Todd from Lemoore:
Do you sail in Northern or Southern CA? I would guess from your proximity that it would be Northern area.
Let me state your first problem: You are sailing against some of the best Hobie 16 sailors in the Nation. You can look up the resumes of Mike Montague and Paul Hess at big event sites all over. It may be a bit harder to determine the caliber of some of the other sailors. One that comes to mind is Pat Porter. He does not go to many "big" events but is a great sailor, non the less. You also have some that have been sailing well against those sailors for years, Ron Katz, Jim Sadjek, Ken Nelson, Adam Borcherding and others. To top that off you have some sailors from So Cal that show up at regattas up there. John Hauser and Dave Dixon are going up there quite a bit, it seems. You get the picture. You are not sailing against "average" sailors.
Here is the second problem: old boat. I am not saying that you are doing the right thing by sailing an older, cheaper boat to get used to the game before spending too much on another boat. The sails, by the way, are your motor. You can have a very old car with a great motor and do well, but you cannot have a bad motor and go to the track expecting to be in contention.
If you think you need to do something to your sail it is probably already too tired. Check the feel of the material you have compared to a newer sail and decide if you even want to spend the $100 it would cost to put on a new luff rope.
As far as being near the top sailors at the end of the race. That is a lot to ask for. Figure out how the fleet is spread out at the end of a race and you will see that there are large decrepencies between the top group most of the time.
Ask questions. All of the people that I mentioned would answer your questions or take a look at your boat to help figure out how you could get a boost forward.
Remember we are here to have fun, be with great people, and enjoy the nature of sailing.
Later,
Dan
Southern Ca Tiger Sailor
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There are not very many threads Ive seen on sail repair 
I would like to hear how to salvage and prevent tears damage anything a set of 10 year old sails and still learn to sail fast. with my $600 boat not ready to spend $1000+ on a new sails yet. I just want to be compitive with what I got, eventualy I will go new after I learn to go fast 
I would like to be on the same leg as the guy in first place. Theory Buy a beater and learn how to drive then move up 
Main and Jib inputs requested
thanx Jaime!