Carl, I admit I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that in order for this thing to fly, the I20 is the key. It seems to be currently the benchmark in terms of performance, price and current fleet size. Defining the rule to include a wide range of different 20' boats is fine as far as promoting inclusiveness and so on is concerned. However I think what you will ultimately want to achieve is a situation where manufacturers other than Performance are motivated to produce boats that can really compete head to head with the I20, yet without having a significant systematic performance advantage that would render the I20 uncompetitive.

In order for this to happen, I think the critical thing is convincing I20 sailors to race (and race organizers to score) on a formula basis. The Tybee situation (as I understand it) where the I20s are scored only as a OD class and the open fleet is everything else (just two boats this year), seems to me to be heading in exactly the wrong direction.

My guess is that in order for I20 sailors (and I'm not one, so others are welcome to contradict me) to want to be scored as F20, they would need to be convinced that the formula regulates performance determining factors to a degree that the I20 represents somewhere pretty close to the best that can be achieved within the formula. If they don't have confidence in that, they would be better off continuing to be scored as just a OD class.

If I20 sailors race as F20, then even if initially they were to actually end up sailing only against other I20s, if the racing is strong enough to attract new sailors into the class, there is a chance that other manufacturers could be motivated to enter the market. And here, of course, is the catch. Is the potential market large enough to support an additional manufacturer? I really don't know, but my suspicion is that the current market may need to grow in order to create a viable business proposition. And that would probably require at least some energetic promotional effort by people committed to the formula concept.

My impression is that the F20 rule as you've proposed it is rather more open than say the F18 or F16 rules. For that reason, I wonder whether it really limits performance adequately to that of the I20 (I also note that your max. mainsail area is 9% above that of the I20). If it doesn't, then it may need some extra work. It would be interesting to get input from people involved in framing the F18 and F16 rules to understand the thought process they went through in determining how to regulate their classes.

I believe that getting I20 sailors to race as F20 is an essential first step. It also follows, of course, that you also need to convince people to organize races on that basis. I don't know whether that presents a challenge or not. However perhaps the Great Lakes race you proposed a while back could be a place to start.

Mark.