Charters Boats available for 2015 European Championship.
Full boat ready to sail dispatch at the sailing club.
Week Rate 1.200 euro
Insurance full coverage : 240 euro
Additional days : 150 euro/day

Contact: Stéphane Etienne

What looked like to become an edition with very little sailing ended well with 2 races today and the sun coming out in the end.

For the F16 class this was a key event as we wanted to break with the rating sailing and go for an F16 ranking.
Over the last months we have been grasping what sailors really wanted and most of them were keen on going as F16, with the result that over 15 boats registeredas F16.

And the racing was great.
On the Friday we had 15 up to 22 knots and did 3 races. ‘Des conditions cousteaux’ as the French say.
With the inner/outer loop principle we had a long dogleg which was a survival leg for all teams in the last race.

The Belgian youth teams were fighting it out with Manu Lechapelier for first on day 1. 3 teams had 7 points after 3 races. Another French team and Gill De Bruyne followed on equal points for place 4 and 5.

On Sunday there were 2 more races in again windy conditions. Henri&Alec secured the lead with Manu following in second. A great battle showing what the F16 class is all about.

For the class Eurocat was a great success as most F16 compliant boats registered as F16, preferring the class spirit above individual gain with ratings.

A big thanks to all sailors registering as F16 and to Antoine Menieur andStephane Etienne for the support to make this happen in the rating driven French sailing world.

Full results here: http://www.yccarnac.com/files/Documents/Regate/Eurocat/Resultats/overall%20F16.pdf

Almost time for the first big international event of the season: Eurocat Carnac!

This is a classic regatta not to be missed! 3 days of sailing of which 1 long distance day. Get ready and join us. And we have great news! We will have a separate F16 ranking (as soon as we have 15 boats registered). Scoring in real time = the best! And we will have a spot on the beach close to the small parking area where we will showcase 6 F16 cats. Join us for this great international cat sailing event in France (May 1) as an F16 and enjoy:

– an open free bar during registration

– specific F16 goodies to be picked up at the F16 tent (when signing up as F16, you will get a free waterproof bag for your smart phone. This is sponsored by the WindLive Tracking project which shall allow all F16 to replay their race over and over, and over … so bring your smart android device, there will also be a limited number of device for rent (10€/3 days), please notify up-front if you need one)

– an open free plancha on Friday evening

– an open free rhum ‘arrangé’ testing on Saturday evening

– free snacks and drinks on the water between the races (Yellow Rib)

– GPS race tracking

Register here: http://www.yccarnac.com/registration.html

Get your mind set on the new sailing season!

Join us for our spring training at lake of Como.
The 3-day training consists of on the water coaching and debriefing on land
Cost: €150 / boat (if we manage enough subscribers).

Dear Sailors, friends and supporters,

The year 2014 has passed and overall we believe it was a successful one. Although the class is still suffering from the losses due to the new Olympic catamaran, we managed to offer a decent service for the sailors and organized a whole bunch of high class events. In 2014 our Belgian and Dutch friends got their Class Associations running and in U.K we noticed vital signs as well. Our friends in the U.S.A. saw a change in their management, as Mark Thomson took over from Daniel Hearn as a chairman in summer. Thanks to Kathleen from TheBoatShop.be in Belgium, the website was refurbished and can be managed with state-of-the-art tools. Stéphane and Antoine did a brilliant job in getting our financial issues solved and in summer 2014, the International Class Association was finally registered in France. The Chairman attended the International Annual Meeting of ISAF in Palma de Mallorca in November to further push the visibility of the Formula 16 Class. Meanwhile the Class Association is fully workable and the Executive Committee would like to express its gratitude to everyone involved in those big achievements. And we are very happy noticing an overall growth of the class worldwide, as the amount of ISAF stickers purchased indicates.

Almost every National Class Association started the sailing season with race clinics for the advanced as well as trainings for beginners. In Europe, Gill De Bruyne combined delivering new boats with a training event at Lago di Como and in the U.S. Robbie Daniel offered lots of possibilities for trainings as well. The highlights of our sailing season surely were the Worlds in the U.S. sailing-hotspot Newport/RI and the Europeans in Le Touquet on the Channel coast. Both events had more than 30 boats registered and both events got attention in the mass media. But all the other events, ranging from big regattas like Carnac or Texel, and the Nationals in most of our member countries, down to the many club events worldwide are important as well, as they provide the platform for our understanding of sailing.

