I would tell Hobe to go and negotiate a deal with Phill Brander about the Blade design and put him on the design and production team. Honestly.
I think the way forward is with drag reduction from the whole package, easier/better handling/trimming and doing a couple of prototypes before comitting to full production.
I dont know if there are sailing prototypes of the new design though, so I might very well be completely wrong about the last point.
Sorry to hear the impression you got of the F16 class. Hope we will be able to redeem ourself.