Thanks for the review. Were you 1-up or 2?

Well written review! Thanks.

For the boys and girls in northern Europe: The Viper can be bought in Hamburg now. I think that having a local dealer is a key element for building a F16 class in Germany. Maybe the dealers adress should be on the Formula 16 web page? Contact me for details, if you want so.

Cheers,

Klaus

Hi Wouter,



Don't want to enter again a wave drag discussion here. But I can tell you that keeping the bow down helps in light winds on my Javelin 16 and on my Dart 18. Thats not only based on my feeling but also on GPS read outs.

Cheers,

Klaus

2-up

But that result in light wind is probably not due to waterline length. One of the significant drag components of this size vessel is transom drag. Sitting forward (ie. sitting the bow in deeper) will raise the transom/s out of the water, therefore reducing drag.

Another aspect of sitting forward on cats is that there can be a considerable amount of leeway resistance produced because of the shape of the bow.

That was one thing I did notice, but forgot to mention in the original post. With the crew to leeward just behind the beam, and skipper windward in same position, the transom on the Viper sat quite nicely and didn't really dig in at all. But if you did move back then it would dig in quite quickly.

Hey everyone, I confess, after test sailing the boat several months ago, I fell in love with the Viper's performance and bought myself one. It arrived last week. I took my first sail over the weekend, and aside from a few niggling problems all new boats have, the boat sailed as sweetly as I remembered. Am dying to get out again on Thursday after all the problems been worked out. And what i'd do just for a little bit more wind...

Anyway just wanted to drop by and say it's really great to be part of the F16 fleet now. It seems like the 10th boat will be making its way to the local sailing club pretty soon as well.

Congratulations on your new boat CKuang. May she provide you will all the enjoyment that you envisioned she would.

Wouter

Thanks for the kind wishes Wouter. Looking forward to making the 2009 GC if possible