John



Don't worry.

All the old sails will remain class compliant.

Also we have gotten the exact data on the Stealth sails from Landenberger himself. They are at the very limit of the old rule but have less than 15.3 sq. mtr. of area. If they were at 15.3 sq.mtr. then they wouldn't be compliant under the old rule as well. I hope John can forgive me for giving away some real data here.

As it stands now, the simplified rule will be valid for all the boats build after, say, 1 may 2005. The builders are poised to all agree to that. All boats build before this date can choose which rule they want to use. There is as good as nothing between the 2 rules performance wise so it really doesn't matter which one is chosen. We fully expect the old boat crews to switch to the new rule when ever they get new sails a few years down the road.


An update :

Only Greg Goodall is now left to agree and three class officials, but as said before Greg is fully expected to go along. So we have 63 % in favour now and 75 % when counting Greg Goodall. The opinion of the class body is showing a clear trend. This simplification is very much welcomed by the builders and we have yet to see one class official to object. The sailmakers can't vote in this but it is clear that they favour this simplified rule as well. It is pretty obvious that all favour this simplification.


I still have to contact Gary Maskiel and a few other one-off home-builders. But I know Harry, Michael, Scott, Phill and myself are compliant with the new rule. All the mozzie sailors are compliant as well and the only two unaswered cases are Gary Maskiel and Stewart. I think Steward was already dispensated for this 9 mtr tall mast, so no chance for him. That pretty much leaves Gary. We are not going to hold on the simplification for him alone and if he is non-complaint with the simplified rule (rumour has it that he is compliant) than we'll dispensate him as well.

In the end that will leave us with a much simplified situation, With at max only 2 dispensations (Stewart and Gary) and a range of Stealth sailors that either just measure in under the simplified rule or just not. We're not going to make alot of fuss about that. They measure in under the old rule and therefor are compliant and have identical performance.

I think this puts an end to several years of finding the best setup for the F16's. We started out with allowing 9 mtr masts and a very free mainsail area rule. We had to because we allowed mast that ranged from 8.2 mtr to 9 mtr. In the last years we have been able to tighten the rules without much pain. With the simplified rule we have a very good rig. In the same time I have been able to fine-tune mathematical models and found that these 15 sq. mtr. by 8 mtr rig on a 8.5 mtr mast are just what you want for 140 kg crews when they have to race F18's on elapsed time.

To give a few good examples.

With this rig our aspect ratios of the sails are the same as the F18's. So no matter how ISAF and TEXEL rules are adjusted in weighting sails; F16 will stay at the F18 rating. The same aspect ratio forces any physical model (and reality) to exactly the right power in relation to the F18 (sailed at 150 kg or more)

This new rig is just very good on paper. And yes, it appears to be just as good in real life conditions. It has been reviewed from many angles by various parties and everybody seem to be very happy with it.

I feared it would be quite a struggle to everything in line, but we got lucky and it is all failing in place on its own. Even the performance difference to the old rule is better than hoped for. Less than 20 seconds per hour bouy racing.


But back to the point.

Stealth owners should not worry; they will all remain compliant.

Wouter