Wouter,

Once again, great post.

>>I trust that you'll put the boat over when you're one the wire and make a mistake ?

In a heartbeat. Since I'm early in my learning curve I've avoided swimming by not trapping on very gusty days.

>> Mainpoint to learn with trapezing off a cat or skiff is one needs to develop a feel to keep the boat stabil with steering and careful sheeting

This very thought occurred to me the first time I pushed off the side of the boat with the sheet in one hand and the tiller in the other! Actually, I found it reasonably manageable and tons of fun once I was out. The hardest part was getting out with the tiller in my back hand and the uncleated mainsheet in my front hand since there was no easy way to keep steering AND stabilize myself with my back hand (to get my rear leg out) as I pushed off with my front foot. I could do it without stabilizing with my back hand if the helm was reasonably balanced but it felt stange since there is a tendency to pivot aft until I could get my rear leg under me. Even harder to do with major weather helm (cat rigged). If there's an easier way to get out singlehanded with better control, I'd appreciate learning from you!

>> Actually you need to shorten the forestay when removing the jib.

I knew you'd catch that mistake when I re-read my post after submitting it (another brain meltdown...)! Originally when sailing sloop rigged I had too much lee helm. I looked into adding a shackle above the furling drum to fix that but it turned out that just retensioning my shrouds fixed the problem so I didn't have to. Your idea of adding a chainplate to the pigtail is great suggestion!

Finally, I thought your comments about A Class and F16 were very lucid, balanced, and well stated. I agree there is some overlap but they are different animals and I appreciate your clarifying that issue. I want to compliment you on the excellent job you did on your F16 web site formulating an exciting new class which appears to be very complimentary other existing classes.

Jerry