Okay Cat-woman find yourself a nice chair and get ready for this report by a European (Taipan F16) sailor.

I will cover all boats available in Europe so you can make an informed choice.

The model available in Europe are. Stealth F16, Taipan F16, Blade F16 and of course the Spitfire.

I think the Spitfire can be bought in Northern France and the Stealth ( www.stealthmarine.co.uk )is sold direct from factory in UK. The Taipan F16 can be bought from Sven Lindstadt ( http://www.lindstaedt.com/ ) in Germany and the Blade F16 is available from the importer in the Netherlands ( www.catamaranparts.nl ). The last is close enough to Germany to be considered local. The Blade importer will now be stocking boats. Sadly they sell just as quickly. But that is a different subject. Sven delivers on order I believe (Taipans). The builder of the Taipan (AHPC) is however looking to replace the Taipan F16 (and Taipan 4.9) with a completely new design; the Capricorn F16. I don't know yet when this new design will be available to customers. We'll probably know after our Global challenge event in Singapore (feb 2007). Stealth marine continiously upgrades their design and they are always immediately available to customers. I don't really know who is stocking spitfires. The Dutch agent certainly isn't; I seriously doubt whether he ever sold more then 2 Spitfires. For some reason the Spitfire just doesn't seem to catch on outside of UK and Northern France. And lets not forget Ireland.

Anyway back to topic pro's and cons.

Lets first look at your criteria :





I will start on comparing the two boats selected but later on I will argue that you really need to broaden your horizon and look at the Blade F16 and Stealth F16 designs.


Either way a Spitfire and Taipan will provide you with a fast en high performance double handing boat.

The Taipan is definately the lightest (production) doublehander around with an earmark for quality. Over 320 boats have been build since 1989 and this design has fully earned the quality reputation it has now. It is the lightest boat in the F16 class as shown by the newer 13 boats being 102 kg (ex spinnaker) at the 2002 nationals. A proper spinnaker package is under 5 kg's. So this boat in its standard setup will be at minimum F16 class weight. ( see for data the following link : http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/F16HP_optimal_crew_weight_datapoints.html )




The Spitfire was weighted at 135 kg at the lowest as far as I know. The Texel officials measured it at 138 kg. The ISAF/SCHRS officials had it at 139 kg. So I think it is fair to say that a brand new Spitfire is at least 30 kg heavier then a brand new the Taipan 4.9 or Taipan F16. Personally I feel that 10 kg may be negligiable but not 30 kg. (30 kg = 66 lbs)

Both the Taipan F16 and Spitfire are 2.5 mtr wide and will sometimes not fit through older garage doors. The Taipan 4.9 at 2.34 mtr typically does. This may be a consideration.

The Taipan is fully suited to singlehanded sailing while the Spitfire isn't really. The Taipan features a lightweight mast that allows singlehanded righting of the boat. The Spitfire mast is about 3 kg heavier and will therefor require about 12-15 kg (26 - 33 lbs) more body weight to right the boat. That is alot in opinion and therefor I personally don't consider the Spitfire rightable by a solo sailor (under all conditions especially flat water and light breeze).

The spitfire has an excellent racing cirquit in UK and maybe some in Northern France although I do not hear much about the last. The Taipan 4.9 boats in Europe were unable to form their own class and now more and more boats are upgrading to the F16 setup which does seem to catch on overhere in Europe now. Both in the UK and the mainland. In all honesty the Taipan 4.9 design is dying as a class. Sooner or later it will be replaced by the Capricorn F16 (same builder) and other F16's. From this perspective it is not wise to buy a Taipan 4.9 anymore. If anything buy a Taipan F16. This one will outlive the 4.9 in the F16 class; also it is an updated design with selftacking jib and other must-have-stuff. It is just a better boat then the 4.9 even though they share many features and components. The Spitfire class is strenious in mainland Europe. I don't know where it is going, but it is not making a strong showing on the mainland yet. You may want to factor that in when you invest in a new boat. I'm sorry to say but a Spitfire remained on secondhand offer for over 18 months here in Netherlands, while F16's generally move on to the next owner within 1 or 2 months.

In my personal experience the F16's (and Taipans) grow with the F18's to higher speeds as both are true formula classes. The spitfire design is stationary as it is a strict One-Design class. Some 5 years ago they could compete very well with the F18's in open regatta's, now the Spitfires are having increasing difficulties matching the newer F18's in speeds. See this post by a spitfire sailor : http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...Number=76804&page=0&vc=1

In my opinion the Spitfires are growing backwards by standing still while the F16's maintain a check on the larger catamaran scene by allowing themselfs to gradual develop with the times. I think this seriously impacts positively on the resale value and the attractiveness of the investment. Afterall, the Taipan design (from 1989) has been kept alive all this time by allowing it to incorporated new features thus becoming the Taipan F16. And in this setup it is still giving F18's a very good run for their money.

Now if anyone would ask me personally what I think then I'll say that I believe that F16 will push the Spitfire class out of the mainland European catamaran scene. Or rather that the F16 class will enclose the Spitfire design into itself as it has done with the Taipan 4.9. This will keep the Spitfire design alive but probably end the OD (one-design) Spitfire class in the long run.

