I'm not predicting doom and gloom for the class. I know if I was buying a new boat and a full carbon F16 was a possibility I might very well take it. By the same token, you cannot argue that a minimum weight carbon masted, carbon hulled F16 isn't going to be faster than a vinylester boat; maybe not when both are brand new but give each a year of hard sailing and I know what I would pick. The main reason I'm not on a F16 right now is the F18 is a better distance race platform, there is much more competition globally, and I already whack my helm in the face with my elbows on the F18 tramp, I know I'd be sent swimming for shore on the F16.
I also agree some of the rules in the F18 class are a bit excessive. For example, I think epoxy should be a valid material, and the sails should have open materials; both of these add very little cost, if any, to the build of a boat and increase the longevity of hulls and sails. However, calling the boat out of date is a very huge stretch; all your F16 sail and hull shape developments have been a trickle down of the design efforts placed on the F18's.
Nice thing about F16, if you want a full on carbon version you can get it and still race. Nobody is going to bitch at you becuase you have a sticker on your sail that is made with a material that is not approved.
Have you ever put a tape measure on a tramp of the various boats? There is only a 2" difference in platform width between the models and the hulls are fatter on the 18 so in actuality the hull centerlines fall in almsot exactly the same width and the trampoline itself is actually wider on the F16 than the 18. Inside on the beams is only 2" shorter. (as just measured on my Falcon - other models may vary)
As for trickle down The only thing the F16 took from the 18 is the rigging layout for a spin rigged boat. With this the F18 class did a lot of work and came up with some pretty good useable solutions. Hull shapes, sail shapes etc all came from A class (except for spins, and there both the 18 and 16 classes were following the T)
If you want to talk materials weight and performance, get Matt at Falcon to chime in. They regularly produce boats with a bunch of material choices. What other builderor even boat design has identical rigged and molded platforms where you can look head to head at full carbon versus, Kevlar, S-glass, fiberglass different resins, different cores, carbon masts, aluminum masts etc. There are some real world comparisons there, not internet hype.
