I`m getting confused about the number of Steves posting in this thread. I`m the one who`s happy with his mainsheet.
Thanks for the positive comments, Wouter. When we first wanted the Mozzie included in the F16 class it was with a long-term goal of putting a slightly bigger rig on it, which has been tried in Australia, I believe not very successfully, which is partly why the Taipan was created in the first place. We are still looking at it very tentatively, I say this because it has been blowing over 34knots for a week now, and I would prefer a F18 platform with a Mozzie rig on it right now, over a Mozzie with a Taipan rig ! I know this is completely off-topic, but after trying to read the many posts in all the different threads that actually come down to one subject, I`m a bit lost as to what the topic is.
All I know is that if the wind holds up like this for another month, the Hobie Tigers are going to have a very eventful worlds..
My point on the Mozzie being excluded was to illustrate that having a vote to raise the min. weight might not be beneficial to all the class members, Scooby Simon says his boat is on min. weight, would he want to add lead because the major manufacturers can`t do what John Pierce and Matt McDonald can ? I think that would be against the spirit of the class and it`s rules, as I understand them.
If you REALLY want the class to grow, would it not be better to canvas the Taipan class in Australia and add some 200 boats to the class, if there is interest. I think they will soon realise the groundswell that the F16 class is now acchieving and would be foolish not to become part of it, especially since they can just remove the spinnaker and it`s gear to sail in Taipan OD events, the best of both worlds. Man, I wish I lived in Australia !
And now for completely off-topic : We had a 17km (approx. 10 miles) downwind race recently open to all craft, it was blowing over 30knots at the start, and reached a measured 44knots at the first turnpoint. Kiters dominated, some windsurfers survived, and there were 3 Hobie 16`s sailing. Miraculously all 3 finished the race, but the first Hobie 16 over the finish line had no mast up : They attached a 16sm kitesurfing kite to the front beam, one guy steered and the other flew the kite. They beat the other 2 H16`s by a huge margin. I wonder if one day soon we won`t be discussing carbon mast vs alu mast, instead we might be arguing the virtues of mast vs no mast....Then again, maybe someone here will tell me to go fly a kite ... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />