One of the great strengths of F18 is that there (so far) has not been any single revolution that has rendered the entire fleet obsolete. On the flip side, designs will come and go and gradually get better over time. Nacra are onto their 3rd complete boat and both Capricorn and Hobie have both had evolutionary changes.

Taking the current Tiger which has probably changed least, over the last 5 years all their sails, spreaders, trampolines, front bridal arrangement and rudders have all changed, not to mention the introduction of self tackers/snuffers which were both around 4 - 5 years ago. With the exception of the (very) recent bridal upgrade, all performance related changes are easily retro fitted to older boats.

Also, as boats get older they are never as rigid as a new one. How soft they get is largely dependent on the prevailing sea state but every boat is affected in some way. If nothing else, a new boat looks shinier and therefore must be faster than the old one <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Tiger Mike