Where are the Taipan 4.9's?

There used to be a fleet of Taipan 4.9's at Gulfport. Are they still there and still racing? I haven't heard anything about them recently.

Okay, I see 10 F16's registered for the A-Class/F16 Invitational at Gulfport. How many of those F16's are Taipan 4.9's? ANY of them? Or are they all Blades? Any other F16's BESIDES Blades?

I think at least one or two are Tai Pans. Where is Rick's Tai Pan? You could bring it up, race it or charter it or sell it there.

You are begging the question. What happened to all the Taipans at Gulfport? Where are they? Why aren't they participating in the F16 races? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Seth's is still there and he races it often, Jen sold hers, it went north, I don't know where the rest went.

Mary,

At this time all 10 registered F16's for the invitational are Blade F16's.

Looking over the class data, there appear to be almost twice as many Blade F16's in the USA now then Taipans and this ratio will only grow as AHPC does not sell any Taipans to USA (or EU) anymore.

Personally I did expect Seth to enter the invitational on his Taipan; he usually did in the past.

Wouter

Seth still has his, Stefan bought Fred's. Last I spoke with Stefan, he and Seth will sail together on one of those boats for the invitational.

I think Seth has new sails, so . . .

the snake will be on the water....

Everyone watch out!!!!!

Great Seth

Okay that makes 11 F16's and 11 A-cats for the Gulfport invitational !

With two boats you guys should have enough spare parts this time ! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> (joke !)

Wouter

Don't be so sure wout.
Destruction is guaranteed if it is blowing.

So WHY don't you know where the rest went? Isn't somebody in the class trying to keep track of all the F16's and who has them and where they go? How are you supposed to keep communicating with the people who have them?

Sorry, but this is just basics for fleet-building and class-building.

Clearly, you've never tried to herd cats! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Mary,

We can only keep track of F16 boat owners who care to register themselves with the US F16 class association. A few Taipans were sold to new owners who then disappeared of the radar. For a long time I kept track of all boats but they are becoming too many to keep doing this. Also, boats are now more often sold outside of the catsailor forum or classifieds.

It is simply not so easy as you make it appear to be; i.e. "fleet-building and class-building basics".

Wouter

Well, we've been doing it for over 40 years. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

It's not YOUR job, Wouter. It is the job of the people in the immediate area to keep track.

Well Mary, I thought that was YOUR job! (I'm kidding of course) But you actually OWN a Tai Pan 4.9, why don't you show up and race it, that would "build the fleet" too. Or sell it to someone who is interested in racing it. I think the best place to advertise it would be at a F16 regatta, where there are already people interested in the class.

I can't (legaly) chase down every F16 sold and then force the new owners to pay their $20, join the class, show up at regattas, etc. And maybe they don't want to race. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

We have a web site, that's better than a news letter these days. But I can't force them to use it.

If they want in, it's pretty easy to find info on the regattas, etc. If people want to join the class, fine, and I would be happy to take any prospective buyers out on my boat, but I'm not going to drag them in, kicking and screaming, it's just not for everyone.

Great possibility to air one of my pet peeves Timbo.



A newsletter will reach the recipent without demanding action on the recipients side. To visit a website, you actually have to do quite a lot (remember adress etc.). That is why I am so hung up in having the possibility to subscribe to the forum with e-mail and have either a daily digest sent or every message. You ned to push information wherever possible <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You need to maintain contact with people who own boats in your class, regardless of whether they are interested in racing. You need to keep them "in the loop" informationwise.

Rolf is right that a newsletter is the best way to do that. Websites are NOT better than paper newsletters. The demise of paper newsletters that go to the mailbox (or at least to their e-mail box) is one of the reasons sailing is declining. And you do NOT, EVER, say, "Well, I am not going to send a newsletter to somebody who is not willing to pay their dues." You have to maintain contact, at all costs.

As far as Rick and me and our Taipan, I'm sure you all know that we are getting pretty old. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> And everybody knows that we are successfully building our Wave fleets in two different locations.

What I am saying is that you guys can do the same thing with your F16 fleet if you just keep sending information to people. It makes a HUGE difference.

That's why we keep sending our magazine to lots of people who don't even pay for it. As soon as you drop them off your newsletter just because they don't pay, they are lost forever.

Some people can't afford it. Some people temporarily drop out of sailing because of children, school, illness, work or whatever. But you need to keep sending them the information and keeping sailing in their minds so they will come back to it when they are able. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yeah,

But a newsletter only reaches the persons already being a member while a website and forum can reach a MUCH larger audience and thus promote the class to all important new comers !

Wouter

That is true. But once you have a fleet developing, you cannot rely upon a web site to keep in contact with the fleet members. You have to almost literally put the information in their hands on an ongoing basis.

