You can debate the uni with a chute concept.... IF all you did were windward leeward races... great... but if you do the distance races... or raids as the EU guys call them... that missing jib and tall stick hurts like hell in high wind balls to the wall reaches.
Since the beam is 8 feet. not 8' 6"" and the stick is really tall... you have some issues.
... you can roll the boat around the course if you are not carefull. Its not hard to get the rig out of balance with your righting moment. The HT design formula is by no means the last word in how to build a GREAT 18 foot two person Cat.... (See the lust for a Blade 18 on F16 threads)
Finally, the Bim Hull shape seems to be optimized for lake sailing... It is much more challenging to sail it in big wind and waves then the other designs.... weight having nothing to do with this feature.
