2016 Olympic catamaran equipment evaluation entrants

Boats entered for the the trials:

Hobie 16 – Hobie Cat
Hobie Tiger – Hobie Cat
Nacra 17 – Nacra Sailing International
Nacra F16 – Nacra Sailing International
Spitfire S – Sirena Voile
Tornado – International Tornado Class Association
Viper – Australian High Performance Catamarans (AHPC)

Thanks for the list. Interesting that 3 of them are F16 type platforms. Where and when is the trial going to take place?

17th to 25th of March in Santander, Spain..

Thanks. I found it on Google maps, looks like a great location.

Hobie 16 is with Spin.

Could be the dark horse especially if they supply boats.

I hope there's lots and lots of wind! The Hobie 16 loves big wind!

No Topper SL16 on the list... Shame.

No F-20C ?

No Sizzler. I'm appalled.

In the end ISAF will choose whatever they like, regardless the tests, submissions, participants, etc.

Sadly I have to agree.

eh... that is not a fair critique... the test pilots and the sailing tests can really only contribute information about the boat's performance on the water. There are only two new boats in the trials and only one boat looks or tries to be special (N17).

What don't people know about a Hobie 16 with spin, a Tiger, a Viper, or the Spitfire.?
These multihull trials are pretty dull... After the Nacra 17 (how fast is this boat with the curved foils and 100 lbs lighter then an F18) ... It becomes a choice... It's like choosing between chocolate and vanilla ice cream. choose one... it is really not a decision based on the boats merits..

Take a look at the invitation. This has always been a political judgement on what equipment would be the most widely adopted. Of course ISAF has to make that call... ISAF is the political organization for all of the MNA's that go Olympic racing.

Why do you think Hobie paid to trial a H16 with spin? If ISAF primarily wants an established boat world wide... ISAF will make a decision on the basis of the established world wide factor. The test pilots don't have the authority to decide.

Luiz,

Yes, they will choose whatever they like... It's our job (recreation really,) to try to guess which one they will pick. Maybe we should start a pool? Or at least a poll. :-)

I agree the Multihull submissions are pretty straightforward... the women's skiff entrants are much more varied imho.

One important part of the debate is who is US Sailing going to send to the trials to represent us? Would be a fun gig, and I hope the person has a solid background in performance sailing.

If it was choice of F16 which one?
Nacra F16 – Nacra Sailing International
Spitfire S – Sirena Voile
Viper – Australian High Performance Catamarans (AHPC)

If it was choice of F16 which one?
Nacra F16 – Nacra Sailing International
Spitfire S – Sirena Voile
Viper – Australian High Performance Catamarans (AHPC)

Depends on the rest of the deal...

The Olympics dominate the summer ISAF schedule. The next quad needs events world wide in mixed multihull beyond the ISAF grade I events. The idea is that you need to build the competitor field. So... does one of these builders have an event plan?... Does a builder then raise the bar and provide charter boats for international teams competing at these events ... Does one builder have training camps or something included for the juniors in this brand new pipeline.

Obviously... this poker game will be behind closed doors.

I think picking one F16 flavor based on sailing properties is about the same as choosing between Chocolate, Vanilla or Strawberry ice cream and as inconsequential.

Spitfire is a SMOD class and does not measure in as an F16.

Let us suppose that you are right. In this case, why waste time and money in submissions, test pilots travel expenses, overseers expenses, secretarys expenses, committe members expenses, trials, commitee meetings, written conclusions, other commitee meetings in another country, etc.? ISAF could and should spend this time and money in useful things. In the end the old guys in the council do whatever they want, so why bother with all this? I guess we all know the answer: money.
It goes like this:
I would ask the local sailing federation to pay my sailing vocations in Spain, eeeeer, Olympic equipment trials in Spain then... politics!! Too bad the commodore knows the king, sails a SC15 and is first in line...

This is how ISAF, US Sailing and other federations work. And this is why I refuse to do anything but sailing. I don't like sailing "politics", just sailing.

BTW, this was just an example, our country isn't sending anyone to "trials", "commitees" and the like.

Take care,

Except for the manufacturer.

That's easy... the N17 is a new design, the Nacra F16 is also a new flavor in the F16 world. Nobody has sailed them yet.. The Spitfire probably is not known in Asia or North South America... so... you have a trial, the sailors get to say these boats acceptable... these boats not... The politics is needed to get the max number of MNA's on board and willing to get a team to the Olympics.




OK.... just a standard rant against the powers in charge, sailing politics etc ....
No worries... but politics is the only way you get a consensus.

Would you be happy if the King just made a decree on classes and boats? ..

Were the 'Tranados' ever supplied by one manufacturer?

Technically, no. In reality, yes. By the end, only the Marstrom was deemed worthy by the competitors.

I think the Brits used a Grahm Eccles built boat that they thought was a bit better then Marstrom and would measure into the templates. ISAF forced a measurement standard on the masts though, which became SMOD for the cycle for competitive and economic reasons.

Flexibility in the class rules (Tornado) will lead to development and money spent... thus pricing the class out of the reach of many. SMOD changes the game from develop what you want...to find what you want in the production run.

(All of those old ISAF goats that Luiz just blasted get to study each boats class rules and figure out what the loopholes are... and what will have to be changed for ISAF to make it olympic .... Sounds like fun to me)

It is fun! It just happens to give an edge to the richer/smarter MNAs while less developed MNAs have a perfect excuse to spend other people's (or government) money to send useless politicians to the venue.

Again Luiz has nailed it.