Ive had a bad day and needed to have a fool stick his tiny head-up.. tag your it..
You talk like the f16 class is somehow unique and unlike any other Class in the world, which it is not.
It is just another formula class, except you used the specs of an existing, successful, 16 year old design,
the Taipan 4.9, as the basis for your so-called "new" formula.
And for the hundredth time, the Taipan was originally designed with a spinnaker, long before you ever sailed anything.
The other Formulas had snuffers, self-tackers, curve tracks, raised cross-bars, etc, etc, before the f16.
The blade is just another rip-off of the Flyer design.
The f16 has been anything BUT a leader in design.
Name one single innovation fron the f16 Class.
The F16 was set up by a group of sailors, not just Wouter, across the internet.. Then if you had been around when the private emails were going around you would know this.. Name another class that has been so designed! If you cant name one its a unique class.
Sam the T4.9 is a far better boat than your country has designed and producted yes. Perhaps given a few more decades an American company will get it right.. (Isn't this the reason the F18 and F20 are so stupidly over weight?) But The T 4.9 its not the total basis of the F16 class. Fact is the T4.9 doesn't rate as a true F16.. (which you should know if you read the rules)..
Sure the T 4.9 was designed with a standard kite.. But so was the Yvonne 3 decades earlier.. and the Kittycat (which came out of a skiff class!) and the Manta.. But none were designed with an assy in mind.. The modern Assy was first used on AAMI closely followed by the one on the inventors hull. Any boat using an assy is ripping off brilliant Aussie skiff technology..
Self tackers were used on skiffs in the 60s.. So any class using them is again ripping off brilliant Aussie skiff technology..
Curved tracks were being used before any Formula class true.. I know skiffs had them in the 50s..
Phill can answer if the Blade is a Flyer design.. But then Bill Roberts has stated he was the first designer to use a wave piercer hull shape on cats.. So that would make the Flyer a Supercat ripoff. May I point out F. Bethwaite tinkered with wave piercers. So maybe the whole flyer design is really ripping off is just another brilliant skiffies idea.
I would point out my "Thing" wasn't based on the flyer design.. Proudly and unashamedly based on true blue skiff technology with a twist. Is that unique?
Sam why dont you name an innovation you think is unique? (One not based on skiff technology!~) Fact is nothing I have seen in the past 20 years is unique.. Just a refinement of a past design..
Apart from the F18HT all the other F classes are fat and heavy.. Yes the F16 is a little overweight in my pinion but required as we wanted to encourage home builders.. But it is not in the obesity league as the F18/F20.
It makes one wonder when three of use could pick up my old eighteen and walk down into the water carrying her.. She was much more of a machine than your beloved F18/F20 class.. She was lighter stronger wider and carried far more stress than the poorly build holes in the water you worship..
Finall Sam, why not stop taking shots at the F16 go ask the US based manufacturers to lift their game to Aussie and Kiwi standards..
Stewart.. (end of rant and takes tongue out of cheek and now can go play with the dog)
