Currently we have two secondhand boats on offer in NL ; A Taipan 4.9 spi and a Spitfire

Contact me on F16class@xs4all.nl for more info.

P.S. I'm not the one selling I just act as an information clearing house in these matters.

For the season 2005 a few of us will get together in the next couple of weeks and try to work out a small fun F16 race cirquit. Wanna join us ?

We'll be using the main events on the Dutch Calender as meeting points. Then we don't have to do much organising ourselfs.

All F16's are welcome (that includes the Spitfires)

Maybe you have some idea's on which events you want to include in the schedule ? Of course you then have to be there yourself !

Wouter

Hi Wouter,

maybe a dumb question but, what boats fall under the F16 rules?

Heres a link to a site with a good start. It was created by Wouter
http://www.geocities.com/F16HPclass/

Tony,

Pure F16's :

Taipan 4.9 spi (foundation boat)
Stealth and Stealth R (foundation boats)

Taipan F16
Stealth F16
Blade F16

These will always be allowed to race under F16 rules at any event always.


Then we have the dispensated boat (read all as I-17 and FX-one are at the end)

Spitfire :

Than the Spitfire design has a special dispensation and is likely to remain such indefinately. The Spitfire is simply so comparable in performance that it would be foolish not to include them. That is unless the Spitfire class presents herself actively as an alternative to the F16, this unlikely in my opinion. Of course in that situation we have no choice by to activily promote ourselfs as an alternative to the Spitfire. But like I said I really don't see this happening and F16 class sure as hell isn't going to initiate such a change.


Mosquito F16

The same applies to the Mosquito F16.



Then we have 4 more boats that have in the past earned dispensation papers but that are arguably falling out of the F16 framework :

Bimare's Javelin 16

Reason falling out : Their dispensation is now over 2 years old and not a single jav 16 owner has ever contacted us at the F16 class or even invoked the dispensation. No Jav 16 sailing is linked to the F16 class at this time.

Bimare 16 (replace by Jav 16 now)

We had 2 owner in the F16 class in the past but no longer. 1 owner has been kicked out as he actively tried to disrubt the F16 class in any way he could and we caught him in the act. The other owner owns a F16 full compliant Bim 16, meaning he has the 8.5 mtr mast and not the longer 9 mtr mast and his mainsail is modified to F16 specs (entlarged). This guy has no need for any dispensation as he is already compliant on the normal rules. No other Bim 16 owner ever contacted us.


Mystere F16

This dispensation is now over 3 years old and in that time no owner ever contacted us or invoked the dispensation. As a chairman I'm considering revoking this dispensation as it serves no purpose, adresses no need. I'm not even sure wether any where sold.


Cirrus Energy :

This design is around and seems to have an active class although of very small size. Its dispensation is also over 3 years old and no-one ever invoked the dispensation. If the sailors feel no need to sail outside their own setup then we might as well drop the dispensation.


Seperate group : Inter 17's and FX-ones.

These boats are not dispensated in any way as they are not regarded as very similar to F16 designs HOWEVER we do have a special relationship to them.

Each local class head can allow them in into F16 class events on his or her own authority. The class heads have this power without consulting the international class by using the grandfather rule (segments 5 and 6 ) in the F16 class rules.

I, as the local Dutch/Belgium class head, would like to welcome these sailors to our F16 setup. I think that we as the F16 class should welcome these sailors both for our own enjoyment as for their enjoyment. The performances of the boats are relatively close and arguably the I-17 and FX-one racing in my local area is pretty bad. Example : 2 FX-ones at the last Dutch Hobie Nationals. I believe it to be in the spirit of the F16 class to group together the Dutch F16's, I-17's and FX-ones and just race first in wins so that we all can hone our skills on eachother. Sailing in a fleet of about 10 boats is always to be prefered to sailing in a group of less than 5.

I will propose such a thing on our upcoming meeting where we discuss the Dutch calender for 2005. More info about this later.

Wouter

This may interest various parties c.q. sailors.

The Formula 16 class is looking to consolidate its structure during 2005.

