Hi
4 years ago several of us were very excited at the prospect of great iF 20 BOATS AND A CLASS HERE IN N A ,-
then we dicovered the I-20 was being made here with 15 more sq ft of mainsail area and a 390 weight rather than 418 ,--The I-20 sold some 200 ,--the Fox about 10 {rumor has it} --No I-20 catsailors wanted to cut their mains down or add boat weight to hold to the existing iF -20 RULES ,--
The only realistic option was to base a N A F-20 Class on the popular I-20 basic specs ,but add a little room for improvement in some areas in the hopes that other mfg would respond and build and help promote a N A F-20 CLASS -
iTS BEEN SLOW TO DEVELOP ,--F-18 is just started this year ,--that with great dealer -builder help not yet available for the 20 ,--but should not be too far behind once 18s are well underway and 20s see how well it can work and better more inclusive broader ways to specify basic rules and establish it.
Give the H-Fox credit for sticking to iF -20 SPECS ,
but,--H US can not have it both ways ,-a seperate Tiger class and be part of F-18 ,--CATSAILORS WILL CHOOSE F-18
similarly Prf Cats can not have it both ways ,-promoting the N -F-18 as Formula racing ,-and then a seperate Inter 20 non formula class only ,--
Hopefully both get on board with Formula Class racing along with the broader catsailing establishment and powers that be .
I Always Try not to be negative on boat mfg. or any involved with the sport ,-its supposed to be a fun social oriented adventure sport ,--we --it -the sport needs all the positive input and help it can get .
H-class seems to be marketing the Formula 18 Tiger --have heard -
in Euro racing H-Europe in France has most of the top rated catsailors racing the Tiger to promote it in open Formula racing there ,--
I have heard some similar complaints on the Tigers shipped here but more parts oriented ,---I,m an old H-18 sailor and just purchased an older one to rework and sail locally for fun ,---always liked H AND APPRECIATE the positive things and efforts --again trying not to be too negative where it is not due .-It is always much more difficult being in someone elses position trying to accomplish something of value ,--building boats ,or an event .
Any new info or updates on the Worrell 1000 --?
been out of "the loop " --
This historically has always been a fantastic event that captures the imagination and provides great media coverage and exposure to this great sport.
Mike made a huge error in not running the race in 03 regardless of boats ,-he could have run the race on existing 18s that teams had and added a 20 class and found some charters available for teams reliant on one for the race that did not own one ,--
For 04 he now needs to reimburse teams for entry fees -
{inc this team } and restore confidence that it will be run ,-ideally with a sports marketing firm handling the biz aspects .--Having raced in 7 of these I,m hopefull that it can work out positively in some form for all concerned .
A million dollar team entry scheme is not the way to accomplish this ,--selling the history and name to a sports marketing or interested concern is along with a Formula format to bring in team efforts from numerous builders ,-Mike does a good job of running the race ,-just seemingly way too speculative on the biz aspects which has lead to the current situation .
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