I have not spoken to Macca about weather they will submit a boat for selection........ But I would be willing to bet it will be full steam ahead with their new 20.

As for the Tornado being an old boat, sail one and it will feel as adavced and sweet to sail as the majority of modern boats on the market. I have not sailed a Carbon N20 but would imagine it would be one of the few boats, if not the only that would potentialy make a T feel a little dated.

Now I am going to jump back on a T tomorrow and enjoy the 'Dated' ride in some good breeze.

Ahahaha, good one. A lot of the F18 are not stock. Appendices are the most commonly changed bits, sail development is huge so new sails are coming up all the time, I've seen F18 with non stock beams, Infusion with wildcat rudders, top boats do change all their blocks to match exactly what they want...

A H16 with curved foils and spi would be interesting, even if not my preferred choice for the Olympics.

I thought that the spinny on a Hobie 16 was a really bad idea - until my team started sailing one!

the pole is really long and the sail gives a huge amount of lift to the bows. this means that teams [especially the lighter ones] can sail the boat downwind in more breeze with the kite than WITHOUT!
Its a really well done piece of kit and makes the H16 very exciting downwind and it sails just like an F18! Try it and you will see.

I shot a video from a H16 training session a few years ago, it shows that it really sails quite nicely with the spi.(2:40).

Tangent:

I wonder how many impressions Nissan got from sponsoring the Hobie Europe teams. Anyone seen the 'Tiger Pitchpole'?

too bad its so difficult to get companies in the US to pony up.

the mosquito cats also added a spinaker, and I guess it would give the h16 a run for its money, but from the u tubes available nose diving is more noticable than say a F16

Im sorry.. isnt the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius.".. These three Latin words mean "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." NOT "fatter, heavier, slower"..

If the F20C is faster lighter stronger than the T then choose that if not.. I however doubt if the F20C would see any less cost in the kitty to campaign than a T.. And the cost is a red herring put there by ISAF..
But watch ISAF screw up the selection..

More soon, but I'm pleased to convey that the Board approved an OSC recommendation to vote for a Mixed Multihull event in Athens in a few days. Great meeting in AZ this weekend. Big Multihull presence. Dave Ingram is the new MHC chair with Mike L. (brucat) as his Vice.

John, Sorry I cant share your pleasure, firstly sailing is a extremly male dominated sport and the number of female interest is very small compared, so obviously a mixed event will = EPIC FAIL, it will have to be done on a much smaller platform because a female member isnt going to be as strong as a male member, and simply this wont achieve any where near as much interest to the spectator as would 2 male crew on a 20 footer, this is yet again going against what the IOC have insisted we dont do! Make it more viable interesting to the general public, no ones girlfriend wife or mother gives a dam to watch a mixed couple racing on a pissy 16 foot cat, nor will most blokes, at least try to put forward a class that may work, and have a chancce to save olympic sailing, is amuses me John how you think a mixed multi will appease the ioc, much less increase viewers, i would love to hear what type of mixed cat would please you!!!!!!!!
Actually i think everyone here would like to know whay type of mixed cat you would suggest and give us a chance to analyize your suggestion before a mixed team is proposed foolishly, and if people here cant explain why your choise wont work then sure go for it!!

get the girls in bikinis and guys in speedos.. watch the spectators take notice!! Worked for beach volley ball

I dont think that is what John has in mind, as racing is generally done away from spectators and with very poor TV coverage due to the disinterest in sailing in the olympics created by the poor choise of monohull events we currently have and still continue to have, and just making a mixed event in a small cat wont fix the problem, please explain to me and the others here, along with the rest of the world, how we are wrong and you and the ISAF is right! This time you and the ISAF WONT get a second chance the IOC will wipe sailing once and for all! From their words YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

devon ISAF wont get it right.. Based on past history there have only been two times that ISAF has chosen well.. The T and the 49er..

Saying this there have been women sailing the T at the pointy end of the Olympic fleets...

I'm not voting for the Tornado - but the current world champions are: a mixed team (Roland & Nahid Gäbler)! So it has not to be a "pissy 16 foot cat".

Carolijn was 2nd at the T worlds and went to the Games on a Tornado, so I guess she will be pushing for the same sized boat for a mixed class..

MIXED proposal = FAIL

Not because the girls can't do it, they can.

Because you are excluding MUSLIMS from a 'New' Olympic sport. IOC won't wear it. Badly thought out proposal.

Last time I checked, there were no Islamic catamaran teams at the 2008 Olympics:

1 ESP Fernando Echavarri, Anton Paz Blanco
2 GRE Iordanis Paschalidis, Konstantinos Trigonis
3 NED Mitch Booth, Pim Nieuwenhuis
4 UKR Pavel Kalinchev, Andriy Shafranyuk
5 AUS Darren Bundock, Glenn Ashby
6 GBR Leigh McMillan, Will Howden
7 FRA Xavier Revil, Christophe Espagnon
8 CAN Oskar Johansson, Kevin Stittle
9 CHN Youjia Luo, Xiuke Chen
10 GER Johannes Polgar, Florian Spalteholz
11 BEL Carolijn Brouwer, Sebastien Godefroid
12 AUT Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher
13 ARG Santiago Lange, Carlos Espínola
14 USA John Lovell, Charles Ogletree
15 ITA Francesco Marcolini, Edoardo Bianchi

That argument is a red herring.

Actually they've done three things right, women's match racing, the most spectator friendly bit of olympic sailing there is. Short sharp racing, close action, only two boats to have to film, lots of manoeuvers..

So Olympic participation is a closed club is it? no more new sailors. Nice one!

I think that you need to have a think about what wavelength the IOC might be on.

That's three pretty awesome boat names right there....