Wow! I return from two months at our Colorado home to find the F16HP topic moving briskly along. I would like to add a few comments. <br> <br>Gebhard makes a very good point about the sailors who buy Taipans, etc. Jim Boyer and I discussed this very topic when he was here at my place two weeks ago. I can only speak for Florida, but Florida is a huge market for catamarans, relatively speaking, in the US. Florida, California, and Michigan are the mainstays in the boating market, with the emphasis on Florida and California because of our year round sailing conditions. The racing scene here in Florida is exactly as Gebhard describes. It was been reduced to those of us who are now older, and although we love to race, the Regattas of old are simply no more. I raced Hobies for years, primarily because at any Hobie Regatta here in Florida, we had 15 or more boats in a start. The competition was keen, and the boats were evenly matched because they were virtually all the same design, etc. Even then, I would estimate that 90% of the Hobies sold in Florida never raced, or perhaps raced once or twice. The market here was for the leisure beach sailor. This means the cats had to be “Beach Tough”. Sailing on and off the beach was a requirement, and we didn’t mind the added weight because 1) we were younger, 2) all the cats were more or less equal, and 3) there were usually lots of them at any regatta we chose to attend. <br> <br>A Hobie regatta of 10-15 years ago consisted of usually over 100 cats, and the main events often exceeded 300. Now we do well to have 20-25 cats and that now includes Nacras, Prindles, and every other kind of Cat around. <br> <br>Given this scenario, it seems to me that the only way we can continue racing is to seek some kind of parity so that we can race fairly equal. I see the Formula 16, 18, 20 etc. as the best solution to this problem. I think we need to be careful and not fragment the class into too many sub-groups given the fact that we can’t scrape up enough to even have our own starts. <br> <br>There are pockets of cats here and there that exist exactly for the reason that we all prefer to race even up on the same boat, equipment, class rules etc. <br> <br>I see the F16HP as a UNI with spinnaker, and a two up sloop with spinnaker. Equalizing the boats by crew weight and jib size seems a logical and necessary method of accomplishing this. <br> <br>I read that someone criticized guys who buy INTER 17’s, but I will tell you that heavy, solid Cat is great in Florida when you sail on and off beaches and don’t have a fiberglass shop in your garage. Most of my friends want to enjoy sailing, not repair their boats all the time. The INTER’s seem to have found a niche for this since there seem to be pockets of them all over the state. <br> <br>Wouter, my compliments to you on all your hard work in getting this class going. I am back now and will again be sailing quite often off this beautiful sand beach out front and will continue my experiments with spinnaker rigging, mast rake, etc as I started in the Spring. I’ll keep you posted as I have Kirt and Phill. <br> <br>Jon Hamlet <br>Taipan 4.9 #217 <br><br><br>
