Kris
Yes. Time and money are limited resources for most of us. However, you keep forgetting that the F16 class is not being selected and you are presupposing that all F16 owners will flip their rides for an Olympic F16....Maybe you (former Tornado owner) but most of us are realistic about what the F16 class is and our desire to compete in Olympic level competition.
My fundamental argument is that splintering a racing class by having two flavors of equipment in the class in play is a problem.
When you look at buying into a racing class you look at two related issues.. How many races are there for you to compete in.. where are these races and what is the critical mass of sailors at each event. The second issue... What is the competition in the class like and do I fit in.
You acknowledge the second point by noting that in your opinion many F16 sailors will not be vying for the Olympics and won't be attending the Olympic F16 XXX mixed multi events like the Miami OCRsd even if they had the boat. Many will not try the 5 diamond trail!
What is the effect splintering has on critical mass turnout for the two types of equipment? The Olympic mixed mulithull sailors will have a critical mass and all competitors will be on the same page "compete in Olympics". Competition will be keen. They won't be at F16 events because the competition will not be there for them. (granted... Probably not a loss to F16 class turnout )
What happens to the F16 class critical mass??.. The olympic sailors won't be there... How many core F16 sailors at the top of the fleet want to stick a toe into the Olympic pool and sail against these top olympic sailors... Since they have a mixed mulithull compliant boat... They may want to play in the silver fleet just for the competition. And time and money makes this their NA experience of the year. The effect on F16 turnout could be huge since the fleets are small (20 boats). IMO the potential bleeding off of the top of the fleet to the mixed multi F16 will hurt the critical mass of F16 sailors more then just a few boats.. If the top three sailors pass on the F16 event for the mixed multihull event... does turnout suffer beyond the loss of three boats? I notice that the PR campaign leading up to a NA's or mid winters is all about how many of the top dogs are racing and how big the party will be. IMO, without the top guns... attendance suffers. The three boats you lose to mixed are the WRONG three boats to lose. Will you travel a big distance if the turnout and competition appear to drop off. Of course, at the club level it won't matter.
My hope is that the committee leaves the F16 and F18 classes alone and creates a new Olympic class with their selection.
For example, Take a Viper and put curved foils in her (along with an upgrade kit of foils and cases for the existing vipers world wide). This Olympic Viper will clearly not be an F16 boat at that point. the Nacra 17 is a completely new boat with no class to effect.
What impact would selection have on the other classesper the blog
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2012/01/olympics-phantom-project-is-out-of.htmlRealize... these submissions by and large are NOT from classes that voted to be Olympic (except for Roland and the T) ... rather... the builders are making a calculated economic decision... Is it good for the class or CLASS of sailors who race these boats??. Do the builders even give a damn about the Class opinion.
Hobie is going with the Hobie 16 and the Tiger.The H 16 class is huge... they assume the class will function much like the Laser with few problems.
Tiger, the F18 class is not pleased but can't do much about it. Leveraging the existing F18 racing is good for Hobie and the long in the tooth Tiger class.... perhaps not so good for the F18 Class.
AHPC with the Viper
Nacra with the 17' and the 16"IMO the F16 flavors are issues for the F16 class...because the F16 class is so much smaller then Hobie 16's or F18s.
New olympic classes like the Nacra 17 or a fantasy Viper with curved foils would not bother F16's.
Loday & White with the Spitfire S
Gabler with the old Tornado.These are essentially two small regional classes (Brits and Germans) who might love to be Olympic (certainly a blast from the past for the T).
Based on our conversation with Dina (ISAF technical committe) I think cost, weight range and ability to hit the water with international competition by summer 2012 are the key selection factors after an acceptable sailing performance. I did not get a sense that the impact on the existing classes mattered all that much. IMO... it should be a factor!
