It seems that there was some article in a French magazine recently which said that the Nacra F17 was the fastest of the F104s and the Spitfire was the slowest.
Now I'm known to sometimes make pretty daring statements, but not even I would even consider promoing a newly launched F104 as the fastest design in a fleet were I put the Spitfire as the slowest boat.
That is just beyond stupid. I've seldomly seen a small boat/class like the Spitfire being raced so well consistantly for some many years by a relatively large group of top sailors. The list of impressive Spitfire results is very long indeed and the top Spitfire crews are very skilled. There is no significant chance of beating such a combo right off the bat, barring any DSQ's and that kind of stuff. Let alone a couple of teenage kids who are new to the boat as shown in the picture.
Personally, if Leger did sail a F17 then his 1st place result over Sproat is very impressive. If Leger sailed a Spitfire instead then somebody and some dealorship will score a massive promo backlash by errornously claiming a win that belongs somewhere else !
Wouter
