Bob,

Thanks for asking.

I've looked most closely at the I17R and the Taipan 4.9/F16. I've heard great things about both these boats from many credible sources. They both look like terrific boats and both perform great according to so many people. There are some major differences in design approach and the tradeoffs made in each case but obviously the designers knew what they were doing because both approaches work well. There are design and philosophical differences which may favor one vs the other in specific wind/weather conditions; harder to say if one is much better than the other in the majority of conditions.

Neither of these designs are popular in my area so local fleet issues don't apply in either case.

I haven't yet learned as much about other F16 choices (ie, Stealth F16 and Blade F16) just becuase in general they are newer and there are fewer of them around, but from what little I know they sound like very good boats as well.

Tough choice!

Jerry

ps - good thing you're not located out here; if you were sailing either of these I'd have to pick the OTHER to have ANY CHANCE of being competitive (ie, in a DIFFERNT FLEET!)