Your welcome,



>>>14s7 = 90Kg



Okay, the conversion factor between lbs and kg's that I use gives 147 lbs = 66 kg's , 90 kg's would be 199 lbs.





>>I'll let you know how I get on:



Please do :



>>Stealth (not sure about unusual rudders - Stealth marine say they may help in a short chop)



I remember that they give you a choice between the new style T-foil rudders and normal A-cat rudders. The last kind would be the normal kick-up kind that we all know from other cats. Actually their Stealth R (predecessor to the F16) had these "normal" rudders.



>>Spitfire (would allow you to race in the F16 class)

>>Good ol' Dart 18 (yep, very available on secondhand scene)



Who imports Ti-pan into UK?



>> Taipan does not have an agent in the UK as far as I know. The nearest would be Pieter Saarberg here in the Netherlands. It would require a trip to pick it up, no customs hassle though for UK is still inside the common market despite staying out of the Euro. Gebhard Peitz of Germans will be happy to help you out and if require one of us might bring it with us to a (UK) race. There is always something that can be arranged. Mail me privately at WouterHijink@hotmail.com and I'll give you the e-mails of Pieter Saarberg and Gebhard Peitz if you are interested in this option. I don't want to put their mail addresses on this public forum.





>>Could I still take my 12 year old out in F4 on a F16 (stealth or Spitfire) for a pleasure sail?



All dependents on teh skipper and his control over the boat. I wouldn't even advice a Prindle 16 if I knew that the skipper wasn't able to control the boat all by himself and to read the skies for sudden changes well.



Having said this, the F16's will sail well with the jib and gennakers, leaving just the mainsail and rudders as controls. This is the solo configuration of the class and several of our group sail like that and have sailed like that in strong winds. Now if YOU can control a boat like that solo than you sure can control it with your 12 year ols onboard. Now if the 12 year old is big for his age or grows rapidly into a man that start adding the jib and gennaker and slow build up the boat to full double handed potential. Several of our group like Kirt have done that and bought the Taipans just for that option. Righting is no problem, especially with the STealths carbon mast. Taipan aluminium masts are only slightly heavier and still considerably lighter than the masts of the main builders.



All F16's at this time have alot of sailcontrols allowing you to depower alot and with ease. A dart 18 for example is less depowerable due to the lack of a boom. The control of the mainsail shape (flat vs full) is difficult with boomless mains. Also the squaretop sails help alot in depowering with respect to the old style pinheads.



And there are more considerations like that. But maybe Phill, Kirt and other are better in answering this particular questions as I have no kids of my own and I have taken kids along on all design in all winds when I was still a cat instructor. I have done quite a bit solo sailing.



Wouter