In my mind the F12 has a very clear target audience as a first boat for the "tweens". Ideally the class will promote safe and enjoyable racing and social sailing.

My own personal goal for the class is to gain ISAF "recognised" status by the end of 2010.

There has been a lot of talk here and in other places about the need to develop a suitable youth cat class but it won't happen without a few people putting in the time and effort required to kick start it. Everyone reading this is a cat enthusiast, so if you have kids of the right age and so do some of the people you sail with and against talk to them about the idea of building an instant fleet. If you build a few boats together they will cost less than many of you spend on sails each year and you'll quickly have the critical mass required to encourage other people to join you.

The other advantage of F12 is that as a new box rule the "best solution" is yet to be found, so any budding cat designer's out there (you know its you) can have a go at designing and building their own boat on a scale that won't blow the bank if your idea doesn't fly. I'm more than happy to provide technical assistance to people going down this path.

Chris Tucker