Bobke'
I'm interested in the F-16 concept because I'm getting very involved in my yacht club's junior program as the 420 and Laser Radial coach. The kids just salivate over my A2 and I'll be "ruining" several of them in the near future taking them out for a sail. The other thing I like about the F-16 is the bang for the buck. For around $15K, you can get a fully tricked out boat with trailer and covers and have the flexibility to race singlehanded and doublehanded.
But my favorite singlehander and boat is still the A-class. The quality of competition, simplicity, and ease of use factors are just too strong a draw and I credit the class for getting me really passionate again about cat sailing. And the boats are just so elegant on the water (clean and simple).
The Hobie Tiger, Nacra Infusion, and the I-17 are extremely
well designed and are good looking "sexy" boats but at this point I just could never see myself spending money on a 16' to 18' platform that weighs over 260 lbs. The A-cat and 18HT (and my lower back!) have skewed my preference too much towards the performance of the lighter platforms.
Bob Hodges
There seems to be a recurring phenomenon. People who have been away for awhile are getting back into cat' sailing.
The local youth group is interested in establish mast up storage for cats, seemingly to retain the interest of their teen sailors. As a result, I will be changing my local club affiliation to this group and making the Blade and the Tiki available to them.
One of the guys interested is a former Division 8 H14 Champ and H16 competitor who now has a teenage son. I have offered the Blade to them at their convenience.
Their chief guru is interested in putting on Cat' regatta, but is most interested in January which would conflict with Tradewinds. I have strongly discouraged this date.
If anyone is interested, I'll be glad to keep you posted.
