Bob,
I am not sure I agree with your statement that open competitive sails from different lofts are much more expensive then factory supplied sails. For example, an A class mainsail delivered to my door from any one of 5-6 competitive lofts in Australia, Europe or the US is about 1400$, some of these come with battens. These sails are awesome quality, far better then anything that came out of the big 2 cat companies in the US. For comparison’s sake how much does a new Inter 17 mainsail + battens cost? Is it significantly cheaper? Does it have the same competitive lifespan?

What about dagger boards? If I crushed both my dagger boards, it would cost about 550$ US to replace them both. How much is an I-17 board? Is it a lot cheaper then 275$ each?

I would argue that a Formula class like the F-18 is probably cheaper in the long run then the equally equipped single manufacturer one design.

Eric Anderson