Does it help to have equipment refined for single handed sailing?
I have yet to see any set-up changes that made any difference to speak about. The issue is experience/practice. I can not ever remember to do everthing I need to do on the A cat with only 1 sail, never mind the F16 when I am alone. It is not fast to have to go in and make adjustments after the fact and this is drasticaly amplified as the wind increases. A well sailed single has proven to be fast even in a lot of wind. I prefer to sail with crew no matter the wind and I have found at least 2 up it is all about where you put the weight, not how much there is (within a 260-340 range anyway in my experience)
This weight issue also is on the list of "issues" the F16 class has. I spent a lot of time talking to various sailors and the hard core 18 and 20 etc people have very long lists of why they would never get an F16. You could address everyone of them and there still would be something else.