Class Development
The F16 class has a modest following in the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia and class associations have been formed there. The key areas within these regions are Florida/Maryland/California, UK/Netherlands/Belgium/Germany, Singapore/Thailand, New South Wales and Victoria. But during the years 2005 and 2006 the class grew in unlikely places like Shanghai (China), Finland, Arab Emirates and places in the USA like Arizona and New Mexico. The class grows as much in areas new to beach cat sailing as well growing in volume in the traditional beach cat regions. The F16 class is therefore trail blazing a path for a large beach catamaran scene in these places. This is to a large extent due to low-cost home-buildable plans being available next to commercially sold ready-to-sail boats. A good number of these homebuilt wood/epoxy boats race and are very competitive with the glass/vinylester production boats.
The most notable event for F16's in their short history was held in April 2007 where the best 20 teams of the various US sport catamaran classes were invited to compete on Blade F16's for the Alter Cup. The Alter Cup is a long-running annual championship of catamaran champions named after Hobie Alter who made beach catamaran sailing a very popular sport worldwide in the 1970s.
In October 2009, the F16's were again used for the Alter Cup event. This time AHPC provided Viper F16's to the organisation for their use. An unprecedented honor for a class that is still as young as the F16 class.
In November 2010 the Formula 16 Class was granted Recognised Status by the International Sailing Federation the world governing body for the sport. The Formula 16 catamaran had effectively completed its journey from a quirky, enthusiast's catamaran to the mainstream of international sailing.
Read more about this topic: Formula 16 (sailing)
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