Dave (and others),



Initially I was not planning to add the F16 perspective to this thread, as mark says, the F16 is more of a side-show in the F18HT story. However, I like this public history thread where some true things can finally be said without creating a blow-out. It is good to set the record straight and get everybodies view on history based on the same facts. So here goes. And like I am; I may have a few juicy comments. But I will play nice; don't worry


I think that I will pick up the thread round about this time :




Of course the F16 class in the USA preceded this moment somewhat. Also the F16 class as a whole was not an exclusive American story. It has always been a effort that had its roots in three main area's. Europe, USA and Australia. This gives it a little different angle then the US F18 and US F18HT history of the same time frame.

The F16 didn't come about because "small and midsized teams (in US) needed a spin race boat that the ladies could handle more easily then a 20". But early on we decided to start in the USA as that area was still Formula free at the time and we gambled that we could be the first ones in and thus take a sizeable market share early on. We never did of course and the reasons were quite simple. We had alot of troubles with the AHPC dealors (Taipan) in the USA and in all honesty we saw no less then 3 such dealors come and go in the first years of the F16 class in the USA. None of them did much in promoting the product; some even actively discouraged our customers from buying a boat with them. And that is putting it nicely. So in the case of the Taipan we had to resort to customers importing their boats themselfs including all the paperwork and other troubles. In the beginning the AHPC company (Taipan) was torn between two irreconsilable forces. One force disliked spinnakers with a passion and was pretty opposed to modifying the Taipan 4.9 design in any way. The other force didn't care that much and thought that an upgrade would be a good way to earn "new money" of an arguably good design; however F16 came 3rd in attention after the A-cats and a new project they were developping at the time (Taipan dinghy and Capricorn F18). All in all it was a right pain in the neck to supply the US customers with boats and we actually had to turn away quite some folks.

We tried to cover these problems we had with the new boat by Stealth marine; the Stealth F16 but US sailors never really showed much interest in it. I think Stealth was really unknown at the time and it didn't have the excellent reputation the Taipan had. The Stealth F16 has always been a tough sell to US parties.

Right at the beginning of our troubled period the F18 and F18HT classes came along. In a very smart move the founder of the US F18HT class made himself the AHPC importer (Taipan). This placed the F16 class in a very awkward position and pretty much garanteed that we would only play a minor role in what ever was to come. He could of course completely throttle us, as he did. The taipan was the design we needed in the beginning and we had no alternatives available at the time to replace the Taipan with. Partly because one alternative, the Bim 16, was also under direct control by the very same person as he was also the official Bim importer. By that time the Stealth F16 hadn't been launched yet and there was still a huge amount of work involved in making this brand a house hold name. And the Blade F16 design hadn't even been conceived yet.

Thanks to the feel and excellent design of the Taipan (and later F16's) we still managed to get a few boats into the USA, but it was extremely hard work. And I still don't know exactly how we survived that period (in the USA) from late 2001 to late 2003. We were out of the game as we had no dependable supply line whatsoever. However we did one thing right early on. We chipped in our lot with the F18 class and were quite vocal about it. The leaders in the F16 class fully understood how powerful the F18 class was and how likely it was to succeed. By linking ourselfs to this big and powerful force we could get away from the 18HT class. It meant that if the F18 class succeeded in the USA that then the F16 class would see new chances later on when we had cut ourselfs loose from any throttling dealors or had created a truly committed local builder. Of course, behind the scenes we promoted the F18 class were we could and tried to stay alive and moved in a boat or two were we could. Trusting (sometimes hoping) that eventually our basic concept was sound enough that it would pull us through the troubles. I think that indeed this finally did pull us through, more about that later.

I must say that promoting the F18 class was never an conflicting issue for me personally as I do that setup appreciate it alot. If I had a dedicated and strong crew I would sail an F18 myself. I personally had never much respect for the javelin-2 design, neither did several others, it appeared to us that it has some basic flaws. This is about the boat and much less so about the class, although I will still say that a 10.5 mtr mast on a 18 foot and 2.5 mtr wide platform is asking for instability problems (both sideways as lengthwise). Also the imitation flyer hullshape was directly opposite of what they should have done. I was never in doubt that other designs (classes) would provide a much better feel while sailing, this was later confirmed by guys like Will Sunnucks and Tim Bohan and others who sailed the 18HT's and compared it directly to I-20's and Tornado's or even Blade F16's. Actually I was shown one of the Bims very early on during the 2002 Spring fever regatta where the owner talked us through all of the issues that the boat had. At springfever the 18HT's showed indeed to be fast in light winds but they also showed to be noticeably short of a quality product. The F18's of the time were much better build. And the top range F18's like the Cirrus F18 were well ahead of the Jav-2 in construction, finish and abuse resistance. And also in ease of use. One thing about the Jav-2 that spread my eyes wide open in amazement was the fact that their HOLLOW rudderboards had a drainage hole at the very bottom of the board. Each time before you went out you had to tape this hole up yourself, hoping you wouldn't loose it while sailing and accepting the disruption of the waterflow. You really didn't see things like this on any of the F18's not even on the cheaper ones like the Mystere F18's.


Then I think the US AHPC/Bim importer of the time overplayed his hand with both his suppliers, seriously souring his relationship with them both. He lost the AHPC relationship to Chip Zenke eventually and the Worrell disaster was right around the corner (or in the making ?). The rumour in Northern Europe is that the event failed because the boats were never present in the USA. It must be said that none of the rumours I heard put the blame at the Bimare yard and if anything some people lost alot of money (far in excess of the Worrell participants) when the smoked cleared.

