The thought never even crossed my mind.

I'm quite honest in these things as I'm sure Zuhl can confirm. I think I said things pretty much along the same lines.

I think that Zuhl has gotten some good advice by you all.

-1- Test sail all boats especially the Blade F16

-2- If you are in the luxury of a dedicated crew for the next 2 to 3 years and wan to get into level racing => Go F18

-3- If you don't have such a dedicated crew then very seriously consider the F16's

-4- If you don't want to pull the car in the way you did with the I-20 than don't it. Pick the boat you feel suits you best now and enjoy sailing it. You can always switch later. Both F16's and F18's are hot on the market and don't remain in the classifieds for more than a few weeks. It has been like that for several years now.



My opinion is that I'll be much happy when Cary has chosen the design that suits him best wether that is F18 or F16. And it really doesn't matter if Cary choses F18 over F16. Simple because there are only two outcomes of such a situatio.

-1- It is the right boat for him and his crew and he'll never look back

-2- He will get fed up with looking for crews eventually and come back to the more versatile F16 concept at a later time.


Either way the best choice will reveal itself in time. My wager is that point -2- has a much higher chance of occurance. I know, I've done the F18 thing for a while and I loved it but finally threw in the towel after being stood up for a 3rd time by a crew I had trained for 8 months. Had paid regatta fee, driven the boat down and all and could not race because F18 is a doublehander only. That 3rd time I knew where my future lay. And I'm not the only one with a background like that in the class.

F16 ! What ever happens - you are sailing !


Wouter