If this is indeed the case then I warmly welcome these large manufactorers to approach the F16 Governing Council and make a concrete proposal of what thet want changed and a solid agreement that they will then promote the (their) F16 over their current FX-one and I-17 boats.

Without it they don't have anything worth negociating over. If they are not willing to do this then they are not serious anyway and we are better off without them.

Lets be clear about one thing here. The F16 class has proven herself beyond any doubt by establishing herself and growing herself to a level that simply rivals any alternative put forward by any big builder (incl. the Taipans) and the F16 group did that without any budget and without any major builder support. Hell we even "created" our own builders (Stealth, VWM, Aussie Blade) to service the class.

As the situation stands now, we don't need to initiate anything towards any builder, big or small, because basically we're the winners here and they are the "runners up".

If they want something or if they are interested in joining then it is they who will have to approach us and make us interested in what they have to offer. I'm sure that the whole Formula 16 class will treat their proposals with great care and deliberation.

But painting all kinds of disaster scenarios for the F16 class simply because of something in our 5 year old ruleset is rediculous. As if our ruleset were indeed anything but well thought out then we would never have come to the point were we are now.


Are we arrogant ?

Probably.

Have we deserved our right to be arrogant ?

Gawd Darn right we did !

We took on any and all competition from FX-one and Taipan to F18HT and came out on top every single time.

So if Hobie, Nacra and others like Boulogne are interested then they know what they have to do.

Wouter