I never did understand why owners did not demand the lightest boat that could be built under the rules, especially for the amount they were paying.
Sadly I did understand and have voiced this for some time. If a boat is uncompetitive under SCHRS and Texel at 107 kgs, but is competative at 130kgs without seemingly any loss of speed for carrying those extra 23kgs, then its a no brainer which boat is going to be the one I will spend my money on.
It wasn't our rules persee but the fact that other more powerful outside influences were contradictory to our rules which has caused the problem. I'm pretty sure if the Viper hadn't been as sucessful as it has been in Europe under the handicap ratings, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
