"Wait...you're talking about bringing three Tornados and you're miffed that you could possibly end up in open class?"

NO.. I am not miffed... I am just not interested in attending the regatta.

"Hit the ground and get more boats or join a class that shows up to regattas like this. "

I have asked the local I20's about going and you get various combinations of the reasons I stated... Once upon a time the New England boats also drove down and now they don't.

"The Spring Fever format works fine."
OK! Then attendance is not a concern. I must of misunderstood the begining of this thread.

"You're asking a well established F18 and N20 fleet to race door to door with boats that are faster but be "OK" with it! - get an F18 or N20 if you want to race with F18s or N20s or build enough of a Tornado fleet that will show up to make you happy."

I know you read the one design.net forum... They are debating the question is the I20 dead? should I sell my boat now... or loose big bucks if I wait? .... It's never a good thing when that is a reasonable question! So, perhaps one should look for alternatives before you sell a boat that you like.

I look at countries where cat racing is far more popular and see how they are doing things. To me it looks like they run many big races with 30 to 60 boat starts with similar boats and score lots of ways. Texel, Aussi Portsmouth, one design, forumula, whatever. So, no matter what the particular turnout of specific spin boats... F16's, F18's, N20's, T's old designs with spins... you will be racing a reasonable cohort of sailors. That is a sustainable solution... Reading tea leaves to predict how many of my class will show up is not sustainable IMO. They save the one design stuff for their states and nationals.

With respect to " race door to door with boats that are faster but be "OK" with it! " I suspect that the Europeans and Aussie's would just laugh at such BS and tell you to shut up and race.