Garda, I disagree with your statement on the 1st that foilers are denigrating the rest of sailing. Nothing that I know about foiling sullies the reputation of sailing in general or non-foiling sailing in particular. It is just another (now) available way to appreciate the sport I love.

I sail almost everything - I regularly sail big boats (that Beneteau 40.7 mentioned earlier), big multihulls, beach cats (including a little Hobie Wave), and this summer some foilers including the Phantom and the S9. All are enjoyable and require very different skills. I am 63 now and started sailing in college so the variety is an attractive feature of sailing and any new type of boat doesn't detract from it but rather enhances the sport!

While the UFO was not foiling it seemed to sail as fast as the Wave would have sailed but we were in an area by ourselves so there were no other boats around to use as a gauge. We were there to test sail some foilers and we were sailing in marginal conditions in any direction that better got the boat foil borne so I can't speak to how well it would race a WL course either way. I do think that you would want to stay in protected waters as the freeboard is probably even less than a Laser when not foiling. I did see it being as fast as the moths (there is a YouTube video of that also) when it was breezier. The Clarks have put a lot of design thought into this little boat and I was especially impressed with the sail and rig - a VERY clever arrangement to provide shape from very full to very flat very easily. The wishbone boom ends at the spreader tips and has a forward angle to the mainsheet so that it will push the boom into the spreaders and bend the mast as much as you allow by how tight/loose you have the diamond wire control line at the bottom of the mast. You have to see it but it is very simple and highly effective.

I have no interest in this boat other than sailing being a passion but I see no reason for anything but encouragement for this kind of thought and effort, especially from this group.