Yes 50 or more pounds matter and because of that would I want no part in a class if it is going to requiring that kind of a weight. To me that kills one of the biggest attractions to the F16 class.

I bought a glass boat with a carbon stick that I weighed at 110 kg. (The mast by the way is 1kg over so I could be even less I guess) If I had wanted a heavier boat I could have gotten one. I do not begrudge those that buy other heavier boats. If the weight issue was all that important to them, then they could have easily shopped around and purchased a light weight boat.

Lazy building practices and selling things not designed for their intended purposes do make it better or right. Look at the Telefonica project. 2 Volvo 70s build by 2 yards with the same spec. 1 is heavy and breaks multiple times during its life. The other is light and sails around the world with no issues multiple times. Which 1 is better?

If you want to buy heavy, go ahead, but do not tell the rest of us we can’t. Using marketing hype as a justification is a bit misguided to say the least.