And yes, the F16 summer regatta race results are coming in thick and fast.

Just last weekend the statue of liberty race was held from the Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club.

Only 1 F16 (1-up) entered this race : John McLaughlin sailing a VWM Blade F16 in 1-up mode.



The Full race results can be found here :

http://beachcat.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=327&Itemid=135


John sailed his F16 to second place overall on handicap; sandwhiched between two Hobie 17's where the 3rd place H17 was sailing with a spinnaker as well.

Interesting is the fact that John is both awarded a 2nd place in the corrected time scoring as a DNF at the bottom of the same listing. One of them is obviously a typo and I suspect it is the DNF as I can't imagine the club giving the second place prize to a DNF sailor. Usually the first 3 (medal) spots get double checked rigourously.

On elapsed time John did very well too ! He needed 10 % more time to finish then the line-honour winners Trey Brown and Alan Stewart, sailing a Nacra 20. This puts him in 10th place (elapsed) over 57 boats that started. This years race saw alot of DNF's, no less then 24 out of 57 starters (=42%). I guess the conditions were challenging; looking at the elapsed time I would say the conditions were challenging in the way of being light and possibly shifty. The ratings for the boats were chosen out of the 2-3 beaufort column of the USPN listing.

On elapsed time John had to let 8 Nacra 20's and 1 Hobie Tiger/F18 finish in front of him. Of the 10 Nacra 20's sailing, john beat 2 on elasped time. Out of 7 F18's starting, John beat 6 on elapsed time. However these F18's did have 3 DNF's among them, out of the 4 F18's finishing, john did beat 3 on elapsed time. He did beat 5 Hobie 20's, 5 Nacra 6.0's and a score of others on elapsed time. That is a very good result !

Also two nacra Inter-17's were present. One being singlehanded and the other being doublehanded. The first received a DNF and the latter finished seconds behind John on the F16 at the finish. This 2-up Inter-17 (F17) ended up on 9th spot on corrected time (John at 2nd). So this Inter-17 did race a good race !

But John did a better race, Congrats John McLaughlin !

Wouter

Anyone know where he is from?

I'm GUESSING he has one of the alter cup boat and with them I have lost track of the US F16 sailors.

So if any one knows or if John himself sees this, then speak up.

And John of course we all would like a ful race report on your achievement !

Wouter

John is in the Chesapeake Bay area. It is one of the Alter cup Blades.

John has some experience. I was there the day he got his boat. He got it together just in time for a Tuesday evening race. Winds were gusting hard up to 25 mph. He had crew but he had about 10 minutes of on the water time on the new boat when he hit the upwind mark and popped the chute and was gone, moving fast. More guts than I had in those conditions.

Note F16's currently have 3 of the 4 top spots on the West River Catamaran Racing Association Tuesday night Spring/Summer series. See http://www.wrcra.org/

First of all big big props for John. He couldmn't wait to do this race and he's a wild man on the Blade. He's an experienced distance racer but this is a tough race single handed. Besides the wind and waves there are "floating objects" to dodge, ship, barge and ferry traffic galore and armed patrol boats to deal with in multiple exclusion zones. Other than that its a walk in the park. Well done John.

It looks like if we're good boys we will have a 1, 2, 3, F-16 sweep at WRCRA for the first series, just one race left and the one non-F-16 boat in the running had a bad night of it this week. Ed

In time you will find that it is better to pop that chute then sail downwind without it. Seriously !

Boat is more calm that way and drives better through the chop and waves.

Wouter

I ain't skerred to run de chute in high winds... it be de gybing part in high wind dat skerrs me!
esp in a racing situation.

Once I learned to bear off when the hull tries to raise you are right. It did settle the boat down a lot. Granted this is on a Mystere 4.3, but it still has wave piercing hulls. In fact it was much more in control with the chute then when I had to do about 20 jibes a week or so ago doing man over board search. I still have a LOT to learn about Chutes, BUT it settled the boat down a lot with it versus, without it in big wind.

Just my 2 cents,

Doug

I just got a chance to catch up on the F16 forum. Fist thank you for your congratulations, Wouter and Ed. Thanks also to Wouter for some of the tips re the F16 on this forum.

