Lets look at the facts...a group of catamaran sailors looked at the boats offered to the public and found none to their liking. This group came up with their dream boat...defined by a box rule...one of the key criteria was light weight.They moved forward with much criticism, they were told the concept would never get off the ground...but it did...the owners were happy...and several builders were happy to make
the F16 acording to the agreed box rules...including building the boats to the minimum weight or very close to it...every thing was good in F16 land...the F16 sailors had their
dream boat and all was right with the world....
That is until "pro sailor" Macca shows up...he's not happy with the minimum weight...he
doesn't care what the sailors want who developed the class and have everything just as
they envisioned it...he knows better than they do...he wants to come in and re-write the
rules to dumb down the F16 to make it like all the other blahza cats in dead boat
society land. He chooses to ignore the fact that boats are being built to minimum weight
or very close to it and the only people who seem to have a problem with the minimum
weight is Macca, his minions, and AHPC (who utilized F18 parts for economy of
scale)...everyone else (owners and builders) seems to be just fine with the minimum
weight as written.
Macca should follow his own advice and create, fund and promote a 16 foot class with whatever weight he wants and leave F16 to those who created it and enjoy it on its own
merits.
As for pro sailors, who gives a flip what they want? We have to pay out the yazoo to do what these guys get paid to do...excuse me as I wipe away a tear for Macca not getting his way...NOT!
If someone is going to spend their money...they want what they want....not what some pro sailor wants...not what some manufacture wants to give them...its their money and if you can't (or won't) give them what they want, someone else will step up to the plate and get the job done...to spec, on budget...on time...no excuses.