Our sailing club sends every club member an e-mail two or three times a week about upcoming events and meetings and activities. And on top of that Rick sends an e-mail twice a week to all of our Wave sailors, both local and distant, reminding them about our Wave racing locally. Even the people who are too far away to come to the local series races are motivated by at least seeing that others are doing it and having fun. And it makes them feel included in the class, just knowing that somebody cares enough to send them information.

In the old days we used to do all that contacting every week by telephone, so e-mail has been a big help. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Mary is spot on IMHO!

Ditto
I received an email last night from a guy on our fleet's email that hasn't owned a boat in over a year (taking a hiatus raising kids and finishing school), just wanting to chat about sailing. We keep track of boats locally and across two divisions by word of mouth. The boat we currently race, was raced/owned by Dave Popp & Tami Sontag of Wisconsin. Dave developed arthritis and the boat sat in his garage for six years, plus, they had moved to Indiana during that time. Long story but, when Dave realized (succumbed) to the fact they would no longer race, his boat became available to us via this constant contact. The "network" supplied us multiple opportunities when the time was right for us to jump in. I'm glad no one scratched them from the list when they stopped racing,

Another point. Approximately 10% of the people on our email list actually race, 20% don't currently own boats. Thanks for reminding me of the snail mail newsletter Mary, I haven't sent one out since '06 <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> Time to get out that purple print paper.

Sorry this response is late. No time last night and I just got in from the baseball park (kids games started this week). Here is the breakdown of F16s in the US. This does not necessarily mean they are active or are members of the Class Association - it just means they have a boat. Some are certainly questionable.

52 total F16s in the US

Taipan 4.9 + spi (16 total)
Arkansas 1
California 1
Florida 6
Georgia 1
Maryland 4
New York 1
Ohio 1
Texas 1


Blade F16 (32 total)
Alabama 1
Arizona 1
California 1
Canada 1
Connecticut 1
Florida 9
Georgia 2
Illinois 3
Maryland 4
Michigan 1
New Mexico 1
New York 1
South Carolina 1
Tennessee 2
Texas 1
Virginia 1
Vermont 1

AHPC Viper F16 (1 total)
Florida 1

G-cat F16 (1 total)
Florida 1 (status unknown)

Mystere 5.0XL + Spi (1 total)
Florida 1

Nacra 5.0 + Spi (1 total)
California 1

To give some idea of how hard it is to locate every boat, consider the case of Taipan #032.

Michael Coffman (Gulfport) imported it as a used boat from Australia. Then he sold it to Dave Ellis (Gulfport) who sold it to Kirby Haws (Daytona) who sold it to Paul Alatorre of Tennessee. Paul, a casual lake sailor, parted out the extra sails and sold me the spin rig, main and extra jib. I had intended on using them to build up my Mystere 5.0XL into an F16 since the Mystere 5.0XL was one of the original grandfathered F16 boats. However, I bought a bigger Mystere 5.5 and sold the M5.0 so that project is dead. I recently sold the 5.5 and just last Sunday found a long-retired Nacra 5.0 with bad sails. I plan to rig the Nacra with the Taipan #032 mainsail and jib along with its spinnaker (a slightly smaller 16 sq meter Glazer F16 spin). That will make it somewhat F16-ish but I have no intention of sailing buoys with you zealots. Did I mention that I'm currently sailing a Dart 18 until the N5.0 is rigged up?

My point? While some of you guys with mid-west values get married to your boats for life, many boats and sailors are just whores. Boats move from sailor to sailor. Sailors move from boat to boat. We lie between their hulls, get all hot and bothered for a while, then get bored and move on the next pretty face. Free love, baby, yeah! Love the one your with! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Children of the sixties, I guess. You had to be there. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

There are more.

For example there is at least 1 Blade and 1 Taipan in Texas. There is also another Taipan in Michigan. With respect to Taipans the last count had just over 20 in the USA, if my memory is still working right.

Wouter

Doc Poulsen told me of a Stealth in NoCal (this was '05)

David, so #032 is still in Tennessee? Got contact info for Mr. Alatore? I'm interested.

and the eagle fly with the dove

You are right !

That is this boat with the owner lifting it, it think he is named Mark Talla ?

A person very difficult to reach.




Wouter

Yes, there's a Stealth in a garage in So. California. Also, there's another Taipan to add to the list--#300, I think it is in New Mexico.

If the Stealth is looking for new home, perhaps you could contact him and suggest offering it here?

Owned. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Well I'll be...congratulations Gary!

That's a nice-looking boat<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Indeed !

Are you changing your name to "StealthGary" now ?

Humm, sounds a bit too slick doesn't it.

I hope to see (you and) that boat out more often then the former owner !

Welcome to the club !

Wouter

Welcome! When do we get the sailing report?

OK, what's with Stealth guys and white sox at the beach?