Steve,
Interesting to hear your persepective. For comparison, many people are overweight in the US, so most people would probably think of F16hp as a light weight class here. Two average size men would weight 360-400 lbs (160-180 kg?). The winds are often lighter in the US exept in a few select places, like the San Francisco Bay. And the economics are obviously quite different--the average home would cost the same as 15 hobie Tigers (or over 20 Taipan 4.9s). In the US we've got the money to cat sail; but there's very little interest in catsailing or even sailing in general. People spend their money on power boats (which average 2x cost of a tiger), waverunners/PWC (most buy 2), fishing boats, motorcycles, "quads," and on and on. There is a perception that sailing is boring and slow. I can't begin to tell you how many people I've taken cat sailing who are shocked at how fast and exhilerating it is. But sailing takes a whole different mind set than power boating. Many people are intimidated by it. Very few people in the US (as a percentage) have ever been sailing but lots have been on power boats. If the big manufacturers made a marketing push, including demos and sailing lessons, they might find themselves selling a lot of boats.