I personally haven't sailed the Spitfire design, so I can't comment on how it sails. I really do know that the Taipan F16 is a very pleasant boat to sail. Anybody who comes of any other boat says so. Maybe with the expection of the A-cat sailors, but they do recognise how much the Taipan resembles the A-cats of about a decade ago and that level is still many years ahead of any other production design out there. Dive recovery is excellent and the boat/rig really does talk to you while sailing. It lets you know what it likes and wants, immediately. I consider the Spitfire rig to be of a more older generation, just like the older F18's had. All the new F18 design however are all upgrading to the true wingshaped mast and rigs and the Taipan had that rig ever since 1989 already ! So it was (together with the A-cats) over 15 years ahead of its time.

Having said all this in direct comparison I now want to make the case for the other F16 designs.

First the Stealth F16. For 12.000 Euro's (cheaper then a race ready European Hobie 16 !) you'll get a well designed F16 boat that comes standard with a carbon mast. This is the lightest mast available on any of these boats. It is most likely 6 kg lighter then the Spitfire mast and THAT you'll notice while sailing and righting the boat. Other standard items. Epoxy resin hulls, Pentex race ready Ullman sails and T-foil rudders. For 12.000 Euro's this is one massive "bang for the buck" F16. Remember, you can't even get a race ready Hobie 16 for that price here in Europe ! WOW !

Last but certainly not least the Blade F16.

We now have one of these boats at my club and it did some training against the new Nacra infusion F18 today. That is a F18 with the new true wingmast rig. The Blade uses the Taipan rig, also a true wingmast rig design. Let me say that the Blade F16 owner was smiling all over. Two thumbs up when he walked up the beach to the club house. He was sailing the boat in earnest for the first time the infusion crew is a former European nacra 5.8 champion and had on the water training by the Infusion agent in the past weeks. The Blade owner can sail very well, that must be said, he is a former hobie and prindle champion as well but it is still his first sail on the boat. I watched them go side by side for long stretches. The Blade crew was still too new to the spinnaker to hang on to the infusion then, but on the legs without the spi they were making excellent speed.

I've also talked to many new Blade F16 owners over the past months, several of them former Taipan 4.9 owners. And everybody says the same thing. The Blade F16 is one fine catamaran design. It just has excellent feel combined with high speed. When the Blade was designed it tried to keep all the good stuff of the Taipan design while improving on the lesser points and it did so in excellent terms. There is just no other word to describe it. It currently comes fitted with one of the very best rudder boards available on the market today. I'm not writing this up. This is the core of the comments of the new owners. No matter what you do, you can be 2 feet into a dive, the rudders keep working and the boat always remains under full control. A Dutch Blade F16 owner hit a wave the wrong way (or something) and send his crew flying forward. He landed on the spi pole, the bow burried fully, but the boat kept sailing and the skipper steered the boat to a better course. His crew climbed past the spi pole stepped of the bow section of the leeward hull, all while the boat kept sailing, and moved back to the trampoline on the lee side. There he got back on board. All the while the skipper on the helm was in full control (his words). That is what makes the Blade F16 special. You can let go of the tiller and the baot will keep tracking straight or continue on its initially set curve. The boat truly tacks on a dime. Everybody says it. The boat just feels very good, it is a pleasure to sail.

But here comes another important bit. The boat is good looking. It is unbelievable. Time and time again you hear it from passers by. Sailors of other makes come along, check it out and express their approval of the looks. This has been no different in the USA, Asia, Aus or elsewhere. I can probably rig a Blade F16 in front of the club and have it sold by the end of the day. It certainly feels that way. I don't really know what it is; it just has something that really gets to people.

In this sense I feel that the Blade F16 will be a very good investment. It is at least on a par with the newest designs out there (including the F18's) and it has the looks and sailing feel to be a wanted item many years from now. Additionally it is priced at least 1000 Euro's cheaper then the Taipan F16. If you are seriously considering the Taipan 4.9 then you should really consider the Taipan F16 (same price but better), but then again if you are seriously considering the Taipan F16 (I have one myself) then you should in fact consider the Blade F16. The last is better still and cheaper at the same time. Plus it appears to be the benchmark in the F16 class for the next 5 years. It is honestly that good.

I'm not really allowed to write this, but both Taipan and Stealth sailors have test sailed the boat and several Taipan sailors have now upgraded to the Blade and I don't think we'll have to wait long to have a convert from the Stealth design as well. I have a feeling that I know his name already. Actually, we already have one, I forgot about Paul. Okay what I'm trying to say is we expect a second one soon. We already have the A-cat converts. This to me says something. All these guys already know what a truely high performance lightweight catamaran is and if they favour the Blade F16 then that says something.

In this light I personally don't rate the Spitfire very high anymore. I'm truly sorry, I do really think that the design would be better if it had let go of the (limiting) One-Design setup. It is just holding it back. I believe the basic design is very good but to make it come out better it really does have to go with the times and use 2006 technology instead of the 1998 state of art. I don't believe it is cheaper then the Blade F16 so what is the point ? Contact Hans Klok of www.catamaranparts.nl for info and pricing on the Blade F16

I personally say get the best design available for the amount you are willing to spend on it. If you budget allows a new boat in Europe then you don't really get any better (in the way of design) then the Blade F16. With the Stealth F16 and Taipan F16 as seconds. Probably with the Stealth F16 a little ahead by virtue of the carbon mast and its very attractive price (3000 Euro's cheaper then the Taipan !). On the third row you'll find the Spitfire and below that the FX-one and nacra I-17.

So that is my personal report. My personal advice goes along the lines described in the paragraph above.

Please also note that a new F18 costs 18.000 Euro's or more. So apart from being lighter and more technologically advanced the F16's are also several thousand Euro's cheaper !

I hope this helps,

Wouter