Just sailed a F16 Stealth

Originally posted by radixon Blimey, thats an essay and a half.

Slow morning in the office

Hi all (particularly Scooby)

With the Hurri all rigged and on the slipway a vicious hail storm swept though Ballyholme Bay and the winds whipped up. Although the squall passed, the RO took the sensible decision to abandon, given the forecast storms. But they didn't come (until last night).

So I'm just starting to derig when a friendly Stealth owner asked did I want a try out?

So his crew and mine derigged the Hurri, while I took the jib off the F16 and asked as many questions as poss before launching. This was the first time I had SH'd a cat apart from a D16 and MoB.

So what did I find, given that it was a very gusty day (ie power on-off-on-off) with moderate chop?

A decent windex would have been useful as I only had a bit of audio tape streaming from the pole. This meant I was having to watch the mainsail tell-tales and the advancing chop all at the same time. I tended to sail her slighly broad rather than risk pinching (without a jib to help me bear-off).

I found the cascaded downhaul hard work compared to my 10:1 Hurricane. I also expected the carbon mast to be more responsive at the tip, rather than just being a super light version of an aluminium mast.

I found the rubber UJs at each end of the tiller bar very sloppy compared to the pin-system of  the Hurri/ Tiger/Tornado. Ditto the tiller itself which was too bendy for my taste.

The sheet loads on the spinnaker were surprisingly high. The autoracthets held well but, if class rules allow, I would put a second block in the line to shre a bit more load.

The trapese handles were way too low (by about 8"). An easy one to fix but I'm surprised the boat was supplied like this. I see no point in having a trapeze handle  at "gut" height. Level with the collar-bone or sternum would be my choice.

That's the negative over with. What did I like?

Well obviously I did capsize (gust hit while I was retreiving the spinnaker and I still had the main cleated). Having a carbon mast makes righting soo much easier.

The kite was possbly the easiest hoist I have ever done (6mm line) it is set the same as my SX Hurri (except I use 5mm line) but much easier and quicker.

The kite pulls really nicely whether broad or tight. It also gybes well - with a short foot and no jib there's loads of room. The block is only a foot or so above the hounds so little chance of the mast inverting (although I cleated the mainsheet downwind just in case)

You can definitely feel the T-foils working when you get up to speed. Due to the trapeze problem I didn't feel confident enought to fly the kite from the wire (something I do regularly in the Hurri). I did push the nose in at one point, but as soon as I eased sail whe popped back up again. I fact, the Stealth is impressively quick downwind for a 16 footer. I didn't have enough hands to raise the boards downwind but I think that would helped still further. The steering was light  - neutral upwind and a hint of lee-helm downhill.

The mainsheet and particularly the traveller are very very easy to work.

Upwind the boat tended to slam  the chop a bit, showing its small size. However, once powered up and flying a hull she cut through the waves really well. Again, you have to choose your line carefully, those deep narrow boards need speed to work properly  - pinch at your peril.

The toestraps run from main-beam to rear beam. On the Hurricane they are part of the tramp at the front. beam to beam means you can get them tighter, which for a single hander is important as I need to be able to get my ankles tucked in without  too much fuss. (you also IMO use toestraps more in SH mode).

Bringing the boat back to shore was surprisingly easy. This boat launches from a narrow slip surrounded by rocks and the wind was directly off-shore. However, the boat behaved well with only one rudder and board and I was able to make a safe landing.

When it's not your boat you don't push it too much on the first go, especially as the conditions were so gusty. But I did enjoy it loads. Next time I'll get the trapeze lines sorted (and maybe beef up the tiller with a couple of bamboo poles). It's far more twichy than a Hurricane (maybe due to being half the weight) but I'll hopefully get the opportunity to dial it in. I'm still not sure about trying to raise (or lower) the kite as I pass through a fleet of 30 Lasers while steering with my back foot on the tiller. Happy to take advice on that one.

Thanks to Pete and Dee for letting me play and also to crew Neil for stoically putting the Hurricane to bed while I f ked off without a second thought!