I asked this on the 18ht forum but did not get many replies. Is the class dead/dieing.
Here in europe our class benefits from a steady grow.
Only here in switzerland and germany we can welcome 20 new teams this year. there are several manufactores - bimare, ventilo, steahlth and eagle. All of them have no more boats left in the yard and are outsold, since month's...
Ventilo and Eagle have created for 2005 new "wavepiercing" designs.
the racing scene in the europeean F18HT circuit is very nice. It's like a big family, new members receive a warm welcome. On the water we sail very ambitious, without loosing the respect of our fellow competitor's!
For the year 2005 we have created a HT18 Trophy with races in switzerland, germany and of course in italy!
Our boats are light, fast and reliable! the A-Cat for two persons. They feature a true A-Cat Style - Carbon-Mast and are easy to trailor, without disasembling.
All opinions are of course biased!
Check the US-18HT Site
http://www.f18htclass.com/
US-HT18 Forum:
http://wfo3.proboards1.com/
Or our brand new Swiss-18HT Site, in german, french and of course in english!
http://www.18ht.ch
Swiss/German 18HT Forum
http:/
Dead or alive? ALIVE 
There are a couple of 18HT's racing the local circut in Texas. They seem ideally suited to buoy racing on lakes in the right wind conditions. When it get's to really high wind or when sailing in big chop they seem to be at a disadvantage because of limited free board and no jib to reach with. They are still pretty quick though - I've been looking at the back of them all year round the race course!
Chris.
jdaf31r or Jan?
You got 6 responses to this question on the HT class forum -thats not enough? The rest of the class obviously either agreed with the responses or didnt care to justify your question with a response.
http:/
Your original post on the Ht forum was in broken English, I assumed you were from a European country. I noticed that your grammer has improved with the last post, so if you are from the US let us know and we can help you with your concerns.
Bill Vining
HT class
First, I am not Jan. Second, I did not post on the 18ht forum,nor did I look there for the answer before posting. I only asked the question on the "Cat sailor" 18ht forum which only recieved two responses, and one was a private message. This is why I asked it on the New Forum in hopes to get a bigger response. I am very much interested in the 18ht, but only as a secondary boat that I can use on a local lake by myself (pushing the limits) or with my 9 year old on the trap! I had been very interested in one but a week before I was ready to make the sale, it had been bought. Price $7500 with trailer and sails. I also know yours is for sale at $12K which is way more than I am willing to pay since I have a family and they wouldn't be able to race onboard, like they do now. I am kicking myself for selling my Nacra 5.8na. Meanwhile I will just have to keep sailing Triceratops.
Jon Alvord
F31R, Triceratops
You got 6 responses to this question on the HT class forum -thats not enough? The rest of the class obviously either agreed with the responses or didnt care to justify your question with a response.
http:/
Your original post on the Ht forum was in broken English, I assumed you were from a European country. I noticed that your grammer has improved with the last post, so if you are from the US let us know and we can help you with your concerns.
Bill Vining
HT class
Sorry that I jumped to conclusions Jon.
The Newport fleet has a charter boat that is owned by the factory and it is for sale - in your price range, contact maurizio at mauriziogiuggioli@virgilio.it
Bill