Touche! I have a tendency to sound officious when posting. I don't mean it - chalk it up to my teutonic heritage. I just wanted to point out that not all RCs are that up on the portsmouth system. Sailwave is a great product, but it dosen't do modifications and it may actually be decreasing practical knowledge.

On the whole One Design/Formula/Handicap Holy War - I started out sailing on a $500 Hobie 16. After racing for a year I realized that I could never be competitive on it - it was just to heavy, sloppy and just shagged-out. Take a look at the H16s racing one design some day, and you'll see that very few of the top skippers are sailing boats more than 5 years old.

When I looked into buying a newer, more competitive H16 I realized that for less money I could buy a much more exciting boat (in this case a Narca 5.8 NA with a Calvert square top).

Maybe someday when I'm older and richer the whole concept of One Design racing will appeal to me. For now, spending more money to go slower seems absurd.

The only formula boats with a large presence in the area are Hobie Tigers, and they're only interested in one-design racing. I've asked some of the RCs if I had a Nacra F18 would they start me with the Tigers or in the Open Division, and they all say Open Division. Not that I'm thinking of buying an F18 now, but maybe in a few years when there's more of a used market...

Pete