I posted the reality over on SA, but who there listens. Who will be racing these? We already have a fairly split U.S fleet of F16's and F18's, plus the A's and the Hobie 16's. Lets not forget the Nacra Olympic 17 (there are what 5 F20C's stateside?). How do we get attendance up? Will there be more beach cat sailors total on the water if we switch to flying boats? Or are we pouching from the not-high-enough numbers of other classes?


I'm with Jake, but furthermore spending >$20K on a beach cat starts to get questionable. I know it's racing but my budget isn't unlimited. Breaking these foils, dealing with a 10' wide platform etc. adds up to time and money. If Phantom wants to send me a Flying Phantom and pay me to sail it plus do aero R&D work that is another story. But I am not that great of a sailor and I'm not Tom Speers either.