Tony,

Pure F16's :

Taipan 4.9 spi (foundation boat)
Stealth and Stealth R (foundation boats)

Taipan F16
Stealth F16
Blade F16

These will always be allowed to race under F16 rules at any event always.


Then we have the dispensated boat (read all as I-17 and FX-one are at the end)

Spitfire :

Than the Spitfire design has a special dispensation and is likely to remain such indefinately. The Spitfire is simply so comparable in performance that it would be foolish not to include them. That is unless the Spitfire class presents herself actively as an alternative to the F16, this unlikely in my opinion. Of course in that situation we have no choice by to activily promote ourselfs as an alternative to the Spitfire. But like I said I really don't see this happening and F16 class sure as hell isn't going to initiate such a change.


Mosquito F16

The same applies to the Mosquito F16.



Then we have 4 more boats that have in the past earned dispensation papers but that are arguably falling out of the F16 framework :

Bimare's Javelin 16

Reason falling out : Their dispensation is now over 2 years old and not a single jav 16 owner has ever contacted us at the F16 class or even invoked the dispensation. No Jav 16 sailing is linked to the F16 class at this time.

Bimare 16 (replace by Jav 16 now)

We had 2 owner in the F16 class in the past but no longer. 1 owner has been kicked out as he actively tried to disrubt the F16 class in any way he could and we caught him in the act. The other owner owns a F16 full compliant Bim 16, meaning he has the 8.5 mtr mast and not the longer 9 mtr mast and his mainsail is modified to F16 specs (entlarged). This guy has no need for any dispensation as he is already compliant on the normal rules. No other Bim 16 owner ever contacted us.


Mystere F16

This dispensation is now over 3 years old and in that time no owner ever contacted us or invoked the dispensation. As a chairman I'm considering revoking this dispensation as it serves no purpose, adresses no need. I'm not even sure wether any where sold.


Cirrus Energy :

This design is around and seems to have an active class although of very small size. Its dispensation is also over 3 years old and no-one ever invoked the dispensation. If the sailors feel no need to sail outside their own setup then we might as well drop the dispensation.


Seperate group : Inter 17's and FX-ones.

These boats are not dispensated in any way as they are not regarded as very similar to F16 designs HOWEVER we do have a special relationship to them.

Each local class head can allow them in into F16 class events on his or her own authority. The class heads have this power without consulting the international class by using the grandfather rule (segments 5 and 6 ) in the F16 class rules.

I, as the local Dutch/Belgium class head, would like to welcome these sailors to our F16 setup. I think that we as the F16 class should welcome these sailors both for our own enjoyment as for their enjoyment. The performances of the boats are relatively close and arguably the I-17 and FX-one racing in my local area is pretty bad. Example : 2 FX-ones at the last Dutch Hobie Nationals. I believe it to be in the spirit of the F16 class to group together the Dutch F16's, I-17's and FX-ones and just race first in wins so that we all can hone our skills on eachother. Sailing in a fleet of about 10 boats is always to be prefered to sailing in a group of less than 5.

I will propose such a thing on our upcoming meeting where we discuss the Dutch calender for 2005. More info about this later.

Wouter