It seems that the age groups would need to be broken down more. John mentioned 7-25yr old age range. I would say that it is more like a 7-12 bracket, 13-18, college age, and then the 23yr old plus. This makes it that much harder to make everyone happy.
I still find it hard to believe that parents will spend $3k for a boat for the youngsters(7-12) to bomb around on.
The 13-18 age group can start to sail a H16, F16 and even an F18.
I have sailed with kids in all the age brackets and know how hard it can be to keep them interested.
I find they come to regatta's and even fleet or club racing based a lot more on the social aspects then any boat factor you can throw in.
Looking Cool and Fast are relative terms and all the differant age groups will probably have differant views.
I can tell you "Fast" is a lot slower for a 7 year old than it is to a 16yr old.
I'm all for promoting youth sailing and trying to find a boat that makes that happen.
If you don't ask the questions you won't be successful.