Quote from Jake: But the reality is that while there is some thinning of other pre-existing classes it is due to migration of sailors to the F18 class. . . . The largest migration to F18 has been from within the open classes. Myself on the 6.0, Cary and David on I-20s, Nigel sailing various boats, a couple H16 sailors, and several TheMightyHobie18 sailors.
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What you may not realize is that at least in our own local fleet, we've all been competing open class against each other for years. It's been pretty frustrating, too. Trying to run down a Nacra 5.5 on a 5.2 is difficult, or chasing your friend's upgrade 6.0 on that same 5.5 is the same version of frustration. Even matching our I-20's against the 6.0 didn't measure the competition fairly. It felt lacking, even if you won. The F-18 Class has finally given us a place where we can all sail on even ground again. The sailors had to come from somewhere, what better place than a bunch of decent sailors who were looking for common ground AWAY from Open Class.
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Do the left overs or (new members of the dead boat society) find enough competition in the open class to maintain their interest in racing?
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I think in general what happens is the top performing sailors then release their open class boats back into the community to help other improving sailors find a better ride. Didn't happen with us, hard to find homes for three high tech boats all in the same pond.
What we also seem to be seeing is that there are favorite boats in certain geographies. Florida has the Active I-20 Fleet and is probably the best choice for performance one design there. The F-18 fleet seems to be coming on strong there, too, with some racing/owning both I-20's and F-18's.
Will be nice when it can get a third Strong one-design fleet going in the new Blade F-16 Product.
Division 9 has typically been strong Hobie 18 territory, but many of those guys have already shifted over to F-18 and more will covert this year.
Lastly Thre's not one F-18 sailor that hasn't raced every other class known.
Those guys are still our friends, and that will never change. I think we'll be seeing some new faces in the winners circles now that the seats are changing though. Will be refreshing to hand those throphies to some different guys who have worked so hard for so long. (Won't be mine, I'll be at the bottom of the F-18 food chain for a loong time.)
So to answer all the Questions. F-18 or growth of ANY class is good for the sport. We've all waited to decide about attending events because we didn't know who was gonna show up. If it's known in advance that there will strong participation, the regattas will naturally grow out of that very momentum. Catracing is back and Growing, and we can largely thank the F18 movement for at least a piece of that.
CARY PALMER
Fleet 141
New F-18 Tiger owner.