Question for F-18 experts...has there ever been any discussion regarding allowing a singlehander to leave their jib on shore and race straight-up in F-18 class (no correction numbers)?? Similar to how (I think) the F-16 class works?

I'm also interested in anyone's experience sailing any of the various F-18's that way....how did it handle, issues, etc...

Discussion? Probably at one stage or another between sailors on the beach. A serious proposal??? - not as far as I know.
Plenty of sailors single hand them up to around 12 knots. Above that they become a big handful. I did have to drop the kite, tack around and recover my crew who bailed out the back without hooking on once in around 25 kts. It was not particularly difficult however there was ***way*** too much power there for only 1 person.

Tiger Mike

Joe,

You are correct, F16 allows 1-up and 2-up sailing as the "formula" pertains to the boat and not the crew. There is no minimum crew weight, the only stipulation is that the crew can right the boat without any outside assistance from RC, rescue or other entity. When I sail 1-up I have to take along a righting bag (I only weigh 150 pounds). See www.formula16.org for more info on the rule set.

The F18 rules do have a minimum crew weight and is optimized as a doublehanded boat. Probably stipulates 2 people on board (not sure abt that). You could sail it in Open, but not at any F18 events and remain in class.

It would be interesting to see if 1-up sailing ever crossed the designers of the F18 rule set. Who were the designers of the rules?

I've sailed my boat single handed several times. Once I did so in a small fleet of 4 or 5 other double handed F18s in three races in varying conditions. Even without the jib, I had a tremendous advantage upwind in less than 10 knots and was full-out trapezing at about 8. When the breeze built to over 10, my advantage began to dissolve. When it got over 12, I was loosing ground to the fleet rather quickly. Beyond that I was getting pretty tired and frustrated trying to keep the boat moving forward with any speed or height.

Without some sort of major change to sail plan for a single handed option, I don't think it's reasonable to expect any kind of single handed vs. double handed rule changes to allow straight up competition.

The F18 rule set has never made any consideration for one-up sailing since it's inception (go to www.f18-international.org for more historical information). The class is so widely popular and still gaining momentum that I think such a change wouldn't be very likely.

Thanks Jake...that's the kind of insight I was looking for. Very helpful...

I'm trying to sort out justification for getting an F-18 (without getting rid of the 20). My primary purpose would be to compete in 2-4 F18 events per year...but then I could also single hand it in local club racing (Lake Carlyle) when I have no crew for the 20, and I could also allow our local Juniors (15-18 yo) sail it (doublehanded of course) in our club races occasionally in an effort to turn them to the dark side (from lasers and lightnings)....

It's a lot of money to justify if I still have the 20. The more reasons I can list, the better...

JL

At the '06 Hobie 20 Nationals, Tony Probst single-handed his 20. The only requirement is the "crew" weigh the 295 pound minimum. He carried 5 or 10 pounds, I don't recall exactly. He did quite well even in the big stuff. He finished eighth overall including a bullet, 2nd, two 3rd's, a 4th and 5th. Previously he has raced the 18 solo, in Nationals as well. He had some very entertaining stories about the times he's fallen off!

Adding the spin is something I can't even fathom, but let Tony be your inspiration.

If you can sail the F18 solo, you can sail the 20 solo as well. I actually liked keeping the jib on for a more ballanced feel, way too much weather helm without it. Just pull the boards half way up, ease the traveler down, trim the jib well and spill the main. It sails great solo! (I said Sail, not Race)

Joe,
You could always get a smaller sail for either the F18 or the N20 for singlehanding. You could probably get a used sail cheap and have it cut down.

By the way, I singlehand my 18HT all the time (under 10-12knots) with spin and its a blast. Nothing cooler than flying a hull with the spin downwind in 5-10knots, solo.

Bill

At the time I was single handing the F18 in that fleet, I weighed 165lbs / 75kg (certainly no where near the min crew weight for a Hobie 20!). I really enjoy single handing the boat, but at that weight it really wasn't a fair fight and it could quickly swing either way.

Try righting one solo first. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Why? I've done it four times at 165lbs - twice in the same day single handed and twice with my crew still on the upper hull in the air. Of course, it was a little breezy at the time. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I've also had times where we couldn't right it while double handed though (I later discovered that somehow the mainsail had come unshackled from the boom ... I think that was the problem).

Good point! However I did once right a Hobie 18 by myself with 5 cracked ribs (incurred in the precedent violent pitch pole <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />)...