The point is they keep adjusting the F16 number down yet they are using F18 and A cat numbers that have not been "adjusted" since...When? And if you want to talk about "new developments in hulls and rigs", look no further than the new F18's (new masts) and A cats (new...everything).

The F16's really haven't changed shape much and haven't changed rigs or sails, at all. In fact, the newest F16, the Viper, weighs more than the old Blades and Taipans, but uses the same mast/sails.

Now, a measurement type rule might be open to some designers exploiting the loopholes, and we have seen some of that in the A cats already with the banana bords, wing sails, etc. but the A cats are more of a developemental class anyway. Yet, if any of those developments have made them faster, why hasn't their number been adjusted down too?

You can legislate out some of that development by outlawing curved boards, wing sails, etc. and I think most other classes rules already do that, F18, F16.

So why not just rate them by the box rule they fit into, as Texel does?