Created : 12 march 2003
Last updated : 3 april 2003
Classification : general publication
Copyright : restricted freeware
The Formula 16 as a class was founded as a mix of elements from the Tornado, Formula 18 and A cat class while the dual use aspect of it can only be contributed to the Taipan 4.9 class. Although it must be said that the A class catamarans layed down much of the foundation on which the Taipan 4.9 class was build. From this observation and the fact that the Formula 16 class at the time of writing is represented in Australia, North America, Europe and South Africa we may conclude that the rightful place of the Formula 16 class will be among the three named international classes.
Our class logo must reflect this as well as satisfy other important requirements. But before we explain the Formula 16 class emblem we will first take a quick look at those of the F18, Tornado and A class catamarans.
The Formula concept in the field of catamarans was made trully succesful by the Formula 18 class. Any modern catamaran sailor has to recognise for the visionairy view of its founders and so too the newer Formula classes. Much becoming to what must have been a challenging beginning their logo is a simple but effective combination of a letter and a number with high expressive value.
The ability to adapt a design to changing technology and prosper as a result is best embodied in the long lived Tornado class. Over that time it has shown to provide undeniable performance that has demanded much respect ever since the design came to be. As the pinnacle of fleet racing on catamarans it is the aspired class for sailors of superior capability and its Olympic status is therefor much justified. Formula 16 catamarans share several important ratios with the Tornado design among which the important ratio between length and width and the undeniable advantage in performance over designs of equal length. As the Tornado class and A-class are the ultimate classes sailors aspire to succeed in so must the Formula 16 class be the class that sailors of both crew make-ups want to grow in.
The logo of the Tornado class is a stylish letter "T" positined above two bars depicting a schematized catamaran platform
On an equal standing to the Tornado class in the field of singlehanded racing we find the A-class catamarans. These masters of lightweight are the wapon of choice for the best of the best solo sailors. What holds true for the Tornado class holds true for the A-class catamarans with the exception of having an Olympic status. The Formula 16 class governs both doublehanded and singlehanded sailing on a pre-Tornado or pre A-class level using a single platform. So she relates to the A class catamaran in the same way as she does to the Tornado class. A special relation to the A class catamarans is the the lightweight character of the Formula 16 class which is based on years and years of experimentation in the A-class. Without the A-class even the possibility of a Formula 16 class would not even have been dreamed up.
The A-cat logo is a robust letter "A" sqaured above two bars depicting a schematized catamaran platform.
So now we have established the relative position of the the Formula 16 class to the named international classes, why not let this be reflected into the Formula 16 class logo ? With the precedents set by the other classes the double bar below the main part of the logo is an excellent way of identifying ourselfs as part of the catamaran scene. And by association even to the High Performance side of the catamaran spectrum.
Naturally, the logo which is featured on the sails must be easily recognisable as belonging to a specific class among many other classes, even at a quick glance. A letter "F" with the number "16" is of course a sure give away. Even unknowledgable persons will quickly recognize the parts and connect the dots to a class called Formula 16. It must also be remembered that a class emblem is also often used in circumstances where a link by association is not always present. All mainsails in a sail loft look alike and then only a clear class emblem will discriminate one sail from another.
But than a class emblem must look nice and powerful as well, preferably speedy. Skewing the logo in a raked back position largely takes care of that. It also distinquises the logo further from the A-class logo and F18 class logo in a very strong way. Even from great distances the skewed outline will set our logo apart from the (near) rectangular outline of the F18 class and A-class emblems. Not unimportant in mixed fleet races !
However it also shares the skewed feature with the Tornado class identifier. But luckily the character string "16" comes to the rescue. From a distance these characters will be seen as a dot next to what could be a blurred Tornado class logo. And of course what works to distinguise the numbers 9 and 6 from each other in family games will work very well for us too. Ergo the outline is powerfull enough to be recognised even when blurred. Add to this that skewing of the logo also gives some extra dynamic to the appearence, may well give a good impression of speed or windforce.
The first and last aspect of the logo is the styling of the letter "F" for Formula. It is styled into what could be interpretated as a vortex of water or wind. Both are closely related to sailing. The combination of the bars and the styled "F" are a styled impression of the funnel of a Cyclone over a pair of long flat waves. Some would go as far as calling this perfect sailing conditions and nobody would deny that that would definately amount to "High Performance sailing". Just a little trick.
An added benefit is the styling of the "F" is that is will be clearly distinguisable from the more retangular like "F" of the Formula 18 class without the need to being able to clearly read wether the other characters say "16" or "18"
So there we we have it ; A clearly recognisable logo which is easily linked to our Formula 16 class for catamarans. A well placed emblem in the framework of other catamaran class emblems and also giving a sense of High Performance while still being simple enough to be easily made by a sailmaker or amateur spray painter.
This logo will be the official Formula 16 class logo for identification of class legal sails and products. This logo is reserved and may not be used in any way on non-compliant sails or products. The potential user is reminded that a product or sail may only be regarded as compliant after having consulted with the Formula 16 class authority and received a written confirmation of compliance. Each recipient of such a confirmation will be (publically) listed. When a holder of such a confirmation is judged to be in repeated violation of compliance or class rules then the Formula 16 authority will revoke the right of usage of the F16 class logo. The revoked party is then required to immediately remove any used logo's or references to it. This rule applies to both suppliers of products intended to be used in thee F16 framework as well as individual participants, class officials and event organisers.
A Formula 16 crew is not required to have this class logo on his sails apart from where that is required by the Formula 16 class rules. Effectively this means that each individual design may participate in F16 events using its own established class logo as the main identifier. When there is no established class logo for the design in question is a one-off than the crew may choose to use this official class logo as their class identifeir when the design has been measured and found to be fully Formula 16 class compliant. At no time is a crew allowed to carry this F16 class logo as their class indntifier when their design isn't fully class compliant. Grandfathered and dispensated boats may only carry their own established class logo's. However when a design of another class is (made) fully compliant with the Formula 16 class rules than the sails and platform may also carry the F16 logo.
All rights with respect to the class logo and the use thereof are reserved. In short the class logo will also function as a quality mark.