Interesting post Simon

In the USA, the
Shadow equates to the Nacra F17 (single purpose single hander with chute)

Spitfire has no equivalent in the US market (single purpose two man high performance 16 footer) The Aussie equvalent would be a Taipan... no spin

F16 Stealth has the USA imported F16 Taipan's and USA built Blades, perhaps one Stealth in the USA. (Dual function.. one or two up)

What is interesting to me is understanding the single purpose two up market niche eg the Spitfire or F18

Why would a team choose a Spitfire over an F18? Are the team weights the same? Was it just history that Spitfire got the market first... Does the lack of a local F18 builder in the UK and exchange rates give you this result?

Finally, what is the demographic and mind set of the sailors on the sloop rigged 16 footers... Is the Dart 18 still the dominant boat compared to the Hobie 16? Are these sailors AT All interested in moving up to the spinaker classes?

In the USA... the Hobie 16 racers (no Dart 18's) are Slowly moving to F18's while keeping their H16s. (west coast trend) .... Many racers tried the Hobie 20 and went back to their Hobie 16 several years ago (east coast trend) Few east coast H16 sailors have wanted to jump up to the Tiger or any F18.

Is this similar to the UK experience.

Thanks for any insight
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