The Statue of Liberty event is special. I’ve been wanting to sail it since it’s inception back in the 80s, but always have family event on the Independence Day weekend. So, with the 4th being on a Wednesday, I finally got to go—and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The venue is the most impressive I’ve seen and the Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club is very unique with its huge beach and over 150 catamarans with masts up. The sailors there, ranging from teenagers to old guys like me, were very hospitable. Thanks to “Stiletto George” for sharing local knowledge—the currents there are a major factor.

I must say that the Blade performed very well in the choppy water of Sandy Hook Bay, although I’m not yet comfortable enough with it to helm from the trap down wind—that may have made the difference in being fast enough to place 1st. Regardless, I really enjoyed the sail. It was a very challenging beat across the bay (in 12-18 kts.), thru the narrows (in 3-5 kts. against a fierce current), and up the river (in 3-15 kts.). I even got stopped by the harbor police, who made me wait until a Tug pushing a barge could pass in front. And, the Statue of Liberty was an awesome sight, up-close from the water. As usual for me, I did have a near disaster. As I rounded the Statue just behind the H17, I was anxious to get my spin up—I knew I needed to make up some time on the 17. Unfortunately, I was on port tack and the Alter Cup boats were set up for 2-person buoy racing, with the spin hoist cleat mounted on the starboard side, about two feet up the mast. I couldn’t gybe because the Statue was close on my starboard side. I left the helm and went to the leeward side to hoist. I got the sail part-way up when I noticed the sheets were wrapped around the snuffer hoop. So, I snuffed it back and proceeded to clear the mess. Picture a 200 lb. guy perched on the wave piercing bow of a 240 lb. boat with no one on the helm, sailing through chop! Very scary! Somehow, I managed to get it done and keep the pointy end up. From there it was an incredibly fast ride out of the harbor and back to the finish. I’m not sure it would have helped me to be on the wire. I left a few 20s behind and seemed to be hanging with the 20s ahead. This is an incredibly FUN boat!!

As a footnote, I’d like to say that I really expect that this F16 thing should grow. Although I’ve sailed many miles on 20’ cats and believe the Nacra Iner 20 to be the best for distance racing, I think this boat has a real niche in our sailing community. For me, I like that I can put a jib on it and take little ones for crew or just sail it solo—and I love spinnaker sailing. I don’t think I’ll be racing it in the ocean, but it’s great for inland waters. I also like that it is light enough for me to handle alone.
Enjoy the rest of the sailing season—I know I will!
John

And thank you for the race report !

And the best of enjoyment with your new boat.

Wouter

Indeed! Thanks for the report. I too would like to do this race. Someday.

I have had that problem several times and am thinking about putting preventer lines to the hoop to not let that happen... but it is still more windage at the bows. I admire you for dealing with it in that situation... I might have said "game over man!" and limped home!
Nice work

This was common on our alu-hoop until we added two lines. One to the forestay bridle plate and one to the tip of the bowsprit. Sailing with the extra lines is faster than blowing one set and loose much of a downwind leg. Best is getting a snuffer without these issues of course..

one line from the front of the aluminum hoop to the spin pole would almost do the trick- it is that area that forms a V between the hoop and pole. The nacra hoops are actually square in that area. This would explain why i hadn't dealt with it before.

On my Blade, there's a thin line at the bottom edge of the hoop. Tie this to the port bridle tang. I've never had a problem with the sheets getting caught round the hoop - this line makes it almost impossible.

Paul

Thanks, I think I will do that. Did you have to drill a hole in the hoop to do that?

Nope - the hole and line were there when I got it. I think there may also be another line going from the hoop to the pole.

Paul

I think there wouldn't be a problem putting 2 small holes in the aluminum to put the line to the bridle tang and the pole. I might do that later today or tomorrow

This line is also on the Spitfire. It helps to stop the hoop from sagging down.
Dermot.

I just put the lines on the hoop. I took a small diameter line (2 or 3mm yale pulse), tied a knot in the center and threaded it into the bolt rope groove. Tied one end to the spin pole near the hoop and the other to the port bridle tang. It all works very well (on land at least <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
no drilling required which is always nice.