Proudfoot, I think the Wayfarer would be a great boat. I'm positive there are equally (or maybe even greater?) qualities in the others you mentioned, too, and you'll be hearing from them, I'm sure.
If I would have been able to get a straight up trade for any other boat for my Lightning, it would be the Wayfarer. But, at least, when I was intereested in that they could neither be found at all anywhere close by nor for anythiing close to an affordable price.
Granted, I have never particpated in an EC but one of my goals with my boat is to do things like what is covered quite well in the book I picked up nearly two decades ago titled, "Dinghy Cruising - The Enjoyment of Wandering Afloat" by Margaret Dye and is largely based on the adventures aboard a Wayfarer she and her jusband Frank experienced (but since you know the boat you must already know the book and their accomplishments in that boat). I could only roughly guess how many times I read that book.
It was actually what the Dye's did in their boat that first interested me, in earnest, for that type of sailing once I found that larger boat sailing, or rather larger boat racing, gets a bit on the boring side in the muddy, shallow waters of lakes and bays found in along much of the western Gulf Coast. Reading the one book above is almost almost like reading an EC how-to. There are a few grainy videos that have been converted to YouTube clips of the Dye's exploits.
Good luck with whatever boat you wind up with!
-JVG