Just an outside observer`s view on progress in the class thus far :

The Taipan US Nationals have been sailed recently, attracting 8 entries.
The F16HP US Nationals just completed attracted a record number of 4 entries, hardly worth a mention, I`m not convinced that even constitutes a class and can be called a National Championships - where I sail it certainly doesn`t qualify.
Right, now that I`ve got everbody`s backs up, I`d just like to know a few things, since I don`t live in the US & don`t know the answers, I`m sure that there are, however, valid reasons for all these things :

- Why hold a separate Taipan class Nationals and a F16HP Nationals at different venues fairly soon after another ? Is the low turnout at F16HP`s as a result of this ?
- Would it not have been a good idea to run them both together ?
- Looking at the results it seems as though the F16HP Nationals only consisted of 4 Taipans, is this as a result of there being no other F16HP compliant boats in the US ? If so, why did the event not attract 8 or more Taipan sailors ?
- Would it not be better to hold State titles as is done in Australia, since distances to travel are huge ?

I understand that in the US it`s a bit difficult to hold a National championship because of long travelling distances, that`s why I`m asking these questions !
It just seems that after a year of everybody talking about F16HP class being the greatest thing to happen to catamaran sailing, nothing much is happening on the water. I would expect a multi-manufacturer formula racing class to have picked up & grown rapidly in the States, or is this just a confirmation that catamaran sailing is not as big in the US as I would like to believe ?
Looking at the Florida Multihull web-site, it seems that long-distance racing attracts a lot of bigger boats like Inter-20, Hobie Tiger etc. Would it not be a good idea for the F16 guys in the US to make a showing there and justify their belief that they are as fast as the bigger boats ?

These are just a few questions that have me wondering about the future of the class.

Steve,
Please be patient with us Americans.
To answer your questions briefly (on my lunch hour):
How would you hold them together without eliminating the whole Taipan fleet or splitting it?
As clarification, the T4.9 Nat's was offered "in addition" because so many people were unable to attend the F16 Nat's. We knew this 2 months prior to the F16 Nat's, and so planned an alternate event.
Next year it has been proposed that we run them in the same sequence as this year, but at the same place, so that we eliminate the travel problems.
Yes, catsailing is still "recovering" in the u.s. Keep it in perspective, though. The closest competetor built by a U.S. manufacturer (I17R) only had 3 boats at their Nat's. We had 8 at the T4.9 Nat's, 4 at the F16. For the U.S, this is not unusual.
Re. distance racing: I think we've made a decent showing so far, and generated a lot of interest.
Remember, most of the big races are Spring/fall, and many of us just got our boats last spring. Not to many opportunities in the summer.
Like I said, you've got to be patient.
Michael Coffman
T4.9#32

I17R's had 10 boats the the 2002 North Americans.

Barry, That is a very nice turn-out and neither the I-17R class or the One-design Taipan class have to be ashamed of there turnouts for their 2002 Nationals.

With respect to the Formula 16 Nationals well Steve, you come across a little too trigger happy. Each event will attract the number of competitors proportional to the attractiveness of the venue. This attractiveness is determine by more than one factor and in case of the Formula 16 nationals we overlooked a few important factors. We went along on the confidence created by the factors Spi enthousiasme, Formula 16 class attractiveness and the attractiveness of good racing provided by Rick White (many thanks again). We forgot about others important factors like costs, travel distance, left-over holliday time and the wifes. One of these factors could have been negociated by the eventually non participating crews but all three factors combined was simply to much and one crew after another cancelled. When both events were scheduled the class was looking at equal attendence numbers for both events. Tampa retained that attendence once the details were made public, F16 nationals didn't.

An unfortunate setback, indeed. For 2003 the class will make sure that all factors are into account.

But having said this, people must also be careful not to read to much into it. It may be an unfortunate turnout but the class is definately not in decline or something like that.

A counter example: For the rule ballot 44 boats worldwide registered. And I do mean boats with verified sailnumbers, not sailors. For example Micheal C. and his wife Theodora were only allowed one vote as they crew together on one boat. And not all who satisfied the conditions to be allowed to vote registered. Whern counting all the crew seriously interested in the Formula 16 class or the crews that have already participated in a F16 race ; the total number comes out at over 50 boats worldwide. And this I would consider a very encouraging result after a shy 2 years since the absolute beginnings and only 12 months of an operational rule set.

