Personally, I'm still in my dating phase (trying to set a new record for that, mind you), but I can therefor relate to losing a crew/skipper.

There is always the option of finding another person and form a new doublehanded team; in that case you might as well hang on to the F18 you already have.

This is not what I did, however. I also never considered the A-class cat seriously. I do keep my boat on the beach for 6 months of the year and I wouldn't want to take out a passenger/crew on a A-cat or use it for a distance race on the North Sea. Beyond that I'm hooked on the spinnaker and I do appreciated doublehanding regulary (like the annual NAM-REM race that is held at my club). I noticed that you are located in the Netherlands as well. Are you sailing of the beach or on the lakes ? I do think this will influence any decision towards an A-cat.

My decision eventually came out towards the F16 boats and the reasons for that were simple :

-1- lightweight (under 110 kg ready to sail) but still robust
-2- Same performance when doublehanding as the F18's (sloop + spi has a Texel rating of 102)
-3- Same performance when singlehanding as F18 AND A-cats (mainsail+spi has a Texel rating of 101)
-4- Switched between singlehanding and doublehanding within the time you can raise or lower a jib ( <5min)
-5- Is very similar to the other boats like F18 I was used to. Is basically a slightly smaller but much lighter brother to the F18's.
-6- Cost. I did my own boat for 13.500 Euro's (fully race ready sloop + spi) back in 2003.


As far as I know the new F16's are still at 15.000 Euro's ready to sail in sloop+spi mode using pentex sails by saillofts such as Landenberg, Glaser or Ashby using full carbon daggerboards, rudders and in case of the Stealth F16 a carbon mast as well. As such they are still noticebly cheaper then comparable race oriented new F18's.

I've never looked back since 2003. I have sailed/raced seasons on my own and did seasons with a dedicated crew, both using the exact same hardware. Typically, I just go to the beach when I feel like it and rig it up for for singlehanded sailing. Regulary a clubmember without a boat walks up and joins me to doublehand the F16. Quite a few times I started sialing 1-up before lunch only to do 2-up after lunch. In those cases, I often just forgot about the jib sailed 2-up with main and spi only. Performance is slightly less that way (wouldn't do a race like that) but no where near large enough to make a difference for some good recreational sailing. You'll loose maybe some 5 to 6 Texel rating points that way (5%), which is hard to tell without other boats around that are racing you.

This way sailing is a dream. You never have to phone around, just show up, and still get some doublehanded sailing in regulary. The latter is especially nice for long distance races. Basically, you'll keep all options open, even the one where the wife gets back into sailing. And you keep up your F18 sailing skills while extending it with a safe ( = solo righting !), fun (=fast) and practical (= ligtweight) singlehanding ability.

Personally, I would strongly suggest the F16's if you decide not to hang on to your F18.

Best regards,

Wouter

Taipan F16

Last edited by Wouter; 04/20/09 03:52 AM.

Wouter Hijink
Formula 16 NED 243 (one-off; homebuild)
The Netherlands