Jake... you make the claim that the F18's are experiencing such great growth. (forget the world situation )

In the USA... Have you compared the growth of the F18 class to the growth of the Hobie 20 fleet? (they had 70 boat nationals once upon a time)
Betcha they are not much different and may actually lead the F18's

Seems to me that what you are seeing is not so much growth... as consolidation.... Old boats are retired (nobody wants to be last boat owner in a dying class) and racers have gravitated to the F18. Much the same happened with the hobie 20 where lots of hobie sailors moved to the boat and created that boat as a hot class for 4 or 5 years.

I don't see lots of new sailors on F18's.. I see lots of I20 and Hobie 20 racers. More of a zero sum game.