F16 Europeans: Blade F16

Photo: Marco Iazzetta – Blade F16

Photos by Marco Iazzetta-
The Blade F16 was developed specifically for the Formula 16 box rule, it was designed in Australia by Phil Brander and Ian Marcovitch in 2003. The pioneer wave piercing in the F16? For sure looking back, a quite modern hull comparing the newest F16/F18 topguns. The Blade set a big path in the F16 designs queue that influenced the new breed: Viper, Falcon and Aqua Raptor. The Stealth is from a previous generation, two of them racing at Como, but no pics available yet.
Lots of home made plywood Blades built with plans provided by the designers and also was/is offered by several manufacturers in USA, Europe and Australia.
The Blade F16 helped in a big way to stablish the F16 class, also made possible by entusiast amateur sailors, some of them took care of key administrative issues and pushed forward enforcing rules and organizing regattas, and others also dedicated some serious time to drawing and developing fast crafts. The important thing will always be transforming a concept into reality.
Photo left: Phill Brander.

Blade Manufactures:
www.formulacatamarans.com
www.falconmarinellc.com