I am not professional and never have been, in fact I paid good money to have the pleasure!! of sailing the Tiger and this out of date boat got me into 3rd place over all going into the last race of the 06 F18 Worlds. I was at the first f18 worlds and was involved in the development of the first prototype Capricorn from AHPC, I do believe that it has a slight advantage in some conditions but the Tiger still has its day, I cannot remember one race that I had a Capricorn off the start come over the top of me, in fact if it was in any way, I would say that I had a boat speed advantage, I think you guys need to forget about the boat speed and direct your efforts to practising.
In reference to the rudders there is nothing wrong with the profile of the Tiger's you do get a little bit of flex from the white ones but the carbon rudders even though it's only an outside layer work equally as good as a Capricorns the only reason the Capricorn gives you the impression that it is better is in the hull design, that it sits on top of the water and not in it. The talk about wave piercing is all sales talk, if you analyse video footage of the two boats there is less pitch in the Tiger then the Capricorn this is caused by added volume in the bow and the stern, which cause's it to sail up and over waves rather than through them (wave piercing?). Quality the Tiger does have some faults, but don't kid yourself the Capricorn is no Mercedes-Benz even though you're properly paid a similar price, with a limited amount of sails you will find compression marks in the deck, and the anodising scratches easy and you will find the rudder assembly has its faults, all in all they are very similar in quality. The Tiger mast has been changed to a lighter section but this has been around for awhile, the Capricorn's mast varies from batch to batch and even Mr Goodall complained that he had a soft mast section at the 04 Worlds and there were complaints at the 06 worlds. So if you're thinking about buying a new boat study the results over a number regattas and you will see that you have many options, your choice should be made without the influence of Salesman.
If the Tiger can make me look good it's not off the pace! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Mark Laruffa