F16 cat

It's unlikely there'll be anyone from the US on this forum, but have you had a look at the www.catsailor.com F16 forum?

There are race results for Blades v F18 on there, or at least links to them.

Originally posted by gary145 oh crikey aren't most of the F16 different to each other? even the same makes?? Gary

 

They are a formula class.  That is the point, you can (to an extent) tailor them to your needs.  Means a little bit of £ to make it how you want.  But then it is right!

Me again.

In the Netherlands there is an importer of Blade cats and a builder.
Does anyone know the price difference ? And are there any differences between the designs ?

Regards,

Gill

Originally posted by Gilo If I read reviews and comments, a spitfire and Stealth seem the only ones sailed by a 2-headded crew often. So I'll take one of those 2 I guess ... ?

The Blade and Taipan, like all F16s are regularly sailed 2-up.  Matt McDonald came second overall sailing 2-up on a Blade F16 in the Harken distance series last year in the US. 

Personally, I sail my Blade both 1-up and 2-up.  I've only really had experience on this boat in one open event.  I found the performance very much comparable to a Spitfire, and my feeling is that given an equal crew, it should be a bit quicker.

I think there may also be a second hand Blade for sale in the Netherlands - you should speak to Hans Klok at Catamaranparts and try to get a sail on both boats.

Paul

Gilo,

If a Spitfire is competitive then any F16 is more than competitive. I don't know where you'd find results of Spitfire against F16, but from experience the two are very evenly matched although the F16 is rated faster. I suspect that there is a lot more to come from the F16 platform than has so far been found....

My own Stealth has T-foils and there has been much discussion about the pros/cons on the Catsailor forums - www.catsailor.com

If you do a search for T-foil you should find several good threads. The short answer though; no, they don't seem to slow you down at all (well maybe in really light winds >5mph), in fact they speed you up - in heavy wave conditions they keep the boat level upwind so no pitching, and downwind they keep the bows up so strongly that you can power much harder than you'd believe possible.

All the F16s sail well one or two-up. It is, after all, the central benefit of the class (a Spitfire isn't competitive one-up) and all the deigns handle both modes very well. I'm probably slightly more competitive two up, but that's just me .

Formula classes are undoubtedly the way forward, and of those, only the F16 can offer an ultra light platform that can be sailed one or two-up! Price wise, they also give an incredible amount of 'bang for your buck'!