Hey guys and girls, at the end of the day its goner be horses for courses, for me personally its all about grin factor. Which boat do I get the grin factor from, well a F16 because I tend to sail it single handed, have to launch it single handed and I have a couple of nippers who ocassionaly come along for the ride.
If on the other hand I was going to be a dedicated racer ( with deep pockets to pay for the yearly upgrades to remain competative ) who had a biggish gorrilla as a mate who was prepared to race every race then it would be probably a F18.
Oh decisions to make and so much blinkered advice ?
Indeed. To say you need to a gorrilla to be on the front of an F18 is bs. Most certainly some physical strength and endurance is required and that is mainly a matter of sailing the boat a lot over a couple of months to develop the specific muscle set required to run the boats (ie hand strenth).
The combined crew weights of the F18 boats are generally getting lighter. Have you seen Glenn Ashby lately??? He is not a huge guy (although very strong). Heck - I have sailed races with a 45 kg 18yo girl on the front in 20 kts. We were a little lighter than I would have liked to be but sheesh it flew! (well ok - a lot lighter)
Tiger Mike