In summer we started a campaign to promote the Formula 16 boats as the next ISAF youth multihull. ISAF had announced that the forthcoming youth catamaran should be equipped with dagger boards and a spinnaker, which in turn ends the era of the current youth boats Sirena SL16 as well as the Hobie16. ISAF asked for offers and although the Class Association can’t do that, we tried to convince the ISAF to not add another new boat to the park, but instead choose F16 boats as they have proven their potential for youth sailing.

The year 2015 will be challenging. In January, we as the Formula16 Class will show up at the Worlds’ biggest boat show in Düsseldorf, Germany. Here we will be part of a “Multihull-Forum”, where all aspects of multihull sailing will be presented to the sailing world. For our class, this boat show will be another chance to promote the F16 class to ISAF as the next youth multihull, as the decision on this issue was postponed in Palma last year. But the more important message will be showing the versatility of the F16 class, which is unmatched in beach catamaran sailing.

As we decided in Newport on Worlds every 2 years, there will only be Continental Championships in 2015. In Europe, Cesenatico on the Adriatic coast, Italy, will host the Europeans 2015. There will be Nationals in Australia and in the U.S.A, which in fact are Continentals as well. The European sailing season will start with clinics in France and Italy. All events will be published in our race calendar by the end of January. And we are still open for bids for the Worlds 2016. So far, the U.S.A. and Australia have declared their interest.

The Management Committee wishes you a lucky season. May the best ones win the races and we hope that all of you will help us in promoting some of the best boats around.

All the best

Thomas
President F16 class

Sun, wind and a great region to spend your holidays! F16 Europeans 2015 venue is Cesenatico, Italy!

Cesenatico Event Venue

Agenda for a great week of sailing and meeting fellow F16 sailors:

– Saturday July 18: Measurement
– Sunday July 19: Measurement  and training races 

– Monday July 20: 3 races
– Tuesday July 21: 3 races
– Wednesday July 22: Class Meeting – 3 races – BBQ
– Thursday July 23: 3 races and Price Giving 
– Friday July 24: reserve day

Cesenatico Atmosphere

Join us for a great event in the summer of 2015!

Last weekend the Belgian Nationals took place in Oostduinkerke, the West Coast of Belgium. It was a combined event with the F18 nationals. This way we could have as many boats on the starting line as possible. Weather predictions were very favorable: we would have the last Belgian summer day on Saturday with 12-18 knots from the South (meaning no waves) and a chilly Sunday with light winds from the North. Predictions were almost right 😉

On Saturday all teams arrived at the beach around 10 o’clock to rig their boats and to make sure everything was tuned in for the correct wind conditions. Sun was shining and 52 boats were lining up at the start! 19 of these 52 boats were F16 teams, what a great turn-out! A lot of Dutch teams came over for this event in Belgium and also some French teams. Great to see all these F16 sailors!

First start was at 13h. All 52 boats were very eager to start and we had our first general recall. In total 3 races were sailed on Saturday and every starting procedure had a general recall with a black flag start afterwards. We even managed to get a general recall with the black flag start, very pushy fleet!

3 races were sailed, each consisting of 3 laps. Around 15 knots of wind, but very shifty due to the land wind. Almost no waves and quite some current. On day 1 in the F16 fleet the youth teams were showing their sailing skills again. Henri Demesmaeker (Viper) won the first race of that day and Philip Hendrickx (Falcon) won the 2 last races of that day. Other youth teams performing well: Stef Haazen (Falcon) and Sanne Wielenga (Nacra).

During the 4^th starting procedure starting was suddenly cancelled. We all sailed back to shore and luckily all boats made it back in time before a big storm hit shore. Suddenly a Force 7 wind out of the North was stirring up the sea.

We all tied down our boats and took cover in the beach club were pasta was served. This was a great first day of this Belgian Nationals. We had sunshine, nice winds, 3 races and a big fleet to race with. Everybody went to sleep happily and wondering what the next day would bring. Prediction was for very light winds so we hoped we would manage to sail some more races.

