Phil Palmer Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 Well I reackon this F16 thing could be pretty good thing. The benfits of reasonable boat weights and flexability of being able to sail one up or two would be great. Has anyone heard if the big players like Hobie and Nacra are going to produce their own versions of a F16. Surely their marketing machines would have had a whiff of oportunity to get some boat sales out of the Class. Happy sailing, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 I will ask the Nacra boys. I do know that the 16sq has been racing in QLD with kites quite successfully and none of the sailors have had major drama's adapting to them. It has added about 5 minutex to the rigging and unrigging, and makes the downwind return a blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wouter Posted September 28, 2004 Report Share Posted September 28, 2004 Currently both Nacra and Hobie are sticking with their 17 foot designs. nacra has started calling the old Inter 17 the Formula 17, even there is no F17 rule set. Marketing ploy I say. And Hobie is entirely hooked on their FX-one which is arguably a better boat then the Inter 17 (Non US version) I guess we'll need to proof ourselfs a bit more before both Nacra and Hobie get into the F16 class. Please use the F16 forum at ... for your future posts : http://www.catsailor.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=Fleet45 This is the only official F16 forum. Wouter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Palmer Posted October 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 Just doesn't make sense when Hobie is so well entrenched in the F18 that they arent going to look at F16, I doubt that the FX-1 is going to do much in Aus as there's nothing similar to race against. THere must be some other deterant for these guys not to be getting involved. Anyone got some clues as to why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wouter Posted October 6, 2004 Report Share Posted October 6, 2004 >>THere must be some other deterant for these guys not to be getting involved. Anyone got some clues as to why? had contact with part of the big boys in the past. I won't tell which one. At the time F16 was still younger and I think they didn't see much benefit in switching over. Another argument is that it is a big ask for these big boys to start producing boats that are unbeleivably lightweight and high quality. Especially if they have to compete with the likes of AHPC. The F16 is arguable outside of their prefered playing field. Still I would love to have them on board. With respect to I-17 and FX-one in Aus. I think they are non issues as they will have to race the Taipans and that is a whole lot of competition for these 135-150 kg singlehanders. Not to speak of the A-cats. One other thing. Formula 16 class is fully independent minded. We all know that one Big Boy is very Single manufacturer One design minded. In my opinion Formula 16 is pretty "out there" from the perspective of the big boys. I do see their "problem" though. They can never boost the current 17 footer to the performance level of either the Taipan or F16's. It is simply not in the performance determining ratios of these boats. So they either need to compete us out or join and catch up with builders like AHPC. A tough choice, I think. Can we please move this discussion to the official F16 forum ? At : http://www.catsailor.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=Fleet45 Wouter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catsailor.net Posted October 7, 2004 Report Share Posted October 7, 2004 Wouter, This forum is for all users to have their say in Australia and overseas if they wish. The main aim is to give an Australian flavour to the issues. If people wish to post on this forum - let them do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 8, 2004 Report Share Posted October 8, 2004 The F16 is getting a showing in the UK with some great sailing. http://www.swell-catamarans.co.uk is the manufacturer of the Spitfire which is a nice little boat. Also have a look at http://www.spitfiresailing.org.uk/index.asp and go to the photos page and then have a look at the videos. You will probably need broadband for the first one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wouter Posted October 8, 2004 Report Share Posted October 8, 2004 Dear Admin, >>This forum is for all users to have their say in Australia and overseas if they wish. The main aim is to give an Australian flavour to the issues. If people wish to post on this forum - let them do it. Well, make a general forum where they can share their fews. It is not that the official forum discriminates against the Australian flavour. All the other F16 Australians (the bulk) are using the official F16 forum. This forum only makes us look inactive as not much is happening here. Surely you agree that that is never a good thing for a starting class. I seriously propose to end this forum in favour of using the official one. Will make us all happier. You guys here will get answers to your questions and the other 95 % of the class may enjoy your posts. And as the F16 class chairman I think I have some ground to request such a thing. Pardon my directness here but I want to be clear. Wouter Chairman Formula 16 class Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyj Posted October 9, 2004 Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 Since Iam in a voting mood today. I vote that this site stays. I also vote that it becomes the offical Australian F16 site. For any one who wants to discuss F16 topics with an Australian flavour. Regards Tony Jenkins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mal gray Posted October 9, 2004 Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 The answer is quite simple really. If even the sailors from the only class in Australia that is suitable for F16 (Taipan 4.9) are not interested in F16, then Australians are just not interested. We are a small country with a lot of water, and a few people who are spread out over hundreds of thousands of miles. We cannot continue to foster new classes unless we lose some of our existing ones. Hobie are not going to build a new 16 class to compete with the most popular catamaran in the world. The Hobie 16 is still popular after all this time because you can rig it in minutes, sail with your wife, son, girlfriend, daughter and race against others all around the world. Adding a spinnaker, SUBSTANTIALLY adds to the complication, rigging time, not to mention the expense. The Hobie16 would be a crap F16 and I don't think anyone cares. Its great for what it is. Sometimes you just have to let go. [This message has been edited by mal gray (edited 10 October 2004).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Palmer Posted October 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 >> All the other F16 Australians (the bulk) are using the official F16 forum. This forum only makes us look inactive as not much is happening here. Surely you agree that that is never a good thing for a starting class. Actually Wout, success of a Class is inversally proportional to the number of Posts, eg Hobie Forum with oodles of boats hasn't changed in over a year!! Seriously though, you need to realize that catsailor.NET is a good supporter and sponsor of catsailing and racing here and as such its not really appropraite to avoid using the site. I'm certain everyone here knows that that if you go to the .COM board you'll get a broader and possinly better quality input. As such I've used both at times depending on the circumstance. Hey Mal, r u taking the 16 to Hervey Bay in November? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mal gray Posted October 10, 2004 Report Share Posted October 10, 2004 You Betcha! There will be a great fleet with all your Mackay guys, the Bundyboyz and lots of Brissos coming due to the fact that HB is the venue for the 2005 Hobie states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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