Hi everyone,

Just a quick post (at Wouter's request) to let you all know that after more than a year of looking, I finally tracked down and bought a Stealth F16. Photo attached is of our first sail on Tuesday 12th April just a couple of days after picking the boat up. She's a 2002 boat and in pretty good condition (especially the sails).

We had a really good shakedown and were very impressed that even though winds were light at just 5-7mph, it was easy to power up and at one point get both of us on the wire with the kite up.

Sailing with me was my eldest lad, home from uni for a few days - now he doesn't want to go back!

I'm looking forward to playing with the boat this year and learning to get the best I can from it - I guess that most of the time I'll be singlehanding.

Cheers everyone,

John.
Great pic.
Hope you enjoy the Stealth.
F16 one up is a blast.
Regards,
Phill

Great shot John.
I'm picking up my new Stealth F16 tomorrow so maybe I'll see you at East Coast Piers later in the year.
OR Isle of Sheepey in Kent, both eligible to single handers.

Aaron

Congrats to both you folks!

Looking foward to some awesome photos!

Congratulations - good choice of boat guys!

Must be something in the air - the two Stealths at Port Edgar are about to be joined by a third and we've just about convinced another couple to get one too!

George Malloch
Mostly Harmless
Stealth 502

Hey guys the UK is straggling a little bit in the memberships. Same as the Florida guys.
So everybody who is not a member yet is invited to consider becoming one. It is free of charge. In order to continue your membershp you'll only need to attend one F16 event per year or attend as an F16 in one open regatta (of significant size, so no club races) That is all !

If you want to vote on any issues or have a say on future matters then you'll need to be registered member. And the cost can't be a drawback, again it is free of charge you just have to show a commitment to the F16 class by sailing the boat in a public event. That should be easy to do.


All F16 sailors wanting to become F16 class members can send their request to :

Formula16class(at)hotmail.com

and giving :

Full name (First name , sir name and additional initials)
E-mail adress (of one that you look into and will keep for some time)
Sail club name (when one is a member of a local club)
location sail club = town + nation

Boat type
Boat name (optional; write in "no name" when your boat doesn't have a name)
Sail number
Year of build


Wouter

Thanks for all the nice comments guys, I was down at the club bar last night (as you do ) and almost all the conversation was about the Stealth. Word has got round as there were a few 'spies' about when we went for our first sail. It seems to have caused quite a stir and I was asked several times for tryout sails by some of the other cat sailors (Dart 15, 18 etc.)

Things have become quite stale in terms of cat activity at the club and this might jolt a few more people into getting out on the water.

Happy sailing!

BTW what yardstick number are people sailing to? The club SRO tells me that he will be putting me on PY 711, which seems very favourable .

I thought it should be more like 704 or lower (but I haven't said anything yet!).

So what do the rest of you think?

Thanks,

We worked out a figure of 709 for a doublehanded Stealth R. We converted from the SCHRS figure of 1.03 using a factor worked out by comparing the SCHRS and RYA PY handicaps for a Hurricane and for a Hobie 16 and averaging the answers. Or something like that. If you've got the bigger F16 sails it should be a bit lower - and if you're sailing singlehanded it should be lower again. Your club will be using the handicap as a "Trial Number" so they'll no doubt adjust the 711 downwards when you start to clean up!

George

Thanks for the response George,

So, am I right in thinking that you've got the Stealth R?

How do you find you do on handicap against the other cats? In other words do you think that 709 is fair to you? If it should be 'quicker' would that mean that my estimate of 704 for the Stealth F16 is about right or too slow?

Hi Jalani,

Great looking boat and photo's. Sailing one up is awesome in 5 to 12 kts. in mixed fleets you can take on anything. Good luck.

Regards Gary.

Yup, I've got an R.

I don't do well - but that's because the other guys are better than me and not because of the handicap! I'm sure I'd do better doublehanded but I enjoy singlehanding and it's a lot less hassle than having to find someone light for the front of the boat!

704 is probably about right - I did a quick calculation and came up with 702 (sorry!). You're talking about a difference of less than 1% so in reality it probably doesn't matter very much - one poor tack a race or so! Perhaps most important thing is the difference between your handicap and the handicaps of other fast cats you're going to race against. Might be easiest if you do a comparison between what their PY and SCHRS handicaps are. For example, Stealth F16 SCHRS is 1.02. Spitfire is 1.04. Hurricane 5.9 and F18 are 1.01. So, if there are any of those at your club you ought to get a PY about 1% more than a Hurrican/F18 or about 2% less than a Spit. Probably not so accurate if you have to compare against boats like Dart 18 or Hobie 16 though.

Thanks George,

Guess what! Other cats at the club are: Dart 18's, Hobie 16's, Dart 15's, Hobie 14's, Hydra, Mystere and one Inter 18.

I'll take your advice and have a play with the numbers between SCHRS and RYA PY's.

I think I ought to own up though and suggest a lower PY.

Regards,

Thanks for the comment Gary,

I've been following the posts about Altered and particularly noted your comments about one-up with spinnaker in a blow. You've got a nice boat there and I'm looking forward turning a few heads at the club with my Stealth one-up.

All the best!

Welcome John,

That is some good looking pics you have there: I wish somebody with a camera was around when I did my first sails. I like that pic with the orange spinnaker.

One more comment, as we communicated in private somewhat already, when you are trimming and tunig the boat out tell us here at the forum we can probably learn alot from eachother. Just today I sailed on a Stealth F16 and we learned to listen to the boat some more and do this and that a little differently and most of it worked. We are now racing in a rather big and skilled fleet of 25 F18's, 8 F20's 2 A-cats and 2 FX-ones. Believe me, in this fleet you know if something works or not. I see you are an old Tornado sailors so I expect a few "discoveries" from your end as well.

Good luck and best of times with your new boat !

Wouter

Don't be afraid of a bit of crew weight. The Stealth should be able to take the same weight as the Spitfire. I normally sail with a lightweight girl crew. But I sailed a few events last season with a 70k to 75k crew. We won an event in force 4 to 5 winds, beating Hurricane 5.9 SX and other spinnaker Hurries, even on the water, and came 2nd in another event in light winds against Huricane 5.9 SX, Tigers and Spitfires.
I raced against a singlehanded Stealth a few years ago ( http://www.catamaran.ie/Results/2002/InlandResult.htm ) and while his boat speed was faster a lot of the time, I beat him on the water in 2 out of the 3 races. He lost it on the turns, hoisting and dropping his spinnaker.

Enjoy your Stealth,

Dermot.

Bard and I have raced the Stealth F16 in the last 2 sundays (6 races in total) in lightish winds and were sailing at about 165 kg combined. With us getting better on the boat we are making progress in placings (in a 40 boat strong F18/F16/FX-one fleet with typically 30 to 35 boats starting each race (so ex DNC's)) Our placings in order are : 23rd , 22nd, 17th, 44th (OCS darn !), 15th, 11th. It would appear that we are making steady progress towards the front of the fleet.

Just get your mind over that mental barrier and just sail fast and try to improof handling and feel of the boat all the time. Don't hook yourself on thinking that your weight is holding you back or something.

Wouter

Maybe the emphasis of my post was wrong - I tend to sail singlehanded because it is easier than finding a regular light/middleweight/gorilla to crew!!! At a svelt 92kg (ish!) I certainly don't worry too much about weight....(although, maybe I should )