the one thing i can see in those pictures is that the rudders have changed dramatically . when they where building the current aussie boat at my yacht club they had tiny thin daggerboard rudders that had about half the length in the water as the ones in those pictures. must come down to a better balanced boat/rig. I imagine they would be generating sufficient apparent wind downwind that they wouldnt need to square the foil off very much.

so if they are making the LAC a softsailed beachcat event why the decision to go with the F18 and not the T? With the current globe-hopping aspect and a little better promotion it could work really well. I think if you could get it televised as well as the 18ft skiffs were downunder, with regular races it could work really well. and the raw speed of the boats would make it interesting to watch for the non-yachting general public.