Dear Wouter and the rest of the F-16 world,

I've been sitting quietly observing the proceedings from the little outpost known as South East Asia and am enjoying the sci-fi levels of discussion, but I think it's time I throw in another view.

Admittedly, we are comparatively small in terms of the catamaran world at large but we did host the last Tiger Worlds in Singapore and we've just spent the last 2 years building up the "world's biggest Taipan club" (Slimy's words) in Singapore where we now have 18 of the little cats buzzing around.

From the onset, we established that all our cats would be spinnaker equipped i.e. F-16, even though at that stage the factory was not that convinced we should!

My bug is this:

I hear what the 'developed' world is saying but if you listen to yourselves you are talking about escalating costs, period. The F-18 was setup with a high platform weight to discourage hi-tech and keep costs down. Unfortunately it's so heavy that manufacturers have to put in more material which requires man hours and the cost therefore rises!

Bear with me.

In our case, we have to import from Australia but I'm sure our masts originate in USA. I've been told that even Australia cannot make the alloy wingmast to the same level of specification as USA. And I believe it after having 75% of our Nacra Inter 17s (Aust. built masts) come crashing down!

So for us here in Singapore, our masts come to us from USA via Australia - we suffer 2 exchange rate knocks, plus the import expenses of freight etc...

If we were to make our own carbon products here in S.E Asia, we could probably get them for the same as or maybe even less than what we pay for the alloy one. You might be surprised but many of the Carbon components for Boeing are built in SE Asia. To us, carbon is going to make the F-16 Class here more viable. And isn't that what you want - it's certainly what we want.

CARBON is not the question, it's the entry price. Unfortunately the entry price is controlled by factors/factories and demand. Having this level of debate is great as it shows strong interest in the Class.

My view is that Carbon should be allowed in masts, beams, booms...fishing rods, tennis rackets and toilet roll holders. As the base weight of the F-16 platform is going to mean that beyond a certain point, it'll be a pointless exercise to save all that weight and then add lead!

CARBON BEAMS. I can quote you exactly what it costs us to replace an alloy beam/mast from AHPC here in Singapore - but I won't. I will say I've done the exercise and to build an equivalent here will be cheaper in CARBON. Any designer will tell you that the material cost of a carbon component is negligible these days. It's the manhours required to put it together.

AS FOR GLUED TOGETHER BOATS. If a chap wants a glued-together boat, let him. When he has to ship as deck cargo to a World Championship on the other side of the world - he probably can't afford to and so won't show up anyway. And if he can't show up, he can't win! There's really nothing to stop anyone gluing a boat together now anyway. We used to glue Hobie 16's together 20 years ago - so it's nothing new.

One of the comments likened the scene to Formula 1 (heaven forbid, as 'real men' race motor cycles). If you followed one Valentino Rossi's performance in the MotoGP, you would observe something very interesting. He developed the Honda to an "unbeatable" level. Now he rides a Yamaha that was lowly ranked - and still wins!!! It comes down to the nut behind the wheel.

And so finally in conclusion I'd add this curve ball from the outfield - the entry price is the problem, not the material!

In the parameters of the box rule, stipulate a maximum for a manufactuers retail price - that's the only way to control the price issue.

But just as F-1 remains the pinnacle of 4-wheeled motorsports, there are many 'entry-level' car classes. And while MotoGP is the pinnacle of motorcycles, there are plenty of bike classes that limit the amount of money and modification to be competitive - but somehow everyone aspires to reach the pinnacle anyway.

So are we a Formula or an Entry Level? I'm a Formula but cap my own spending and encourage those in our fleet to do the same. I'll soon be launching a wood-epoxy Taipan against all the Kevlars. Then we'll see whether it's really a material race or not.

I know the answer anyway but would be as keen as mustard to meet this chap who is going to spend a million dollars on a 16' cat and win every World Championship!

Scott