight- I believe about 13 sqm., but I wouldn't expect it race another F 16HP without adding a larger spinnaker since that spi was developed prior to the F16HP rules. Regarding the "facts" about that boat - I would ask that you contact Darline Hobock at US Sailing about the specifications she was provided for this boat, as it was rated SLOWER than a Taipan 4.9 unirig with NO spinnaker (although the BIM did have a spinnaker for PN calculations). Everyone here on the forum might like to know what you find out regarding this, it was never explained to me why the BIM got such a "gift" number. Personally, their old BIM 16 looked like an interesting, fast boat but even the dealer quoted me weights above 95kg for it. I'm personally all for bringing more F 16HP boats in here (the US) and had hoped the old BIM 16 would have been sold by now or at least sailed more but I know the dealer is very occupied with the Jav 2. Again, welcome and let's stay friendly and not be accusing here, the whole point of a Formula class is to allow different types of boats (and their owners!) to race together fairly and that is what we are trying to do.
Kirt
US F 16HP representative
