You know someone with a crystal ball, then?

Can you tell me why its growth relative to the F16 is relevant anyway? How do you think it'll compare to the Nacra F17 class growth? Or indeed any other class?

This boat has been chosen as the new ISAF youth multihull, so it seems likely that the class will grow very fast, at the expense of the Hobie 16 class that it's replacing in this role.

The really interesting question is what will this do for youth cat sailing in general? Is it the new design that's needed to make cat sailing a more attractive option? Or is the upfront cost of moving the fleets across to a brand new boat going to do long term damage?

You can help answer this: does your son find the SL16 significantly more attractive than the H16?

What I do know is that if a Texel rating of 115 is accurate for these boats then they're not in competition with boats such as the F18, F16 and Spitfire with ratings of 104 or less - although I hope that the SL16 will be come a great feeder for these classes.

Paul