We had a Moth compete with us during the autumn cup and their overall speed around the course was not that different from the average F18.
Upwind they lose some (not even that much) but their downwind speed makes up for that big time,
it looks awesome going downwind as well, like it sits on a track or something.

Wouter:
What you looked at was initial purchase price and not actual cost as you state in the subject.
If you would look at the cost per race the F18 is actually a lot cheaper because you can do a lot more races.
For example: you buy a new set of sails each year and do maybe 5 races for the F16 and 30 races for F18 the average cost per race is cheaper, see what I mean?

Another thing you cant see in the price are the costs to run the Pro teams (Nacra+Hobie) and marketing/boat shows/etc.
Add that cost to the F16 prices and I bet they would probably go up as well.