So out of the Falcon and the Viper what are some advantages and disadvantages. I kinda want the Falcon right now, but may be able to get a good price on a Viper. I know the Viper is heavier but other than that...
Personally, I think any F16 at a good price is a good buy although the modified Taipans are now falling behind a bit unless they were heavily upgraded. Afterall the F16 class now has almost 8 years of slow development under its belt and it is starting to add up.
I think Gina said it best. Spend some money at getting a test ride on both. Personal tastes differ from person to person. I can however assure you that the F16's tend to carry weight surprisingly well. It is not what most would expect from a small lightweight craft like the F16's but it is simply true. A Viper at 125 kg does not necessarily have to be noticeably slower because of the extra kg's. But I would always have the seller put the overall ready-to-sail weight on paper. I mean you don't want to get up there to say 137 kg (+30 kg to other F16's). At some point the difference is going to count; there is no denying that.
I think the strong points of the Viper are the excellent layout of systems and lines. From what I've seen, it is a very clean boat. The added weight could also come in handy in really nasty short chop when sailing 1-up. There have also been slight changes to the mast setup and sails that appear to have worked out really well. I believe the hound fittings were moved up to provide more stiffness to the top of the mast and Goodall has optimized his sails to that change. Other then that I believe the two options are as good as identical. Although, the Viper was reported as having excellent powered-up spinnaker sailing dive resistance.
The Falcon F16 (one I personally like very much from the pics) main strong point is its low weight, about 110 kg in standard layout. I was personally really impressed with the Glaser sails (main + jib) that Matt brought to the GC in 2007. I have raced with them and hold parr with the new infusion F18 sailed by my club champions. A marked improvement over the older Ogletree sails. If the new Falcon hull shape has effectively addressed the high-powered downwind sailing issue then it should be an excellent design (=test sail). That was, in my opinion, the last outstanding issue with the Blades. But without having sailed the Falcon myself, I can't pass judgement on that.
Best of luck and ... welcome to the club.
Wouter
