A quick survey of the Texel results show an over-abundance of F18's in the top 20 compared to any other class. Not a single N20 to be seen in the top 20. One Tornado.
If there are N20's sailors competing in Europe at the top level, they aren't making as much noise as the F18's.
You're out of line here - one of the top US N20 teams (Alex and Nigel) were at Texel this year on a 20 and its an easy guess that there are some very talented N20 sailors in Europe. I really don't see what this has to do with anything anyway.
You want to make a N20 faster? Why? The way I see it, it's probably the fastest thing (outside a Tornado) off the beach in anything under 15. If you try to affect the speed of the boat in the higher wind speeds...when the F18's start to show an upper hand...you stand a good chance of loosing that ability to sail fast when it's light.
As far as the mast being bendy enough to flatten the main, I think it's MUCH bendier than the current F18 masts and flattens it like a board. I do agree, however, that it's a very full main - but this is probably part of the reason the boat is so favorable to distance racing with the spinnaker.
In my moderatly experienced opinion, if you want to go slow with the F18s in the light stuff and go faster in the heavy, I think the mast needs to get a little shorter in addition to flattening the main but I wouldn't agree with such a change.
