Sure a carbon-fibre or kevlar hulled F14, with massive sails, trapzeze etc would be an unreal boat to sail. For those of us who haven't won lotto, how about this:
The F14 class allows crappy old boats that are otherwise not competitive to be upgraded beyond their class rules. For exmaple I've an old Paper Tiger which is grossly overweight, lacks hull rigiity and is complete with ancient stretched sails & heavy timber foils. It is 10 to 20 minutes slower per hour around a course than top new boats. If I 'turbo' it with a jib & trapeze it might bring it upto their speeds, but then be called a F14 instead of a PT. At least racing would be more fun!
The boat originally cost $250 (Australian), which included an entire spare boat with wrecked hulls. Upgrades like new ropes & adjustable fittings have brought the total cost to around $600. The turbo option would be all home-built recycled, with the jib cut from a horrible old mainsail & trapeze made from old car seat-belts & a spare stay-wire.
If there were a regatta open to all 14 foot cats, we'd have bigger fleet numbers and more exciting racing. Something like the recent Koonawarra Bay 14ft cat regatta:
http://www.koonawarrabaysc.org.au/regattas&results.htmMaybe the F14 could include a sub-class of old dead boats given a new lease on life; the "Zombie" division!
