I dont know if its an indictment of the decay of the f18 class or the drop off in the number of people reading this website. If this topic had of come up and phrased like this one say 10 years ago there would be hundreds of posts defending the weight of the f18 and a heap of f16 zealots criticizing the high weight of the f18.

Next time the f16 boys are giving you a hard time as the boat struggles up beach you can remind them that history says the F16 never really got to fleet sizes enjoyed by F18 and never will. Ultimately i think the foilers will take over from both classes somewhere in the distant future. (may not even be in my lifetime)

There is no point in changing the f18, its fine the way it is. But is suspect somewhere down the track the same organisation leverages it associations, marketing and personnel to make the F18F (foiler) class.

I will put my crystal ball away now