And indeed when the smoked cleared the US 18HT importer himself was without a supply line of boats. He couldn't switch to Ventilo as the Ventilo boats had always been expensive even when the US$ to Euro exchange rate was attractive to US customers. So he was up the creek without a paddle. Just like the F16 class had been (and still were at that time). I think the very high expectations and the subsequent dramatic fall from grace doomed the 18HT class. I also don't think that its basic concept was sound enough to keep it alive till better times would arrive. In this respect the bad rep of the jav-2 boats kicked in. Very quickly after the worrell disaster we saw alot of boats on offer on classified pages and their prices kept dropping. It was quite clear that the owners were "unloading" them. Most owners had only bought these boats because they wanted to do the Worrell, not because they much believed in it or loved it for what it was. I think this quickly scared away any potential customers that were genuine interested in the 18HT concept.

The gunboat developments and its subsequent succes in some events and the Little Americas Cup was just another blow to the shaken faith of interested sailors and parties. Here was a "Money is no problem" party raising the stacks to a level where others simply could not follow. The "arms-race" scare got hold of the 18HT class in a way only US sailors seem to be capable of. And there were other blows as well, like the trailer program not working out. In my perception it was blow after blow after blow where any set of three blows would have doomed the class because of the high expectations. I think it may even have been the case that with halve the blows it would have ended as well.

The expectations had been promoted to a level that was unsustainable and then you are always risking the reversed critical mass problem. This is where simply the lack of living up to expectations is enough to trip the class into not forfilling even more of its promises (expectations) which then start feeding off themselfs quickly creating a very negative, disappoined mood. A mood that is extremely difficult to reverse. Needless to say that customers are not really buying under those circumstance.



During this time the F16 class went underground and did everything to stay alive in the USA. During this time Phill Brander decided to try his luck at designing a full boat, later named the Blade F16. This design proved to be a bullseye. Phill was really smart in making the boat look really pleasing while maitaining a very good level of quality. This development combined with our class wide problematic relations with the US Taipan dealor found furtile ground when the 18HT class passed away and the F18 class became an succes in the making. Matt McDonald, and some others, had been discontent with the Taipan supply line to the US despite really liking the boat and the F16 concept. They also knew that the F18 was not really good for their individual crew make-ups despite the fact they really approved of its concept. I-20 was no better in this and there were no other serious alternatives. I mean I-17 and FX-one classes weren't doing any better and the A-cat was a pure spi-less singlehander. Finally, somebody somewhere made a off-the-cough remark in 2004 and said :"why not build an F16 locally in the US ourselfs ? Hey, this boat that Phill Brander is developping looks really promising."

That was the beginning of VectorWorks Marine adventure into small sailing boats. Later this was incorporated into a new business unit VectorWorksSail and it attracted other brand names like Bimare and G-cat to build boats for them locally in the US. Funny enough this means that if Bim wants to relaunch the 18HT in the US market that he has to get passed a convinced F16 sailor first. Like I said this turned out to be a total reversal of fortune for us. The fact that VectorWorks Sail is seriously considering producing an F18 will make the 18HT's lot even more sobering. No revival is to be expected from this side. If Bim pays up then VWM will produce any boat they want for them but with Bimare itself now working on a F18 design even those chances are pretty negligible.

What now with the 18HT's

Ventilo is pretty much a Swiss market only company and I don't expect much at all from Stealthmarine in the way of 18HT. They still list it but I seem to remember that its mould are in permanent storage and have been for a while.

Then we have Eagle catamarans with an F18HT but that company hasn't broken though with any design yet. They are missing market savyness. They have been looking promising for a quite a while now but they can't seem to make a mark for themselfs. Marstrom of course never entered the 18HT class despite many comments to the contrary and it never will come out with an 18HT. It is not going to compete with its own M20 design. Then we have some small projects here and there like the Tomcat F18HT but without production facilities or even a developped class association these will go nowhere.

That, in my book, leaves the 18HT class and design stranded in the Alpine regions of Europe were it has been a viable class ever since 1995 or so. But they are cursed to remain strong only there as their direct brother classes like the Taipan 5.7 (not the Taipan 4.9 = F16) and the M20 are faltering in their competition with the F18 class. The 18HT market potential is only contracting outside of the European alps; even while the class is growing there locally.

And that it is.


As for the F16's I think we struck gold with VectorWorks Sail and the Blade F16 design. That boat is selling. Not in any spectacular way but definately selling. In its first year after its launch at Tradewinds 2005 some 7 boats have been build with another shy 10 on order. Not bad for a first year, considering that an previously unknown company came out with a design of a previously unknown designer in a class with very humble beginnings.

In all honesty AHPC will have to formulate an answer to this challenge and they will in a 16 foot version of the Capricorn. Then of course we are seeing new interest in the class by both builders and buyers. G-cat F16 is the next new design in the class. And there are more sales in the air, I noticed this at my own club new years reception and when looking at the mails I receive. I hear Stealth Marine is selling as well.

I think we have succesfully weathered the bad times and have come out stronger and more promising as a result. We have now proven to have staying power and that is one quality (selling argument) that nobody can deny us anymore.


Regards,

Wouter