Originally Posted by flywilly

Agreed. There is nothing to prevent somebody from flying an older design which can still be competitive, especially in the lower classes. I have a 15 year old Astral XX with an OS140 which I can fly the Masters class sequence very respectably (probably competitively - I fly a lot). I don't think there is a pattern design from about 1970 on that I haven't been interested in and found appealing to at least some degree (though the Trigantic was a bit overwhelming when I first saw it).