Change mast to carbon - ~25-30 lb weight reduction Lighter daggerboards - ~10-15 lbs total Lighter rudders - ~5 lbs total Carbon tillers and crossbars, u-joint connections - ~7-12 lbs Carbon beams - ~15-20 lbs Take all the "NASCAR" stickers off the sails - ~10 lbs! Spinnaker launch system equivalent to T-cat - ~5 lbs
OK, so we get 75 - 100 lbs.You do this for a total cost of around $6K, keep your hulls, and possibly re-cut the luff curve of your mainsail. You could also do this in a planned phase out from the old to the new over 5 years to ease the costs (like pulling a tooth but it gets better).
If you solely race F-18 around the buoy's, you'd probably love these changes. If you race long distance through surf breaks, you may oppose them.
The Snipe class did it in the 60's and the change improved the class (they went from a 425 lb 16' dinghy to a 350 lb 16' dinghy). Why can't F-18 make this evolution?
A 300-325 lb F-18 is a lot better than a 400 lb F-18. I just could not spend that amount of money on a boat that heavy. IMO, F-18 (by the nature of its purpose to encourage some development) will suffer if it does not move towards lighter weight with current available technology and components. I agree with a previous poster that participation you saw in the Nacra classes, P-19, and H-20 in the early to late 90's is not currently being matched by F-18 in the US. What about Europe?
The designs (Tiger, Capricorn, Infusion) are beautiful. The construction and components technology is dated compared to what BIM, AHPC, and others are doing with A-cats and F-16.
Bob Hodges A2 USA 230
Why not change??? Firstly the class is currently growing faster than any class in the world. Why risk everything they have built over the last 5-7 years???