In that time we have been able to link 3 builders to the Formula 16 rule set. And after the Stealth F16 a the second fully optimized F16 design will be launched in 2003 = The Blade F16. And a third is in the pipeline when these optimized designs proof to be enough challenge to the grandfathered designs. In addition to this the class is being approached by builders that have thus far quietly followed the Formula 16 class over the last 12 months; It will take a little while before these will go public with their interest but more important is that they are taking the Formula 16 class really serious. They wouldn't do that if they didn't think the class had a great potential.

Some sailors and builders are already envisioning a World Championship within a few years. Now, I'm daunted by the amount of work needed to get there, but together I'm sure that such a feat would certainly not be impossible.

AHPC support has already materialized in their offer to allow the Superwing mast to used on any Formula 16 design against cost price. Stealth Marines support has been invaluable right from the start. And I have received confirmation that the ISAF handicap system has accepted our proposal on how to handle the boards measurements they need to calculate a handicap rating.

Contacts with the Texel committtee are excellent and the S-PN number is simply a peach even the Australian VYC rating (A statistical system just like the US PN system; Link = http://www.humpybong.org.au/CCQ%20Yardsticks.htm) rates the Taipan 4.9 spi at no more slower than 3 % in relation to a Hobie Tiger. The US PN gives a rating that is 7.5 % slower than a Hobie Tiger While Texel and ISAF predict equality. Micheal C. at the Round The Island race corrected out over even Randy Smyth by quite a margin. Now I respect Michael C. ALOT ! But I'm quite sure that Randy is of a different caliber and Taipan 4.9 with spi have not been raced that often in Australia.

But were are getting of track here. Main issue is that I understand that hearts may grow weak over time and especially after a setback like at Ricks, but this doesn't mean in anyway that the foundation is weak. From what I know, but can't say in public, the foundation is a whole lot stronger than may be apparent from a casual glance.

The basis for the Formula 16 class is already better than the one on which the iF20 class has been build. You know Steve, if you would help us get started in South Africa than ISAF status could be very near in the future. And it won't be long at all till a fully optimized homebuildable Formula 16 design is available to you guys in SA. It will surely solve your problems with the building costs of boats produced outside SA. I mean this is a good example on how several smaller groups in the Formula 16 class are working at practical solutions to make the future of the Formula 16 class happen in various parts of the world. And this fact that multiple sailors and builders are "pulling the car" will make sure that this class will succeed.

Now I'm sure we all would rather have F16 designs overnight and available in large numbers or charter at a great number of events. But that would be a bit unrealistic in only 12 to 18 months and ofcourse we are talking about fully optimized designs and not some quick and dirty design that has been rushed from prototype to production version.

So how about lending us a hand in SA and be part of the succes ?

Regards,

Wouter

Thanks for reply, guys.
I am quite surprised that cat sailing in the US isn`t huge - seems the drop-off has occurred worldwide ? In the 80`s there was a Hobie 16 in everyone`s back yard in SA, now there are a handful of cat sailors.
I thought that this was as a result of our economy falling through the floor, there must be more complex issues if it is a worldwide trend, even in what I percieve to be wealthy countries.
Wouter, I hope I didn`t offend you- not the intention.
The situation in SA is a bit like this : Only 6 cat classes exist in any real numbers that are still represented at National Champs & therefore have nationals status :
- Hobie 16; have approx 60 to 80 boats at National champs, approx 30-40 boats at Provincial regattas.
- Hobie 14; not sure of the numbers but currently going through a revival in the class, probably 80 at Nationals.
- Hobie Tiger; approx. 10 boats in the country of which approx 8 attend Nationals.
- Tornado; approx 10 boats at Nationals.
- Dart 18; approx 25-35 boats at Nationals, same no. at inland league events, not too popular at coastal sites.
- Mosquito 16; approx. 15-20 boats at Nationals, no provincial events yet but working on it.

