Surf-
Thanks for clarifying what you meant by disabilities- My PhD research was on spinal cord injury so I'm a little familiar with it, and I agree about the single (currently) acceptable (modified) beach cat for those sailors- But I am sure other boats could be modified in similar fashion and be as good or better than that boat in certain areas but the demand is so small why would one want to do that?
Per your comment about what is "better"- Being "heavy" on a F 16HP or "light" on a F 18HT- that depends on other factors IMO- The persons involved (very different if one person is huge and other small or child vs two smaller people) and the conditions (heavy wind or light airs, launching through surf or smooth water, heavy chop, etc.)- My crew and I sailed at 350 lbs. in the two regattas I mentioned on my Taipan- and on the second day in the Keys when my tiller extension was broken in the first race I was glad we were "heavy" as that way with only one of us trapping (despite the fact it was double trap weather) and the other hiking we were still able to drive the boat and we actually got 3 second place finishes that day! At the same weight if we had been on an F 18HT we would have been doomed upwind IMO in those conditions. If you go to the F 16HP website and check out the photos of some of the European F 16HP designs (Spitfire, Stealth, etc.) many of the photos show two men sailing the boat. Also, since the F 16HP's are DESIGNED to do "double-duty" as a single hander or sloop it is very easy to take a child out as a uni or w/ roller furler jib or self tacker and sail the boat "yoruself" while your child/other person just enjoys the ride and doesn't need to trap out or do anything (including even setting up or moving boats around due to light weight, etc.). I'm sure an F 18HT can also accomodate kids and being a unirig anyway it's got that going for it but it doesn't have the ability to easily "shorten sail" (by rolling/deleting jib) or race one up. I don't know the weight of the lightest crew on the F 18HT's at their Nationals but I don't remember seeing any teams I would guess at under 320 or so.
Happy Holidays!
Kirt
