Mary,
We're going way back here, but it seems like there was a consensus (or maybe just my perception) that most people would shy away from spending $3K in a boat for a 7 to 13 year old to knock around on.
Also consider the age of 11, 12 or 13 as an age when they may formulate ideas of what they really want to do, or enjoy doing. (I think my pointing out the millenial generation is now between the ages of 7 and 25 may have thrown some people on a target age) I feel optimizing for a 12 to 18 range is legitimate. As you say a H14/H16 may be sailed at this age but what about the logistics and complexity. And in this scenario you're probably talking about a family of cat sailors who may be more apt to throw a 60kg boat on top of the adult cat (as opposed to a Bravo or Wave).
The potential there is for a new sailors as well, up through young adults of driving age. What's to prevent granddaughter from hauling her boat off to college?
Speed and performance are certanly not factors -- except for the boat having good handling characteristics for tacking, jibing, and tracking well but with some weather helm.
I'm learning more as I hang around, but I was certainly convinced that a hull that looked fast and was light (esp. lighter than the roto- boats) must inherently BE fast. If it's not significantly faster than a Wave what purpose does it fill? Other than being easier to move around and rig?
