There is no comparison between the H-16 and the A-Cat. The H-16 is a solid platform that truely tests the the sailors skill level against identical boats making it a sailors tactical race. The A-Cat however has different logic fueling it. It is a class that is made for innovation. The only rules are it must be less than 18' not carry more than 150 sq ft of sail and not wiegh less than 75kg fully loaded. While the H-16 weighs in at 325 min the A-Cat is half the weight and only the skipper sailing. The PN numbers tell the story the best. The A-Cats # is 65.5 the H-16 is 76.1. The H16 as it is today will be sailed the same 10 years from now. The shelf life of a A-Cat will only remain as long as nobody comes up with a faster design. That seems to be happening faster these days. While the H-16 sailors have not dropped the PN #'s for their boat in a long time meaning it has reached the apex of it's performance curve. Both provide their followers with much excitement and help fuel multihull sailing in general. <br><br>