Warbird,

when were you at the RAYC? If it was in the last 3-4 months I think you were looking at only F18s as there hasn't been a Tornado there since the end of summer (Aaron's boats are both offshore at present and the other boat was taken home because it wasn't being used). A race ready F18 and Tornado have almost exactly the same set of fittings (with the exception of the T's more complicated main sheet). The difference between the boats you were looking at (assuming it was back when there were Ts there)was more likely due to the fact that the F18s are all less than 18 months old and are being used at least once a week while the Ts are unfortunately a dying class in NZ and the boats are much older and rarely sailed.

With regards to devaluation everything devalues but with proper maintenence it can be minimised. We've just put our 18 month old Tiger on the market to try and stimulate growth in our fleet and while its gone down in value and the replacement value has gone up, we think its worthwhile in order to help new crews into the class. We typically look for a little bit of sponsorship to help minimise the hit to our hip pocket when we do this.