not true - I've singlehandedly righted both. Once on the I20 and several times on the F18 (a couple of times with my crew still on the high-and-dry hull!). I weighed 175 lbs (80 kg) at the time. Granted, there must be some significant wind...but you shouldn't have capsized in anything else - right?

If I had to choose between an F18 and N20... would go N20. They weigh roughly the same and I do think blasting through waves on a 20ft boat is fun.

and BTW.. saw more than a few pitchpoles at the 2006 AC on the N20. Prior to that, I heard about a pitchpole with the mast stuck in the mud too! (had to flip boat to get sail down... right?)
<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So Jake, you can say that a 20 can be righted single handed and that it will never capsize in winds that are too light to right it. Perhaps you should recommend that Nacra put it in their brochures - give them a ring!
Remember this is more than just a bet about who can do what, this is a matter of safety.

The statement made was that it couldn't be righted single handed. I simply said that it can be righted single handed in the right conditions. But I agree, you can't count on it and in those conditions that it can be righted singlehandedly, I wouldn't want to be sailing it without a crew anyway.

F16 is the ONLY choice for what you want!!

BRING IT ON! I CAN TAKE IT! DING!! WHERE ARE YA' THERES *NOODLE* TO BE FLUNG!!

It's a New Year, I've even cleared my "ignore" list!

Recheck the weight though.
I think 230 plus 135 is getting up there for the F16. I know that 160 plus 230 and the boat feels like it needs to take a poop and get going again <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

however, 230 plus a "kid" would be perfect.

I agree with Jake, and I have righted my Inter 20 alone, you get the wind under the sail and up it comes, I wasn't in the water more than 1 minute. But no matter what boat you buy, if you can't handle it, it's dangerous. A Jetski is dangerous in the hands of a novice. There is just about no real righting difference between a F18 vs. an I20, so just get what your local fleet is racing.

The I20 will not pitchpole as easily as some of the F18's however, (longer and fatter bows) so as Jake says, you shouldn't be upside down on the I20 in the first place unless it's blowing or you have made a mistake... which can happen to anyone, any time, any boat, any wind. So there you go.

Oh, and if you race alone, 230 is a great weight for the F16 Blade. Then if it's really blowing, you can bring crew, or not.

The minimum weight for the F18 large sail plan is 330 lbs, so anything over that may not work in your favor in moderate and light conditions. I've never sailed the I20, but raced a H20 for many years. While it would over power quickly, it was more forgiving for heavier crews.

Me and my regular crew are about 155 lbs, so I spent a lot of time depowering to get it flat.

I think another thing to consider is how active these fleets are in your area. That is the initial reason I switched from the H20 to the F18 3 years ago. Even though I still race with my daughter some on a H16, I love that spinnaker.

If I were buying a boat now, I would definitely consider the Blade 16. But that decision would be based mainly due to Loyd's and my weight and the versatility to race without the spin with my daughter.

20

The 16 is definitely too small. The Nacra 500 was 16'7", and I sold it with the intention of getting something bigger. I thought the Hobie 18' was a good size, but I'd hate to get an 18 and then six months later, I feel like I should really have bought a 20.

At 185, 6', I can right an F18 sucessfully, sailing solo. (First time I sailed one, in fact.) There are alternatives (that I dont have) to also to make solo sailing and capsizing less of a risk (righting poles, ballast buckets). That said, I would prefer to not capsize in a breeze > 12kts w/rough sea...