I take exception to this rule with respect to F16's. I don't think we had any serious failure. In the last 5.5 years of the F16 existance I know of one (repaired) hull delamination issue, one daggerboard breakage (replaced) and one crack along the seam (also repaired). In this time there about 100 new F16's sold by the three builders. Most of them have been sailed in serious conditions. And several boats have been subjected to assaults by trapeze hooks and knees. My own timber boat included.

I say that this is an excellent score for a class were two designs (Stealth F16 and Blade F16) were completely new.

But then again "we" don't rush things, do more then a little modelling in the way of forces and thoroughly test sail our prototypes. Some call this slow growth, I call it being smart and being
responsible to the buyers.

I also think it is very cool that the F16's are indeed the lightest doublehanded spinnaker cats around while being totally dependable at the same time. I think we must thank the Taipan 4.9 (330 boats build) for setting us of into the right direction.

I think that my real point here is that we should spend less time gazing at the newest ultimate carbo fantasy fashion statement and see what is being achieved by simple dedicated development in the much less glamourous F16 fleet.

I think you must all be bored at this time by me telling again that boat design isn't that much about selecting ultimate material X or not, or doing autoclaving or not. It is far more about simple (non-sexy) modelling work and trying to understand what is happening and then design the components so that they are shaped optimally.

I hope that the boat part that I'm working on right now will again show the power of dedicated design work. Carbo guys watch out !

Wouter