That is always the trade off, heavy and strong or light and not as strong when you run it aground. In the F16 class you have many options, including building your own boat, which I think is great for the class. And as we see at this GC, the little extra weight the Viper may cary has not slowed them down at all. It's still about who is driving, as it should be, not about what boat they happen to be on today.

You could put the top 3 at the GC today on any of the F16's and they would still be the top 3 to finish.

People get way too hung up on the weight and think they can buy speed. You still have to sail it well if you want to win and a couple kilos is not going to have any effect on that.