Raising weight? There goes all the uni wannabees. Ya know, as we age, there is a need for a good lightweight uni/sloop-spin boat. But there is already a ready-to-go heavy sloop class out there--- F18.
Have fun.
BC
Yup the higher weight will be a problem for the Uni sailor pushing the boat around the beach, but not on the water where it will make very little difference and in some ways helps the handicap rating. Now a nacra F17 at 140kgs was as I am lead to believe by those who have sailed them, a bit of an early generation dog that didn't do very well ( hence the myriad of sail and mast changes to try and make it work ), Hobie FX1 at 150kgs was not a good boat single handed so I guess we know the limits as to sail area/weight ratios single handed.
Those pushing the higher weight limit have no interest in single handing nor manufacturing a boat suitable as their target market is the lightweight crew of about 140kgs of which there are plenty. With the Olympic boat now being a mixed crew, starting in the F16's rather than the F18's will be a no brainer. Even the lightweight F18 crews will probably drop back to the F16 if racing fleets become big enough to interest them. Out of all this melee the F16 class will be stronger than ever and the F18 fleet smaller than before.
Don't want to say I told you so but this has been coming for some time and I would guess dropping the single handed weight and option of racing single handed can't be far off the agenda.
As I have often discussed in other threads, maybe it is time to produce a dedicated F16HP single handed boat and perhaps a dedicated class to go with it.
