That is actually not a bad point at all.

Hadn't thought of it like that.

I know that back in my pre-F16 days and even now I can pretty much hop on a F18 when I want to. There are always F18 skippers who are looking for capable crews. Always.

Simply for the reason that halve of the F18 skippers loose their dedicated crews some where down the line and than the blues begin.

Besides F16 sailing is certainly not bad training for crewing on a F18.

If you want to you can have the best of both worlds !

I really don't want to make you life more difficult then it needs to be Cary, but if you will be solo sailing frequently or even alot than I would seriously rethink getting a F18.

F18 is great when you have a dedicated crew of when you are garanteed to always have a crew some way or another. However I personally found that handling a F18 off the water solo seriously cuts down the enjoyment. Holding back while on the water took much of the enjoyment that was left.

Now I say don't do the trailblazer thing if you don't want to. There is no point . But when talking about sailing enjoyment when being forced to singlehand quite often than you really have only one choice. Really how many times do you sail in races and how many times do you sail recreationally. Are you really willing to take a hit on much more times of recreational sailing in favour of a few races ? You may not want to do the trailblazer thing, but maximizing enjoyment over all the times that you sail (most recreationally ?) is very important in itself.

Pardon me, but be careful not to chase down the utopia of F18's. Great racing with a everlasting capable and assured crew. Sure in this setup F18 is simply great, but when this setup is not garanteed in your personal situation than the situation will be very different. I'm talking from experience here. I sailed and race for 3 years with a very dedicated and good friend. Then he met a girl and moved away. Since then (4 years) I had crews on and off and only one did come close to the first time and only for one single season. I learned my lesson, times and priorities change and friends/crews come and go.

Now your situation may be different I don't know, but be careful. The thril of F18 racing is very dependent on having a dedicated crew that is willing to train with you often and is willing to do a significant number of racers. The latter often means planning ahead actively and work over family and girlfriends/Wife to go out to play.

Wouter