Hello Sam,

You're absolutely right. The Taipan certainly is not unique in its [note it's is a contraction of "it is"; the possessive pronoun is "its"] ability to be sailed uni or sloop. What is unique, though, is that the Taipan 4.9 has official classes with each configuration. Both classes are quite active in Australia, and champions in the cat rigged class include the likes of Glenn Ashby.

The F16 class also offers the two distinct "official" classes. The F16 class is, as you know, small and dispersed at this point, so having the two official configurations is more of a conceptual benefit. Last weekend 5 Taipans sailed uni w/spin--first F16 uni regatta in the US. In a couple weeks, two F16 unis will do likewise out West. Obviously these are tiny numbers in the grand sailing world.

There are a lot of great boats out there. The formula concept, as you may know, aims to gather rather than disperse cat sailors. It is not dependent on a single manufacturer but on sailors who enjoy boats in a certain size and performance range. Those of us with F16 compliant boats would be delighted to sail with similar size and performance boats (eg Fx-1, I17R, or even H17 w/spin). While these boats may be longer and have bigger rigs, all the F16 owners I've talked to would be happy to race these boats on a "first over wins" basis. As you have more experience sailing than me, you'd probably beat me on your H17. But we'd have a fun time in the process and enjoy the challenge. That's what it's about for me.

So you make a good point about the sloop/uni issue. (And I don't think we need to get into the physics of center of effort/resistance here.) I certainly wouldn't perpetuate the myth you mention. But the reality is that few classes (large or small) offer "official" one-up or two-up configurations based on the same platform. If this concept does not appeal to you then the class may not be as compelling for you.

Best Regards,