when is a sailing dinghy not a sailing dinghy

It was interesting to see that after many years of testing and development, Don Montague's 9m foiling kite trimaran raced against the foiling kites, windsurfers and 18 Foot Skiffs in the downwind race to the Golden Gate bridge - and was about 2/3 as fast as the 18s and 1/3 as fast as the foiling kites.

When it comes to day racing in open waters and at least moderate winds, the foiling kiteboard seem to make everything else look slow, at least up to the 45 foot foiling America's Cup boats - and some are saying that the kites are knots faster than the cats.  It's wonderfully ironic that we may now be back in the situation we were in the '70s, when the cat sailors made much of the fact that their smaller boats could beat the AC yachts.  The Moths are also arguably back in the '00s, when they could not compete with the boards.

But one would imagine that a foiling dinghy would be much slower than a board, yet lack the conventional dinghy's usability.  More of a resort fun machine, if you can find a resort that would allow people to hire one, perhaps.

Personally I'm more tempted to get a foiling kiteboard than a foiling dinghy or kiting dinghy, but it's a big challenge to take on.