Yeah, I think that the selection of the N17 will indeed make it harder to attract new nations to the Olympics. So there Luiz is correct and the ISAF committees are wrong.

But on the other hand, ArgF18 makes a good point in my opinion. No-one is going to build fleets of N17's, not even the rich nations. Even if the will and money would be there then the timeframe is simply to short to be able to do that before 2016 and no-one knows what will happen after 2016. Therefore the growing and maturing of sailors is still going to be handled via the H16/Nacra500/SL16 -> F16/F18 route.

There is simply no alternative. Of course the F16's come closest to the N17 by virtue of both being much lighter then the F18's and the (allowed) usage of carbon masts.

Additionally the investments have already been made with respect to the F16's. All makes now have sponsored talent teams and training programs around them. Best we can all do now is to go full steam ahead with everything that we were doing and just see the N17 as a Tornado replacement. A boat of which each MNA will eventually have 2 or 3 in pocession for the final stretch to the big O. That is the only viable pathway.


See the two newest additions in maturing talented sailors (Falcon F16's in Belgium, Nacra F16's in NL)