let me see if I can put some names to faces for you, can't let them hide there identities forever.
Starting left to right front row, Jenni, long suffering crew on Tasi Oki. Col, skipper 4 Play. Matt, Jurrasic Karp. Lauren, crew Macatak. Yours truly. Liam skipper then Brett crew, Viper 2. Next Row left to right, John, Wear The Fox Hat. Kingsley, crew 4 Play. Neil, Imunity. Back Row Left to Right, Tim, Karma Cat. Danny, Red One. Marcus, Vertigo. James, skipper Macatak. Gordon, skipper Tasi Oki. Tony, The Pork Hunt. Visitor building a Blade who's name escapes me I am sorry <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
Bet you expected Marcus to stand out more the way, some talk about his weight <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />, I think that yellow F16 shirt is very slimming <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.
I was the only one with the old style Taipan sail. People who have sailed with both say that the new sail is about 1 to 3 minutes advantage in a normal race. Upwind in our short races (and our good wind, and my heavy weight), I didn't notice very much difference, but on longer legs, perhaps it would be more obvious. The main speed difference between boats seemed to be boat handling, especially downwind, where I lost out. I chose not to trap in any race. In the winds we experienced, most sailors seemed to agree that trapping downwind usually payed off. (The exception was the Mosquitos, which are very light, and sail low and fast sitting in downwind). I'm not sure that these races will help answer your question Nick, other than anecdotally, sailors love the new sail. One comment was that when the right amount of downhaul is applied, the sail flicks off at the top when overpowered, and less sheeting is required.
PS - this was a great event, nice to meet all these keen sailors, and I learned a lot by being whipped by them!
One of my observations from the weekend was the speed of the sloop rigged taipans up wind. In particular Gordon Barrett (tasi oki) & James McDonald (Macatack). They footed off about 2-3 degrees & there speed was nearly 50% faster.!
Sure their jibs were everlapping & not F16 compliant for sail area, but an amazing difference that none of the fully compliant F16's could match.! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
I also observed that Dennis Baker (current cat rigged national champion) was using the latest generation Goodall "fat head" mainsail & there was virtually no speed difference between F16's (cat rigged) & Dennis's boat, incidently Dennis was not running a spinnaker system & amazingly did not loose much on the downwind legs. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Personally i think our upwind spped compared is a good sign for the F16 class as the Taipans are our initial benchmark.
Greg took the Photo's had to be one of the Viper <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />, thanks again Greg. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />
Re: Australian F16 Event Notice
[Re: ]
#124569 04/17/0806:32 AM04/17/0806:32 AM
