Thanks for reply, guys.
I am quite surprised that cat sailing in the US isn`t huge - seems the drop-off has occurred worldwide ? In the 80`s there was a Hobie 16 in everyone`s back yard in SA, now there are a handful of cat sailors.
I thought that this was as a result of our economy falling through the floor, there must be more complex issues if it is a worldwide trend, even in what I percieve to be wealthy countries.
Wouter, I hope I didn`t offend you- not the intention.
The situation in SA is a bit like this : Only 6 cat classes exist in any real numbers that are still represented at National Champs & therefore have nationals status :
- Hobie 16; have approx 60 to 80 boats at National champs, approx 30-40 boats at Provincial regattas.
- Hobie 14; not sure of the numbers but currently going through a revival in the class, probably 80 at Nationals.
- Hobie Tiger; approx. 10 boats in the country of which approx 8 attend Nationals.
- Tornado; approx 10 boats at Nationals.
- Dart 18; approx 25-35 boats at Nationals, same no. at inland league events, not too popular at coastal sites.
- Mosquito 16; approx. 15-20 boats at Nationals, no provincial events yet but working on it.

The Hobie Tigers & Tornados held their Nationals together, on the same course (at the same venue & time as Hobie 14`s)- this helps keep the organisation easy, and makes for some interesting on-and-off the water rivalry !
The flip-side is that some guys would race in both classes but have to choose one. Many of our cat-sailors sail more than one class, eg. Dart & Tornado, or Hobie 14/16 & Tiger, so the numbers are more an indicator of the number of active boats in SA, since there are more active boats than sailors !
The reason I`m telling you all this boring stuff is so that you understand the background from which I`m writing.
The Mosquito is the only boat in SA which has a homebuild option and costs less than half the price of a new Hobie 16. Hobie Tiger / Tornado sailors pay twice as much for their boat as the average entry-level car costs, in fact you can buy a house for the same price as a Hobie Tiger, which explains why there are only 10 and the class isn`t exactly growing fast.
What I enjoy most about the Mosquito is the development class aspect, customise your fittings, build your own hulls etc, choose your sailmaker, rather than be dictated to like Hobie/ Dart class, where everything is sub-standard quality at an over-inflated price.
I can buy full mylar sails cheaper than the outdated dacron sails that Hobie / Dart insist on selling you.
This is what attracted me to following your class. The reality, however, is that in a country where cat sailing is declining like ours, it`s not easy to try to start a new class,let alone keep an existing one alive, so forgive me if I don`t take up your offer to get things started in SA - Love to, but finances won`t allow it. I sail on a tiny budget.
Some of my misconceptions resulted from the fact that the Taipan is a well-established boat in Australia, so I thought it would be easy to market in the US and would grow quickly, it certainly would here if it was affordable.
Likewise, AHPC`s mast offer sounds great until you convert it to SA currency, I can buy 3 masts for the Mosquito for that price !
On another note, I sail quite light (125kg incl crew) - with a mast only 7,3m long I have adequate power in 12knots & start depowering above that. I sailed a Dart for 3 years with 8m mast & found too much power too high up was useless - in 15 knots the Mosquito powers past Dart 18`s easily, proving that less can be more. If where you sail is always light wind then fine, but I believe the F16HP formula is geared towards heavier crew.
Having never sailed a new design F16 type boat I can`t comment on them, other than that they look awesome, but I question whether I would like such a tall rig in a strong breeze.
The boat I sail must be manageable, above all else, and must not place too high a physical demand on a female crew. You may laugh at my 12,5sqm spinnaker, but I may be flying it long after you take yours down.
As a matter of interest I e-mailed Jim Boyer twice asking about home-built option of the Taipan, how I would get all the fittings etc. Perhaps he never recieved them, since I got no answer. At this stage I have no interest in what his answer might have been since I have become involved in the Mosquito class and have no intention of changing boats again.

I still don`t understand why the Taipan Nationals can`t be held as a class within the F16HP Nationals ie first Taipan in the F16 nationals is the Taipan class winner, surely that will lower the cost and logistics for organisers & sailors alike, only have to take time off / travel to one major event ? Surely more sailors would attend, and when there are more F16 compliant boats in US then the event wouldn`t be a Taipan only affair ?
Perhaps these ideas would only work in SA, but I can`t think why !

Cheers
Steve