Whilst it is clear from the rules that it is not a requirement that a "grandfathered" boat be designed before the creation of the F16 class, there seem to be a fair few voices on this forum stating that that's how it should be, and that letting in new designs under this rule would be a mistake. I think, perhaps, many of us had not considered the case of a new design being incorporated this way. Certainly, the webpage that talks about the grandfather rule http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/F16HP_grandfathered_designs.html seems to assume that it is only relevant to existing designs (see the "three main categories").

I agree with John on this - there are now sufficient true F16s that don't need to include new ones under the "grandfather" rules. Perhaps the time has come to consider a change to the wording of this rule?

Paul