It's unusual for you to miss a point so badly. The H16 is by no means a dead boat! It's one of the most aggressively raced platforms on the planet and for you to use it as an example to discredit my opinion reflects poorly on you.

To answer your question would I race a H16 at the Alter Cup? If I qualified for the championship you better believe it! I'd also do it on a Wave, Sunfish, Laser or whatever else could be sailed straight up... you know since you're asking

IMO a dead boat is any class that can no longer field a National Championship. If you believe the top talent is still hanging around in a class that can't support a national championship anymore you're simply living in denial.

You make a point that non US countries are all about sailing handicap... without spending any time there it's impossible for me to speak to that point. My impression of the Tai regatta was it was more about the equipment that was there and not about the sailors that competed, based on the posts on this forum. This point is true for every handicap regatta, it always seems to be about the equipment first and the actual accomplishments of the sailors gets lost. I'm not interested in an equipment show.