I choose the Viper.
I agree with Jake that the Nacra 17 would be the best boat long term for all of the reasons he states.
But I think they are a day late and a dollar short. The boat is not tested and I find it hard to believe they could generate 50 bullet proof boats by the end of the summer...
The Viper is good enough sailing wise for a 4 year turn as an Olympic Boat, and AHPC probably has 100 boats or more around the world that could be acquired by a Mixed team relatively quickly to jump start the mixed multihull class and training. I think you can market the fantasy that the 16 footer would make a better Woman's boat then any other choice... so you would be feeding a woman's class with a Viper long term) (Viper because it can't be any heavier then a 470 to drag up the ramp) I don't think the ISAF will give a fig about the impact on an F16 class and it's impact.... They should but they won't.
ps
(If I were AHPC.... I would have a boat on the trailer with curved foils, tested and ready to rock and a dagger board replacement kit for any Viper in the field.)
No problem for Nacra to manufacture and distribute 50+ Nacra 17's by the end of the summer. I don't expect there to be any issues given the proven expertise of the design team and the platform, foils, sails + mast manufacturers......Watch out for some exciting 'press' in the next week....
Nacra F16 is being raced in a competitive mixed cat fleet at the Thai Cat Regatta starting tomorrow against top Viper teams.
See
http://www.thaicatregatta.org/entry_list.html for list of entries....first races tomorrow....