Day 2 started very cold, with still a lot of wind leftover from the previous day’s storm. Blowing out of the North the sea reminded me of Round Texel. Launching trough the surf with the wind head on would probably be a bit challenging. Start was at 11 o’clock so all competitors would be able to drive back home in time. Racing committee did an outstanding job really pushing the starts one right after the other. This way we managed to sail another 4 races on Sunday. Wind was not as predicted. We could still double trap most of the time and the waves made it even more challenging. You really had to keep the pressure on to drive through the waves. Also today the fleet decided they wanted to practice their starts: 3 general recalls out of 4 races. Youth teams Philip and Henri knew this day would be the battle between the 2 of them, they are a real match. First race was won by Philip. Second race by Henri. Third race by Philip and the last race was won by Henri. Returning at the beach both teams did not know who would be the winner of this event. They had a photo finish and so the mystery remained until the price giving: very exciting! Price giving revealed that Philip Hendrick and Filip Olyslaeger (Falcon) were the big winners of the Belgian Nationals F16 2014, congratulations! Also congratulations to the other 2 youth teams taking 2^nd place (Henri Demesmaeker and Emile Van Holsbeke, Viper) and 3^rd place (Stef Haazen and Stijn Van daele, Falcon).

Picture of the podium

Top 5 Belgian F16 Nationals

1/Philip Hendrickx/Filip Olyslaeger – Falcon – 8pts
2/Henri Demesmaeker/Emile Van Holsbeke – Viper – 9pts
3/Stef Haazen/Stijn Van daele – Falcon – 18pts
4/Aurélie Van Schoote/Thomas Vandenbossche – Falcon – 29pts
5/Gill De Bruyne/Kathleen Vandenbulcke – Falcon – 32pts

Full results can be found here: http://sycod.be/mediastorage/FSDocument/36/Results_OCB_-F18-F16-C3.pdf

September 20-21, the Open Dutch Championships F16 were held in Hellevoetsluis. Sixteen F16 teams were competing, of which 11 Dutch and 5 Belgian teams. Nine youth teams were present.

On Saturday the weather forecast showed light wind expectations. The day started foggy, but luckily this passed slowly so that the wind strength could build up to about 10 knots. Four races were sailed on Saturday. Froukje Feenstra and Sanne van Hek were on fire that day and finished with a 2^nd place in the first race, continued by winning the other three races! This gave them a nice lead on the rest of the fleet.

Belgian teams were also pretty quick in the light breeze. Team Hendrickx / Olyslager were in 2^nd place and Schoote / Baque on 3rd place at the end of the day. Followed by Erwin Kerstens / Jaap Straakenbroek on 4^th and Robin & Sander Mineur on 5^th place.

Sunday was a totally different day with stronger winds, about 18 average and gusts over 25knts.  For some teams this meant a good opportunity to catch up in points and ranking, especially for Dutchies Sanne Wielenga / Thomas the Jong, who sailed really well and consistent, finishing four times in 3rd!  The Belgian teams were also very fast in the breeze! Henri Demesmaeker / Emile van Holsbeke were unstoppable and Philip Hendrickx / Filip Olyslager defended their 2^nd position. Froukje Feenstra and Sanne van Hek had a though day and definitely won the capsize challenge! Though day!

This resulted in a very well deserved win for Henri and Emile! Philip and Filip in second, followed by Froukje and Sanne who still had enough points from Saturday to represent the Netherlands on the podium.

Full results here: http://www.hellecat.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ONK-F-16-0141.htm

Report sent in by Froukje Feenstra, The Netherlands

6 and 7th of September the Belgian youth championships were sailed in Koksijde Yacht Club.

There were 3 categories: Dragoon (13 boats), C3 (SL16, Hobie Max, Hobie 16, Nacra 500) (13 boats) and F16 (10 boats).

In the F16 class 5 Belgian and 5 Dutch teams. With very little wind 3 races were sailed over the weekend.

A very exciting race up untill the end. Top 3 places had equal points just before the last race. Whoever won this last race would be crowned Youth Champ 2014!

All 3 boats arrived at the same time at the upwind buoy – and since there was only one round to be sailed due to the light wind – it was a very slow but super exciting downwind.

Philip Hendrickx and Filip Olyslager (BEL111, Falcon) won with 5 meter ahead on  Aurelie and Alec (BEL100, Falcon) and Henri Demesmaeker came in 3rd (BEL3, Viper).

Full results here