Sorry to keep the tangent going, but I want to toss in my 2 cents. I have inspected and tested the stiffness of 3 Stealth F16s, 3 Taipan 4.9s, and 2 VWM Blades. The Stealths were the stiffest, followed by the Taipans, followed by the Blades. (Note that Wouter's boat is a custom F16 based on the Taipan hull shape but with significant differences from a stock Taipan 4.9.) The Stealths benefit from a butressed beam landing. The Taipan 4.9 benefits from a narrower width and wider hull (and therefore wider contact patch). Having said that, I don't know anything about Blade modifications and I don't wish to imply anything wrong with any of these boats. The Blades I've seen look great and I have nothing but positive thoughts about the designer and builder. I would say likewise about the Stealth (John P) and the Taipan (Boyer/Goodall). The fact is, ALL THREE ARE EXTREMELY STIFF COMPARED TO ANY OTHER 16 FOOT CAT BEING MANUFACTURED!!! Even so, they are not as stiff as the new gel-tek A-class I just saw down in Long Beach <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />...but F16s class does't allow glued beams...just another example of how the F16 class was set up to be fast and welcome innovation but without making boats obsolete before the gelcoat cures. I believe you could take three crews and three boats--a Blade, a Taipan, and a Stealth (all similarly prepared)--and race them, switching boats each heat. Chances are, the same crew would win regardless of the boat under them.