"Surf"-
Since you brought it up- We had two of the crews at the Taipan 4.9 Nationals (both boat owners) with disabilities and one at the F 16HP Nationals. I know both of these persons would disagree with your statement regarding the F 16HT and Taipan classes as not being appropriate for them. You seem to fail to acknowledge that increasing the size (and weight) of the boat (presuming one is going for maximum performance) results in a corresponding necessary increase in all the "loads" involved and in the weights of all the boat components. Just look at the size of the booms, shrouds, blocks etc. on a 165 lb. "A-cat" for example compared to that of a similar size Hobie 18, Tiger, N 5.5, etc. The F 18HT's, "A-cats", F 16HP's and other lightweight boats all take advantage of this relationship and they are all great but aimed at different purposes within classes that allow personal boat type selection with "heads up" racing. By the way, we had Isotopes participating in the F 16HP class with us at Spring Fever at our invitation. Every boat is a compromise, that's what is nice about ALL the Formula classes in that they allow a particular customer to select the boat that best meets his/her desires and compromises (within the Formula rules set) yet still belong and race with a larger group of people.

Happy Holidays!

Kirt