I am not too familuar with the with the Blade or Stealth, however have raced the Taipan 4.9s and also F16s including in perhaps the first F16 event in the world.... Before the prototype Blade even came out of a mold.

I have raced the Taipan at 160 kg down to to 130 and wilst we performed ok at the upper end of the weight range, the lower end was a BIG advantage, particlularly downwind. We have as you may know, a very competitive Taipan fleet in Oz. The quickest 4.9s getting are those with the light weight, very talented youth on board with a few light weight old salts. It has more to do with the hull design and its displacement, then the power of the rig. There comes a point where it is displacing too much and you will be best served with less weight and power.

I do not dispute the fact that the Viper is in no mans territory as far as the weight goes. The Viper looks like a quick boat and shold be competitve based on the rig development that will go into it and the hull development which trickled down from the Capricorn, however would be better served at min weight. This will require the use of exotics, something Greg is trying to stear away from, and will drive the price of the boat up. The question is will people fork out the extra $$$$ for the reduction in weight. I am sure this is something Greg has thought long and hard about before putting the boat into production. I personaly don't think he has made the right decision, but time will tell.

It is no secret that I have now got my boat on the market and plan to get an F16. The Blade looks good, the Viper would be tempting if it was lighter, however it looks like I may pick up a 4.9 and have a tinker with it.