The Hobie Tigers & Tornados held their Nationals together, on the same course (at the same venue & time as Hobie 14`s)- this helps keep the organisation easy, and makes for some interesting on-and-off the water rivalry !
The flip-side is that some guys would race in both classes but have to choose one. Many of our cat-sailors sail more than one class, eg. Dart & Tornado, or Hobie 14/16 & Tiger, so the numbers are more an indicator of the number of active boats in SA, since there are more active boats than sailors !
The reason I`m telling you all this boring stuff is so that you understand the background from which I`m writing.
The Mosquito is the only boat in SA which has a homebuild option and costs less than half the price of a new Hobie 16. Hobie Tiger / Tornado sailors pay twice as much for their boat as the average entry-level car costs, in fact you can buy a house for the same price as a Hobie Tiger, which explains why there are only 10 and the class isn`t exactly growing fast.
What I enjoy most about the Mosquito is the development class aspect, customise your fittings, build your own hulls etc, choose your sailmaker, rather than be dictated to like Hobie/ Dart class, where everything is sub-standard quality at an over-inflated price.
I can buy full mylar sails cheaper than the outdated dacron sails that Hobie / Dart insist on selling you.
This is what attracted me to following your class. The reality, however, is that in a country where cat sailing is declining like ours, it`s not easy to try to start a new class,let alone keep an existing one alive, so forgive me if I don`t take up your offer to get things started in SA - Love to, but finances won`t allow it. I sail on a tiny budget.
Some of my misconceptions resulted from the fact that the Taipan is a well-established boat in Australia, so I thought it would be easy to market in the US and would grow quickly, it certainly would here if it was affordable.
Likewise, AHPC`s mast offer sounds great until you convert it to SA currency, I can buy 3 masts for the Mosquito for that price !
On another note, I sail quite light (125kg incl crew) - with a mast only 7,3m long I have adequate power in 12knots & start depowering above that. I sailed a Dart for 3 years with 8m mast & found too much power too high up was useless - in 15 knots the Mosquito powers past Dart 18`s easily, proving that less can be more. If where you sail is always light wind then fine, but I believe the F16HP formula is geared towards heavier crew.
Having never sailed a new design F16 type boat I can`t comment on them, other than that they look awesome, but I question whether I would like such a tall rig in a strong breeze.
The boat I sail must be manageable, above all else, and must not place too high a physical demand on a female crew. You may laugh at my 12,5sqm spinnaker, but I may be flying it long after you take yours down.
As a matter of interest I e-mailed Jim Boyer twice asking about home-built option of the Taipan, how I would get all the fittings etc. Perhaps he never recieved them, since I got no answer. At this stage I have no interest in what his answer might have been since I have become involved in the Mosquito class and have no intention of changing boats again.

I still don`t understand why the Taipan Nationals can`t be held as a class within the F16HP Nationals ie first Taipan in the F16 nationals is the Taipan class winner, surely that will lower the cost and logistics for organisers & sailors alike, only have to take time off / travel to one major event ? Surely more sailors would attend, and when there are more F16 compliant boats in US then the event wouldn`t be a Taipan only affair ?
Perhaps these ideas would only work in SA, but I can`t think why !

Cheers
Steve

I think that the answer is that the 4.9 in standard form does not have a spinnaker ? and a F16 does.
Dermot.

Steve,
Interesting to hear your persepective. For comparison, many people are overweight in the US, so most people would probably think of F16hp as a light weight class here. Two average size men would weight 360-400 lbs (160-180 kg?). The winds are often lighter in the US exept in a few select places, like the San Francisco Bay. And the economics are obviously quite different--the average home would cost the same as 15 hobie Tigers (or over 20 Taipan 4.9s). In the US we've got the money to cat sail; but there's very little interest in catsailing or even sailing in general. People spend their money on power boats (which average 2x cost of a tiger), waverunners/PWC (most buy 2), fishing boats, motorcycles, "quads," and on and on. There is a perception that sailing is boring and slow. I can't begin to tell you how many people I've taken cat sailing who are shocked at how fast and exhilerating it is. But sailing takes a whole different mind set than power boating. Many people are intimidated by it. Very few people in the US (as a percentage) have ever been sailing but lots have been on power boats. If the big manufacturers made a marketing push, including demos and sailing lessons, they might find themselves selling a lot of boats.

Hi Steve,

Are you aware that the history of the Taipan 4.9 is Mosquito based? The two designers, Greg Goodall & Jim Boyer, were enthusiastic mossie sailors in the late 70's early 80's and a lot of the Taipan development was based on what they learnt in the mossie.

Check out the history of the Taipan on our website http://www.ahpc.com.au. Being a mossie sailor yourself, I am sure you will find the Taipan's history very interesting.

Also, I agree with you. Getting a new international class up and running is not easy. But we should not let this stop us. There has been a lot of technical advancements made over the last couple of decades and we should not turn our back on these.... If our predecessors had, we would still be cruising around in dugout canoes.

The crew behind the F16hp should be congratulated on their progress. Well done guys!!

Regards
Helen
Australian High Performance Catamarans