There is nothing wrong with the rules as they stand…if you start making needless changes… and narrowing the rules that are already in place, the class appears to be unstable from the outside. That has the potential to alienate a lot more people than the idea that we are all going to be beaten by a “rich guy” with a “super boat”.

No one will want to get involved in home building an F-16 when trying to build a compliant boat becomes like shooting at a moving target. The few advantages a homebuilder might have (like making their own carbon beams and gluing them in) to find an equal footing with a professionally designed and manufactured boat is eroded away.

With all due respect… A.H.P.C.’s potential shipping problem (if…a big if… they chose to build an optimized fixed carbon beamed F-16 in the future) is not the burden of the F-16 class to resolve. It is a marketing decision that is for them to evaluate, and determine if such a produce can be built and shipped at a profit.

I think we would all be better sailors if we spent a lot more time on the water honing our skills and a lot less time feeding this paranoia of being cheated out of first place by some “rich guy”.

Bob