There is alot to be said about Class racing as long as the numbers are large enough that there is a good mix of ability and crew wieghts, otherwise you'll just find a pecking order occurs in every race. That is good for the people who aren't winning as they'll have a target to work towards. However, in mixed Class racing the competitors should be sailing Cats which are best suited to their size/wieght ,ability and budget. At the Club where I sail we have Cats ranging across the whole spectrum from Dart 18's to Tornado's. I have fortunately had the chance to race most of them. I'm not the tallest or heaviest of people so I have found the Cats I get the most enjoyment out of are either the F16 or 'A' Class. IMO these two Cats are the dogs bits and if it wasn't for the fact that sailors at our Club weren't prepared to go down the one Class route I would probably have never expierenced the buzz of sailing these types of Cats. So I think there is a place for handicap racing at Club level where you can experiment and train and then take these skills to your own Open events where you sail with your fleet. In summary if we had been like sheep and all bought F18's the racing would have poorer for the majority for the benefit of the minority. Not forgetting that variety is the spice of life (in certain circumstances and your wife doesn't find out)