Hi Dave
Toronto is a great city ,-great venue for sailing events with its interesting waterfront areas, sailed there a few times over the years , one of the H-18 Worlds ,way back ,-and a few times in the area , Lk Oneida I think a few hours N W as well .
The 18 rules and iF 20 rules do not allow carbon booms or newer sail materials ---NA F-20 would allow carbon booms or spin poles and new sail materials.
The NA F-20 rules and basic specs as written -WOULD allow carbon and newer sail materials ,--sorry for the confusion ,but put the other F-rules examples up for comparison .
There is some small weight saving advantage but not signifigant , again ,-min. boat weight rules provide that all weigh the same in formula of wt to sail area ,--
According to some of the sail lofts I,ve talked to the newer materials are not much more expensive ,-very slightly lighter , and do last much longer and retain their original shapes much better rather than blowing the pocket back and out . So ,rather than having to purchase sails often -{2 years } they may last 4 or more which means we all save .
Most teams I know have 2 mains 3 jibs and 3 spins now on 4 year old boats ,--this needs to stop ,-
Rules that allow the new materials are plus for NA F-20S
I,m all for the new sail materials ,--chemical and structural engineering of these new materials is amazing.
NO ONE CAN BUY SAILING SKILL ,
I,ve seen people purchase much larger faster cats like RC 27S and get beaten around a course by well sailed 18s -
sailing skill !! prevails
I,m planning on ordering a new main ,and adding a reef system for use in the Atlantic 1000.
I will not be an I-20 , but can change back to the old sail if needed ,-but will be a F-20 for the Atlantic 1000.
-each team can enter as they choose.
On the Tornado -Marstom 20 -CFR 20 - Ventilo ht 20 -etc
think the ideal would be a F-20 ht class that would include the larger beam lighter weight specs of these types .
In smaller groups start 20s together to accomodate boats in the area ,-but score in class -
just as F-18 s like Tiger Nacras etc ,are very different than the 18 hts and scored and classified properly based on very different design specs and speed potential.
A F -20 CLASS and a F-20 HT CLASS .
Hope that helps and makes logical sence.
Back to the N A F-20s -
We have different existing boats sail areas and specs than EU so logically require different rule variations to accomodate the variety of different designs in N A ,-This wider scope of rules to include more boats provides for use of more diverse types of rigs sails gear etc, and more areas for small incremental development and improvements though kept inexpensive and some actually saving costs over time . The new sail material example being one ,-also better methods of building hulls and materials that allow them longer life.
F-20 also allows any existing 20 ft boat {the P-19 being a good example} or older 20 platform to be inexpensively
{relatively speaking} to refit and purchase new sails and per boat weight +added spin area have a competitive boat .
Check out the -P-19 post on the new forum ,where a sailor spent the day with Robbie tuning his boat and giving him pointers ,--They past a well sailed I-20 --twice!!
This indicates how any 20 range boat can be competitive ,-sailing skill is the main factor .
This much more important sailing skill factor becomes very apparent over 10 days and 1000 miles of ocean racing ,-
Most soon realise that any top team could hop on any equivilant boat or trade boats with another team and still finish in the top group hours ahead of other less trained teams.
It shoots the heck out of the average time handicap scenario rating scheme once you actually experience and realize this in upper levels of competition on class boats or as this newer sailor did experience with Robbie in an immediate huge jump in boat performance going from finishing well behind I-20s on a P-19 mx to finishing well ahead due to boat tuning and sailing technique and skill ,--the human factor being a much larger part of the equation yet left unmeasured and unfactored in handicap rating schemes.
Attempting to apply a handicap rating scheme to a predominantly downwund 1000 mile race seems wrong for many good logical reasons.
Class -Formula class racing is the ideal.
here it is --nice post
http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...ew=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 
