Several years ago, the Performance North Americans held on Tybee Island had some short steep 3 and 4' seas with some strong wind. I was amazed watching the daggerboard on my new F18 come clear of the water and crash sideways back into the water as we would leap from wave to trough again and again. Later one of those evenings I ran into Jack Young and asked him how they go about designing a boat that doesn't break in those conditions? His reply was something along the lines of; you do what you think, and add some more where it breaks - it takes time and experience.

400lbs leaves a large margin of error for this kind of development. Yes, you can build a lighter boat but you will have more teething problems as you work though the "add more where it breaks".