This reply is specifically intended to only answer some questions asked about the F12. It is not intented to move the discussion on the youth path and national associations towards the F12 in anyway. Depending on the outcomes of the larger discussion the F12 may or not be part of the "youth cat track".

Windswept.


>>I like the F12 and wonder if this can be setup to be a safe, easy to rig boat, that also is easy
>>to right.

As things stand now, the answer is "yes" on all above points. And in some cases even extremely so.


>>A path that can be supported at a club level and to get involved with it. It is also essential
>>to get companies like Vanguard behind the production and development of the boats.

I'm aiming for both with the F12. Mostly I want these boats to be cheap and light so they can easily be stacked or put on their sides to cut down on used Club spaces. Cheapness means that money involved in having the boats and the risk of damage is severly limited. Even the sails can be inexpensively home made by an amateur, even be developped by an amateur. I'm designing towards that ability specifically as to reduce the money footprint. Lots of the used concepts comes from landyachting experience, here lots of amateurs are succesful in building their own competitive rigs.

Additionally, I'm trying to maximize the potential profit margin under series production. Many of the F12 components become very inexpensive when massed into large single orders. Sail design is simple enough to be shipped off to Hong Kong (as the 20-ers are doing). I'm hoping this will make it very attractive for these companies to do the F12.

I'm adamently opposed to a Single Manufacturer setup though. F12 will be a One-Design class but then in the way the Tornado is.


>>Steve Clark who is an avid cat sailor, might be approachable with the right boat/concept. I do
>>not know him, but I would approach him if I believed in the class,concept and structure.

Such design talent will never go a miss. Still at this time, most of the designing is linked to getting the design just right for its expected marketing and usage. This is relatively unrelated to actual technical and optimal performance considerations.

Basically I'm trying to design the F12 as an integrated sailboat/marketing/production package.

I feel most other classes that have been launched fail on striking the right balance between these points.

Wouter