... Wouter Hijinks a celebratory exclamation in a boisterous celebration. ...
Ha !
But seems fitting somehow.
As much as I lusted over a F16, a deal came along on an FX that I couldn't refuse.
To this I would like to replay of a very long standing opinion of mine, ever since the start-up of the F16 class. I strongly feel that the F16's, FX-ones and I17R/F17's (older EU I-17 are too slow however) should just race eachother on elapsed time. There is not enough between them to make a meaningful difference in any (recreational) racing.
I hope to see more combined fleets having fun together in the future.
At any rate, I did some poking at FX history and noticed that Hobie stated sales at over 1,000 boats.
I have always a very hard time believing such claims. For a boat that has been sold over a 1000 times, mostly in Europe, it is still a pretty rare sight at regatta's. Not to mention ONLY 6 boats at last years Europeans. Currently the F16 class has about 150-200 boats the world over depending on how you count (Taipan 4.9 class has 300 the world over) and you sure don't see less of them at Texel etc then the FX-one's for example.
The pioneering is most A-cat related. Nils Bunkenburg and Peter Eigner tried it first on a A and then Nils copied the idea to the Hobie Fox and then the FX-one. F16 came about 2 years after the FX-one launch if I remember correctly and started without with a wave-piercer hull shape (Taipan, Stealth) and it was only later introduced to the class with the Blade. The F16 class was never about a specific design detail like that. Always about a set of general performance limiting rules to garantee level (first in wins) racing among different designs. Maybe in time the F16 designs move away from wave-piercers hulls again, we don't know.
Also, what is the deal with the FX's portsmouth ratings compared with F16? F16 has less sail area? All this to ask how is it that the FX appears to somewhat stranded between the 16 designs and the 17 designs. At least so it seems.
The mainsail area and spinnaker area between both are as good as identical. The FX-one length is only 8 to 10 inches more and that is not enough to make a meaningful difference either. The measurement based systems predict slower performance due to the high ready to sail weight of the FX-one (around 150 kg) and the Portsmouth ratings are most likely influences by the lack of development in the FX-one class and the lack of top tier sailors in the class.
I wish you they best of enjoyment with your FX-one, it is not a bad boat at all !
Wouter
