Hello,
My name is Wouter Hijink and I'm the chairman and co-founder of this F16 class. Australia is not my personal responsibility as that is Phill Branders but I can answer some of your questions. By the way ;Thanks Stewart.
>>This is a great forum. Thanks all.
Of course I agree ! Thank you.
>>1. Does the Cobra 5 Qualify for the F16HP class
It looks like it. I've ran a few quick checks and the length, jib area, main area and width all seem to fall withing the limits set. Only problem I see at this time is with weight. In the Cobra Rules not that "ready to sail" weight is given or ruled upon. The mimimum weight ex mast sails and rigging is 77 kg's. Including everything this should come out near 90 Kg or just above that. This is less then the F16 rules allow. Minimum weight for sloop (doublehanded) = 107 kg and for catrigged (singlehanded) = 104 kg's both including a spi of about 5-7 kgs. So the Cobra weight is not far off.
There is also a Cobra 5m quoted on the Texel handicap site. This looks like a new beafed up version with a larger mainsail. specs : Length = 4,97 weight = 87 ; mainsail area + mast = 14,04 jib area = 3,36
Is this the same cobra ?
When I look at the rating I see the Cobra and the Mosquito have respectively 84,5 and 84,0 without a spinnaker. Both the nacra 5.0 and Hobie 16 are not far off at 81. The new ratings of the Mosquito with spi is 80 at this time but expected to drop as this boat has shown to benefit alot from the addition of a spi.
Personally I see a great opportunity here. The Mosquito's are already included in the F16 class by virtue of dispensation and the same can be done to the Cobra's. In South Africa they are trying the get the H16 sailors interested in spinnaker sailing and to invite them to come play with the mozzies in the "baby" F16 class. If succesful this can be done with the nacra 5.0 too. Recently I was contacted by one of the entries in the current ISAF youth cat trails wether their boat can become part of the "baby" F16 class. I gave them the same answer I have given the mosquito sailors in South Africa and that I will give to all and that is :
That every 16 foot sailor is welcome with every design as long as it either complies with ALL the limits in the F16 class and accepts that the first boat over the line wins. Or accept that they will be dispensated for the feature that is in violation with the F16 rules and be subjected to a yearly review. This is to prevent rule beaters from entering the class. Now we all know that a fully optimized F16 in the shape of a Taipan F16 or Stealth F16 is a hard boat to beat by the Mosquito's and Cobra's but I for one am not going to prevent any of these sailors from giving it a try. With enough sailors of performance 80 under VYC I see the potential to have a Baby F16 class parallel to the Normal F16 class (VYC of about 68-70).
The F16 class is open to all High Performance 16 foot designs and sailors. With respect to the cobra we need to determine the precise specs and put the dispensation to the vote.
I am anxious to welcome you.
>>>2. Anyone using them as such or with Spinnakers, if so
where at and how are they performing
I can't answer that question for you. I'm in Europe and we don;t have Cobra's here. I do expect their behaviour to be very similar to that of he mosquito's and they like the addition of the spinnaker very much. It nicely fills up a lack of performance on the downwind leg and they seems to have gotten an enormous performance boost out of it. Even more than the Taipan and others. I would make contact with the Mosquito sailors and or the mosquito sailors in South Africa. Their pages can be found on this forum if you make a search to "mosquito".
>>3. Are there any F16 events or organization happening in
Queensland {Australia}
Not planned as of yet, but we are a volunteer organisation and so I've you have any idea's and want to open it up to other F16 class sailors like Taipans and Mosquito's than you welcome to present them or even implement them.
As of yet we have only a NSW event; the F16 challenge Cup with an perpetual trophy which was given to us by Glenn Ashby.
With kind regards,
Wouter
