I'm fully with Brian on this one. I only see improvement of the cat scene.

More then a decade ago we had over 15 catamaran classes here. In the 18 foot double handed segment alone you had :

dart hawk
nacra 5.5
hobie 18
dart 18
Prindle 18
Prindle 18-2 (very different to the prindle 18 !)

None of them wanted to play with the others.

No there is only one 18 doublehanded catamaran that as good as everyone is sailing. Formula 18

In the 20 foot and other length segments to same has happened or is happening. It is just a matter of time when we only have :

Tornado / nacra-20 (I-20)
F18
F16 (Includes the ISAF youth boat SL16 and Spitfire)
A-cat
Hobie 16

In the way of waves/mystere 4.3/tyka 4.3/KL14.5 segment it is yet unsure which will come out on top.

So we went from over 15 classes to a much smaller and better spread out scene of only 5 to 6 classes.

I also believe that this new selection covers as good as any need/desires that a particular crew may have.


Wouter