Are there any plans in the works for a F16HP US National Championships this year? Last year there was one in conjunction with the F18HT fleet. I see they have their North American Championships scheduled for September 20-23 up in Newport and a World Cup scheduled for November 3-7th in Fort Walton Beach.

Jennifer
Taipan 4.9/F16HP #262

Just a sneak preview for you guys.

http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/Formula_16_NSW_challenge_trophy.html

Glenn Ashby has sponsored our New South Wales (Australia) F16 challenge trophy. Andrew Williams was instrumental in turning the idea into reality. Many thanks to both ! Still no picture of Andrew yet but I'm hoping the get one soon and place it next to the one of Glenn.

Due to bad luck (bad lighting) we don't have a good picture of the throphy yet, hence the delay in publicizing the webpage given above.

Also the conditions set for the throphy and the challenge are open to modifications at this time.

In short this webpage is still under construction.

Still I didn't want to withhold this from you guys much longer.


Would it not be nice to arrange a perpetual trophy like this for the US competition (nationals) too ?

When working together that will be feasable I think.

Wouter

Maybe I should rephrase the question.

If we have a F16HP US Championship this year, who will attend?

Jennifer
Taipan 4.9/F16HP #262

I could do November in Ft. Walton Beach if it is only a Saturday/Sunday event and we can get it on the calendar quickly.

Jeff.

Jennifer and Jeff,

I am in the market for a new cat. I am probably going with a Formula class and the F-16HP class make sense for my wife and myself. We weigh about 250 lbs comnbined, so the 18 footer are probably too big. We want to race.

I see that Jennifer posted the question to the effect-who would come to a North Americans? The fact that there have been no answers is not good. Jeff and Jennifer mentioned the possiblity of combining their North Americans with the F18ht class, like you'll did last year. Has anyone checked in with the F18ht class? I spoke to one of their sailors, who said that the North Americans had been combined with their Worlds in November at Fort Walton Beach, but they knew nothing of the F-16s racing with them.

Any more going on with this class with regards to racing in the SE USA?

I don't see a F16HP National Championship happening this year based on the response to my posting. There will be, however, a Taipan 4.9 National Championships in Gulfport, Florida on November 8th & 9th, 2003 hosted by Gulfport Yacht Club. We are just starting to plan for the regatta but as more details become available, all Taipan 4.9 owners will be notified. Maybe if the Taipan 4.9 fleet grows along with the other F16HP boats, we will be able to hold a F16HP national event next year.

Jennifer Lindsay
Taipan 4.9 #262

After last fall's North Americans faux pas where the F16 class literally snubbed the F18HT folks (only 4 or 5 boats showed up) I doubt we would ever get another invitation to combine events.
Pretty sad turn out particularly when you realize there is a good sized fleet only 4 hours from the venue at Key Largo. Jennifer seems to be one of the only enthusiasts and traveler from that area.
I am saddened to say, until this class stops talking and starts sailing, it will go nowhere and have no major events.
At the NAMSA/Tradewinds Midwinter Open Cat Nationals where the F16s were invited to hold their Midwinter NAs there was again a bunch of "No-Shows." I think we only had two boats show, and one of them was mine.
Pretty sad.
When I bought my T4.9 I had envisioned a platform that could literally race in four formats: T4.9Uni, T4.9Sloop, F16Uni and F16Sloop. At this point in time I might as well have bought a Gargoyle5.0 (No, it doesn't exist) or any other boat -- the only racing available is Portsmouth.
Sorry about the ranting and raving.
Rick

Rick,

Are you going to be able to attend the Taipan 4.9 Nationals (Sloop) in Gulfport,FL in November?

Jennifer

PS. I'll be sailing at the St. Augustine Beach Summer Sizzler next weekend with my boat in one of the 4 configurations depending weather and crew availability. Your welcome to come up and joint me. If there are any Nacra 5.5 Unis racing, the T4.9U is almost an even match with them. You are also welcome to visit Gulfport Yacht Club on the 1st or 3rd Saturday of the month for some F16HP racing. Micheal Coffman and I had a great time yesterday racing each other in the F16HPU configuration. We would of had 3 F16HPUs on the water but Seth Stern has family obligations for the next few weeks which limit his sailing.

It seems we don't have such an event listed. Could someone send me info on dates, contact info, etc. so we can list it in the magazine and on the Events Schedule for the website?
I was supposed to sail a Wave at St Augustine, but had to blow it off -- will be in Tampa getting my RV fixed to head to Ohio for the Wave NAs.

Good idea for everyone to stay in touch as we do in the Waves. Waves have the biggest classes in FL regattas when we decide which ones to go to.

Same could be done in the F16 class, but somehow we will have to get the Gulfport people to travel a bit. Otherwise, it will never get off the ground.
Rick

I'm working on the NOR for the Taipan Nationals right now and as soon as it is finished and approved, I'll send you a copy. GYC didn't officially decided to host the regatta until just last Thursday.

It's too bad that you have to miss an oportunity to go sail because of the motorhome. Hopefully the weather will be nice up north for the Wave Nationals.

