John,
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<br>>>If a mast limit is set it should take account of the existing boats, i.e. set it to the length of the longest mast. The Stealth has 8.4m mast
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<br>Thank you, I will update the webpage with this info. I agree with you on your last comment. I can live with 9 meters max. For I actually doubt wether higher masts on 16 foot cats are practical if even optimal. I really don't think that there is enough hull length to prevent a higher masted F16HT from pitchpoling. So the limit of 9 m. sounds fine to me. Anybody got objections ?
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<br>>> My comments on the weight carrying ability are that it seems to me that f16ht will end up with similar sail area to our Stealth R for which a crew weight of around 145kg is best. f16ht will be a foot wider that the Stealth so it should need less weight to keep it upright.
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<br>Yes, but we'll hurt the light crews in their jib area when going upwind. Going downwind you don't need the width. But your right, the Stealth sailarea are quite close to a viable F16HT implementation. And yes, the Stealth will prefer lighter crews. The Taipan 4.9 will prefer the heavier cews with its higher mast and larger sail area and less weight. And this is good because than each boat takes care of a particular spectrum of the weight range. If the question is if the F16HT will be a boat for light crews ? I think not for the rule framework is designed around 150 kg's creweight with a 10 kg margin up and down. So the competitive range will be 140 kg's to 160 kg's or "guy with girlfriend" to "two guys", this seems to be a good medium range to me. And ofcourse it is WAY faster than any other 16 foot class and several of the 18 foot classes around. Not bad with on average 150 kg's on board.
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<br>I did some mpre math on the Stealth now I know that the mast is 8,4 mtr.
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<br>- This should alow the luff to increase to 8 mtr.
<br>- Mainsail can be kept at same area
<br>- jib goes to up (or down) to 4 sq.mtr with a luff of 5 mtr. or longer (down to genaker boom)
<br>- weight stays at 117 kg's
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<br>This results in TR going from 106,83 to 104,73 and the need for a heavier crew or wider platform (from 2,29 to 2,38mtr.) Now still 1,73 points to go :
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<br>This can be achieved by
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<br>- Losing 12 kg's somehow (sailing with a crew of 138 kg's)
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<br>- 0,3 sq. mtr extra mainsail with ewxtra luff length and losing 7 kg's somewhere (crew of 143 kg's, getting nearer to your 145 ideal weigth) and going to 2,43 width, all still very well within F16HT framework
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<br>-Or the best of all. Go to jibsize of 4,25 (max under F16HT) with a luff length of 5 mtr. or more (going down to genaker pole), increase luff main to 8 mtr. without adding area, loose 9 kg's somewhere (5 kg on crew arriving at tyhe optimal 145 kg's and 4 kg's on boat) and boat width stays the same. Now you're right smack at TR 103,01 and everything is at 83 % (drag and sailpower) And Stealth is the most equal to F18 of all the boats. But with a better genaker luff length than F18 so it will smoke F18's on a regular basis. No big spending involved for we can keep the mast and 4 kg's weight saving on the boat should be possible with simple mean (rudderstocks ?).
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<br>O BTW I used Texel measurement data and it gave Stealth at 117 kg's and main at 14,19 sq. mtr. is this true ?
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<br>For the 83 % discussion go to :
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<br>http://www.geocities.com/F16HTclass/F16HT_to_F18_equality.html
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<br>Do you think that this can be done without upsetting the original Stealth boat balance ?
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<br>Wouter.
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