Great to meet you guys. Hopefully you'll see me at Texel next year

GYC laid on a great event, and the Florida weather is a very nice change from what the UK has to offer at this time of year.

One of the reasons I was keen to do this event was to get a chance to test drive the Falcon and see how it compares to my Blade, as from the description it addresses just about all the niggles I have with the Blade, particularly when sailing 2-up (more volume up front, higher beams, bigger jib).

The end result is a boat that feels a lot more like a bigger boat. Upwind, flying a hull with two people on the wire feels a lot more relaxed, with more reserve bouyancy and less chance of the beams "tripping" on waves. Downwind the extra bouyancy makes it easier to push on in a blow.

I did have a brief sail singlehanded on the Falcon, and in this mode the differences are less pronounced, although the wind was lighter on that day too.

Matt's also done a great job with all the systems on the boat. The mast rotation quick release using a swivel cleat mounted on the back of the mast is particularly effective.

As the Swiss guys demonstrated, there's nothing slow about the Blade, and I think that the Falcon is a great evolution of the design.

Paul