I don't know about anyone else, but here are some of the regattas I'm planning on going to. (Sorry, none of them are distance races but I prefer bouy racing.)

July 26 & 27th St. Augustine Summer Sizzler
Aug 17th TBCSI Dog Bone Regatta (Tampa, FL)
Aug 30 & 31st Labor Day Reggata (Sarasota, FL assuming there's
a catamaran class)
Sept 20 & 21 Wildcat Regatta (Eustis, FL)
Nov 1 & 2nd Area D Eliminations (Ocean Springs, MS) Maybe???
Nov 8 & 9th Taipan 4.9 Nationals (Gulfport, FL)

If any of the Taipan's/F16HP's sailors are thinking about attending any of the above, let me know and maybe we can convince more to show up.

Jennifer Lindsay
Taipan 4.9/F16HP #262

Hey Rick you're not the only who didn't know about the Taipan nationals in November.

This is news to me too.

And you're right on the F18HT - F16 combined events. That was a one-time deal.

It is nice to see the Taipan nationals 2003 being organised.

Wouter

>>I am probably going with a Formula class and the F-16HP class make sense for my wife and myself. We weigh about 250 lbs comnbined, so the 18 footer are probably too big. We want to race.


You combined weight is even on the low end of the Taipan/F16 class. With a combined weight of this I would strongly advice against the other formula classes. I'm sure you won't even be allowed to race in the F18 class, they have a minimum crewweight of 115 kg = 254 lbs. The F20, if it makes it to NA, has a minimum of 130 kg = 287 lbs. The F18HT class has no minimum crewweight but even the US importer himself mailed me that the boat likes some weight on the wire comparable to the I-20. I still have the mail if people don't beleive me. I know the F18 goes best with about 150 kg = 330 lbs and I'll be very suprised if the HT class would have a optimum lower than that. Our optimum lies between 130 - 140 kg = 287 lbs - 310 lbs. Normally a crew can get away by being still 10 kilogram ligher or heavier than that. The Taipan class showed a very flat dependency. But like I said at 113 kg = 250 lbs you're even at the light end of the Taipan/F16 class.

With this data your choices are pretty much Taipan/F16, which admittely sees alot of handicap racing as of yet. If you really want to do alot of one-design or class races than the only option for you will be the Hobie 16. They other 18 and 20 foot classes will just not let you be competitive in anything but (very) light winds.

One point I would like to underline in favour of the F16 class is that it's speed potential is very very comparable to that of the F18's and other oldeer 18-20 footers. This means that handicap racing becomes alot more enjoyable and fair. The time differences have now become very small and often in the order of only 0 to 90 seconds for the whole range.

Dying winds or building winds will have much much less effect on the overall results as the time to take effect has become to small. How much can a wind die in 0 to 90 seconds ?

For comparison I recommend reading the following webpage : http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/F16HP_public_history.html

Especially http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/Report_2002_29_sept_Round_The_Island_distance.html

http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/Report_2003_april_27_USA_Icebreaker_Galesville.html


Some try to paint a picture where only one type of boat will move along in light winds but this is a skewed picture. The reports given illustrate this.

Of course in extremely light winds below 5 knots at 10 mtr altitude (30 feet) the tall masted boat will go faster. But these winds feel like a slight cooling of the skin at eyelevel and really these races are not called drifters for nothing. These light winds are something else than normal light winds which typically are between 5-10 knots.


>>I see that Jennifer posted the question to the effect-who would come to a North Americans? The fact that there have been no answers is not good.


Indeed, that is not good, no doubt about that.

>>Jeff and Jennifer mentioned the possiblity of combining their North Americans with the F18ht class

Was a one-time deal.

>>Any more going on with this class with regards to racing in the SE USA?


We're not giving up on NA if that is what you mean. We do need some more volunteer enthousiasme that is true. Something like is happening in other parts of the world. I still think that the boat numbers are there and that the sailors want to be but are eyeballing eachother.

We'll just have to see I think.

Wouter

Jennifer,

I'll put the Gulfport race on the calendar. I should have a tow vehicle by then. I don't think the Miata would make it all the way to Tampa.

Is it going to be a sloop only event? (still trying to find the 130 lb crew to sail sloop with me) Or will there be cat rig as well?


Jeff

I think we were going to limit it to just Taipan 4.9 sloops. The feeling is it would split the fleet and we would not really have enough boats to have good racing in either fleet. If bring crew to the regatta is a problem, we can probably get a crew list going down here of locals that might want to race once it gets a little closer to regatta. We are in the initial phases of planning for the regatta and if an overwhelming majority wanted to sail cat rig, we could do that instead of sloop rig.

Maybe I'm wrong in what I'm saying but last year we had around 8 boats attend. I don't see us getting many more than that this year, maybe even fewer. Taipan owners are still scattered pretty thin across the United States and I don't think most are up to traveling that far to a regatta, even a major, so called, national event.

Jennifer Lindsay
Taipan 4.9 #262

The NOR for the Sarasota Saling Squadron lists a multihull class. I may be bringing my H16 up from Punta Gorda. I just requested a registration form from them.

Jack Kartz