I'm thinking about getting a blade or taipan and was wondering if anyone has any experience sailing the boat with about 360 lbs of crew. I will mostly be sailing the boat solo with 210 lbs, but occasionally the wife will come along. how does the boat handle with those weights?

I once sailed with 380 boat moved fine. <-- two up

Sailed once with 480, got to fly a hull. <-- three up, two on the traps. With lots of freeboard to spare.

This is of course on my blade.

You want to be careful with that. We destroyed two Hobie Pacific masts sailing 3-up in too much wind...

Paul

We were not trapping out.

ONLY TWO people were. I would NOT trap three people out on a super wing mast.

Yep, so were we...

Paul

Paul so you are saying, two people snapped a mast and you are pretty much giving me a warning to be carefull.

This is something new, F16 should be carefull when two persons are out on the wire?

I dont get it.

Two on the wire and Robi's butt on the beam. You were still contributing righting force against the mast's lever.

Todd,

Since no one is answering your question, I guess you know the answer, N20! Even better just continue to be my crew:)

Who said, I was on the windward beam?

Hmm good point, what was I thinking?
Double trapped, hull flying, and the skipper is on the leeward hull. Sounds wet.

Very wet! and a lot of fun! ahhahahahhaha
Brand new blade $13+k
Harnesses $200
Look on my wife and her best friend face while trapped out and I get soaking wet! PRICELESS!

OK, fair enough

Paul

Not only the loads on the mast but on the platform. I have ripped the rear beam out of one hull on two boats whilst pushing them in big breeze with excessive weight. ie 2 on the wire (120 kg) off a one man boat.

Also found heavier crews may need to beef their boats up a little more than lighter crews, such as trap gear bow tangs ect.......

Should be no problem at all.

Todd,

Here is the full story.

I see you have two requirements/wishes

-1- I will mostly be sailing the boat solo with 210 lbs

-2- but occasionally the wife will come along. how does the boat handle with those weights?

I have one counter question ; how much will you and your wife weight combined ?



With respect to point -1- I can be very short. Absolutely no problem at all.

All F16's are designed and build to stand AT LEAST the full rigors that a highly competitive racing crew of 2 persons and 350 lbs can put it under in the most extreme conditions. As far as I know all current builders have set themselfs a (higher) garanteed limit of 180 kg = 400 lbs.

There is simply no way a singlehanded sailor can ever come near any of these limits. That is from a stress and damage point of view.

Now from the point of performance. I truly feel that the F16 is one of the most attractive options when singlehanding at the higher weight ranges. Forgive me when I say that you fall in that group. F16 is already a good singlehander but in addition to that it just gets better with higher solo weights. The only real competition to the F16 I recognise are the A-cats. Inter-17 and FX-one are one step down and beyond that there is just nothing.

I sail my own F16, and actually race it often singlehanded, at 190 lbs. At the beginning of the season I start out at 200 lbs though ! :-) And I'm pleased at how it performs singlehanded. The 15 sq. mtr. mainsail and 2.5 mtr. width does really help it perform at these solo crew weights. At least that is my experience when racing the other makes.


Blade or Taipan ? When looking only at point -1- then I think that isn't much difference between the two design at all. So either way will be fine.



Now when looking at point -2-

As said earlier, all current builder garantee their product to 180 kg = 400 lbs, as is a requirement by the European Union. Not many crews will come that high. Afterall it means two guys of 90 kg = 200 lbs each. No I don't assume for a second that your wife comes in at 190 lbs. So in the way of construction, no problemo.

In the way of performance the story is slightly more nuanced. The optimal weight range for the doublehanded F16's in a competitive racing sense and when having sails cut to suit your crew weight is :

120 kg (265 lbs) to 160 kg (350 lbs)

I'm racing it doublehanded (I do both racing 1-up and 2-up just not at the same time !) at about 145 kg's = 320 lbs. But like others I have sailed and even races it with as much as 170 kg (375 lbs).

Ohh I almost forgot; I took Phill Brander out on my boat on time and back then we were close to 180 kg overall (400 lbs) it was quite rough even. I own a Taipan F16.

So I concurr with the others that the F16's maintain a good level of behaviour up to their garanteed limit. The Blade more so then the Taipan if I may believe the reports coming in and my own experiences with my Taipan. The racing limit to crew weight is lower then that and under 160 kg is best. Once again if you are looking to race doublehanded then have your mainsail cut to suit your expected crew weight. This makes a noticeable difference.


I do believe that the Blade F16 is more forgiving in crew weight (some owners report it carries weight quite well) then the Taipan F16. If you will be sailing above 160 kg often then I advice you to seriously consider the Blade F16. From 150 kg and up the Blade is the better boat especially in considerable chop. The Taipan will be alright till the chop is high enough to not more then occasionally hit the mainbeam. The Blade sits alot higher on the water and no amount of chop or waves will see its mainbeam hit them. In light winds and relatively flat water I've been pleasantly surprised at how well the Taipan F16 does. So please note the differences between the boats are never too large and no boat is absolutely better then the other over the full spectrum of the sailing conditions.




ehhh oops ! I'm just seeing now that your combined crew weight is given as 360 lbs.

Ahh well the analysis above is still correct.






Personally, I think you have no serious alternative then the F16's under the conditions that you specify. A-cat drops away because of 360 lbs doublehanded weight and the Inter-17/FX-one are more geared to exclusive singlehanding as well. You can get jib setups for them but I have hardly ever seen them. Nor are these setups actively promoted by their class assiociations. Which is a pitty as I feel that the FX-one is better as a doublehander then a singlehander. That is a result of its bouyancy distribution, large daggerboards and stiff mast.

It is true that you'll be in the upper range of (US) F16 crews, but I really do believe that getting the right cut mainsail will go a very long way in making you competitive with all others in the optimal weight range. When singlehanding you'll probably have a small edge over the lighter crews as here weight on the wire when going upwind is important. The spinnaker will negate the normally typical advantage of the lighter crews on the downwind legs.

My preference would go out to the Blade if you are considering racing your boat often.


I hope this helps

Wouter

No Wouter, it's just not possible for you. You followed that 5 word answer with a 24 line, 259 word statement expounding upon that.
I couldn't resist.

No, Lance, I said that I CAN be short about it, that doesn't mean I WILL be short about it !

There is a difference !

Wouter

Come on now, this story keeps changing..
Anyway three little guys.

[quote [/quote]Who said, I was on the windward beam?

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