This means that we will move towards bringing as much as we can into compliance with F16 rules.

If things continue as they do than the class will consider revoking the dispensations of inactive boats/classes. These international dispensations are not needed to cover local problematic situations. The freedom of the local class heads and the grandfather clauses are enough to solve local issues. Not that there are any such situations present at this time.

It is my personal opinion that both the Mosquito and Spitfire designs should continue their dispensations. The others like Mystere F16, Bim 16, Jav 16 and Cirrus Energy will, at some time in the future, be put up for termination. If any of these ever show up at our events than the grandfather clause should be enough to handle the situation. Personally I don't expect any to show up ever.

Also with reaching the key point of having three commerical available fully optimized F16's (Stealth F16, Blade F16 and Taipan F16) we need to reward the builders that have supported the class in the past over the ones that did not. This means that we will tighten the enforcement of the F16 class rules. Also we must reward the allied classes that have supported us like the Mosquito F16's. So they will retain their dispensation. Spitfire is in principle full compliant except for 3 rather small violations, comparable to those of the foundation boats (Taipan 4.9 and Stealth R) so as the chairman I will move to keep them included. The foundation boats are of course permanently dispensated.

With regard to the foundation boats Stealth and Stealth R; It has been expressed to me by the Stealth builder that many of these have been brought in over the last years to be upgraded to the F16 version. I think the orginal Stealth is no longer around anymore as all have been upgraded in the past to either the Stealth R verion or Stealth F16 version. If this continues than in time we can drop the foundation status of the both older versions as none of these will then exist anymore.

I do expect the standard Taipan 4.9 to continue for much longer so its need for the foundation status will probably stay in effect for many years to come. Currently the Taipan only violates the F16 rules due to its larger jib size.

All new boats and new applications to be included to the F16 format will be forced to be compliant with the current F16 rules. This includes any homebuilds. Stewarts homebuild in Western Australian is dispensated for its mast but that is the only one. All others are already full compliant, like Gary's Altered and John's Murka. So too are Harry's and mr Boyd's. Also the Ventilo Zipo is full compliant as it is. I think the Mattia Dynacat 16 has been discontinued together with its larger Mattia Dynacat F18. So many non compliance issues have solved themselfs.

Any builder currently considering to build a 16 footer that is not part of the Formula 16 class is arguably making a errornous choice. The F16 class will from now on be extremely unwilling to issue dispensations to non fully compliant boats. As the chairman I will refer all requests to local class heads and the grandfather rule; neither of which will have effect outside the bounderies of the local region. So, as a rule of thumb, no new international dispensations, only less.

Like I said it is consolidation time. We are attracting more and more sailors and need to present a clear class setup and be strickt on non-compliance. And as already said, we need to reward the parties that have supported us in our time of need over late commers. So all new boats must be Full Compliant, thus protecting the designs of the first hour parties.

I do stress that we will continue to be welcoming to other sailors under the grandfather rules. We will preserve our 'relaxed and welcoming' feel. We will still race everybody and anybody at any time at any place on the local level. We just won't garantee their inclusion in larger F16 class events like championships anymore. Think nationals or internationals.

All class heads, take note of this !

With kind regards,

Wouter

Wouter-
What about the Isotope 16?? What is their current status? I know they are only present in the U.S. (perhaps one or so in Canada?)-

Kirt

Thanks Wouter for clearing up the current situation. Keep up the good work. Pulling the car is not always yhe most eviable position.

Nothing is official as of yet, but the new upgrades to the Isotope will make it full compliant. We only had dispensation for their use of a jib instead of a spinnaker. However, now that they will be fitted with spi's that dispensation is void. The upgrade will be provided by the designers/builders, they are aware that the F16's will move to consilidate towards the current class rules. But as described the Isotopes are not excepted to be influenced by this at all.

As extra info : no isotope have invoked the dispensation after springfever 2002, so for this reason as well the dispensation is on the "clean up list

Wouter

Hopefully there is some good news for me in a few days.

Wouter