Hi Sam et al,

Actually Scooby Simon has never--in his public or personal communications with me over several months--said he was pursuing anything but a superfast 18 foot singlehander.

His current and future boats are "F16-like," and I have certainly enjoyed his input on this forum. (He's also got a nice car forum going in the UK too.)

There are several non-F16 sailors who regular this forum, as you know. Another example is brobru. This forum welcomes lurkers, posers, wish-they-had-a-boat-ers, pretenders, and other interested sailors and wannabe-sailors as long as they contribute in a productive way to the growth and milieu of cat sailing. I'm sure there's a lot I can learn from these folks even if the F16 class is not the right one for them.

I get calls and emails from people interested in the F16 class. Although sometimes it seems the F16 is being "pushed," most of the time it is just enthusiasm on the part of F16 sailors for the favorable attributes of the boats. (Our class is too small as yet for that to be a "selling point," as it might be for the Laser class, eg). In reality, I've steered some inquirers to other classes if their sailing needs really didn't match what the F16s had to offer. I've seen lots of people struggling on the beach with the wrong type of boat. So one of the purposes of this forum is to try to match interested sailors with the right boat/class for their interests/needs/skills.

Just trying to add a little perspective.

Fair winds,