As far as I can tell there is still an outstanding invitation for a hooter equipped F16 to race against true F16's and proof its worth.
This invitation is now over 3 years old and as of yet no sailor has yet taken us up on it.
I'm not longer an F16 class official but I can tell you that the Girth rule in this class will not be change UNLESS there is a clear advantage in doing so. That means the hooter sail must really have a significant positive impact on the boats behaviour and speed. Otherwise there is no point in offending Texel and ISAF.
For this reason the invitation was made so we could get proper data on which we can validate the choice for either sail. As of yet no good data is available. There is only anecdotal data.
Wouter
I don’t understand how inviting a sailor to spend $1200 to take one shot at a hooter shape is going to prove anything one way or another. Especially when it makes you uncompeditive in handicap races and basically useless to the sailor after the test.
I bet if we lifted the rule for F16 and F18, next year at this time we would know if a hooter is faster.
