Bottom line is we hope Rick will be able to find a way to come.
Even our two committed F-16's sailing with the F-18's would be a great start, Having Rick here as a third would be fantastic for the Class (& my fleet's event), and quite frankly, all us lake sailors are on the edge of our seats hoping to see Rick (who taught so many of us the finer points of catsailing) in action on the racecourse promoting the growing F-16 class.
What we really need in this class is for the boats to be visible at the regattas. For you who got into the class early, that means being the flagships for your class, I'm only interested in the F-16 because I saw it in action. Were it not for Matt, it would jsut be another pretty boat on a webpage. I bet we can grow a whole fleet in the SouthEast, maybe even take away some of the Lighter F-18 crews and F-18 wannabes as they see the versatility and attractiveness of the platform.
AS to Jeff's anxiety about setting the Standard, we all do that until we get the portsmouth numbers on a new class finalized, it's not just the world's best that get to do that, it's ALL of us.
CARY