Hiya Todd,

no worries, as our australian friends would say.
There are boats with plenty sail area here as well. I dont think that is it. It might be true that the coast of Europe see more wind than the coastlines of the USA, I would not know. Would be interesting to compare statistics though!

Why did the F20 concept not take off? I dont know for sure. Having several versions of the I20 probably did not help but I dont think that was the main reason. Timing, factory support and not getting the right people into the class I would hazard. Class management of any startup class is vitally important in my opinion. Having a bad exchange rate can also hurt, as you no doubt are aware of. I sure hope others who paid more attention at the time also chime in on why the F20 did not catch on big time here.
A small side note. I have the impression that you in the US are much more focused on class racing than we are over here. Mixed racing/handicap is not uncommon, so the F20/I20 would typically race Tornados, F18s, Hobies, one-offs and all other types of boats.