This post is a copy of a posting on the main forum.
if I were young and with Olympic dreams, I would love a more technical cat such as an F12. But I also at that age would have love to have scaled down Tornado that had a simplified rig. Reduced or no downhaul, fixed jib points, mast limiter instead of positive and negative rotation controls. 12" LOA and 6" beam and I would be loving life.
F12 as it stands now has a simplied rig without a seperate downhaul (its integrated into the mainsheet setup), no jib at all, no mast rotation limiter as it has a sleeved sail. It is a tad over 12 foot in length (by 3.5 inches) and will be just under 7 feet wide; 3.75 mtr x 2 mtr
Its rig is controlled while sailing by a single line mainsheet setup (both leech and luff tension) and a simplified traveller setup. The other hand takes the tiller extension (no tiller extension present on the wave by the way).
On the beach tuning allows leech twist control, outhaul control and adjusting the ratio between letting the boom out, leech twist and reducing the leech tension (draft in top) when sheeting out.
Basically the kids are intended to be trained in looking at the conditions before the race and choose the right optimal sail trim out of 4 presettings.
These include :
-1- Medium flat sails and small amount of leech twist for medium winds and flat water (fast+pointing)
-2- Very flat sails with small amount of twist for strong stable winds and flat water (fast+pointing)
-3- Very flat sails with alot of leech twist for light winds (fast + less pointing)
-4- Very flat top with fuller bottom and alot of twist for strong winds with rough seas. (fast+footing)
The limited amount of presettings make the choice simpler and don't distract the kids from the tactics when on the water. That way it keeps both their heads out of the boat while racing and keeps things simple while sailing. For very young sailors the coach or racing-committee can just prescribe the settings for all participants and only focus on tactics and sailing skills. In effect the F12 will allow a staged step up in training.
I think that the young sailors will only be able to get this type of rig trim/tuning training at their age of 12 - 16 on the F12 and not on any other singlehanded monohull available to them. This training is of course also important for the 29-er and 49-er follow-ups in the mono track. I'm banking on them having learn tactics and sailing basics to a small art in the preceding opti class. As such the F12 may even become a better pathway from the opti to both the 29er/420 monohulls and nacra500/SL16 multihulls then the laser or other cats like the Wave.
I'm hoping to increase the F12 attractiveness this way to even monohull oriented clubs and programs. I'm hoping to make it a better trainer for both youth tracks, mono and multi. This may greatly improof its chances at getting accepted.
Wouter
p.s. the designing of the F12 goes down to this level and I'm convinced that it has to go that deep to have any serious shot at succes. I want coaches wispering to overbaring parents that if their opti sailin kid is really to rise through the ranks rapidly and get succesful at 29er/49er that then the F12 may well be the better route even though the laser is the official sanctioned follow up class by the club and national organisation.
