Hey look another F16 weight thread and macca isn't even here.
He was also one of the people on a Heavy F18 that did really well at US nationals!
I’m here, was just out sailing my overweight F18..
For sure the boat we borrowed for the nationals there was overweight, and as I have said numerous times its not something I like to have under me at a big regatta. But sometimes you don’t get a choice with a borrowed boat.
The fact that we did well in the event is more to do with the fact that we sailed very well in the conditions we had. For sure we were not the fastest boat on the course which only makes it harder to do well. How much the weight impacted on our speed is unknown, but for sure it doesn't make you faster!
Now, onto the current topic: I built the business case for the Nacra F16 and made it very clear in that document that there was a considerable advantage in building the boat to the class weight or very close to it. This was based on the fact that the current benchmark boat (Viper) has left the door wide open for a better solution to the F16 rule to enter and dominate the class.
Based on the component weights from current partslist it was possible to get the boat down to weight, as Hans says it is totally feasible to build down to this weight, it just takes more time and energy (increased production cost) to do it compared to the current boats offered by Nacra.
My business case even factored in the increased retail price compared to the Viper if Nacra built the lightweight boat, the increase was less than 2k USD and that was maintaining the existing considerable margins, this would deliver a boat built to the rule (min weight, carbon mast etc) and of a very high standard. Would the market pay that much more for such a boat?
Upon seeing the result from the press release and knowing the weights targeted for the boat I can say that this is a big opportunity missed. Sure the boat will be nice and if its not faster than the Viper I will be surprised. But to not make it as good as it can be is simply disappointing and it still leaves the door wide open for the right boat to dominate. Unless the Viper sailors and Nacra sailors make up the majority within the F16 class and decide its better for them to vote in a weight change for the class, then you have the exact situation Hans is talking about backfiring...
