Stefan S wrote:
The T2 is a great (and easy going) cat for a light to mid-weight crew. I had rented a T2 this summer three times (that's what made me buy a cat again) and I really appreciated how easy everything is - especially the rudders that are perfectly balanced and do not pull on your arm all the time.
It is not a very fast cat, and I wouldn't compare it to a HC16. The T2 is way easier to sail, less tricky in waves and so much more comfy to squat on. A lightweight crew with some sports-genes in the DNA will find the HC16 so much more interesting. Everybody else will probably love the T2 - unless he's in my weight-range (260lbs, 6'5")
Thanks for this information. I do hope the T2 does well, as that might encourage Hobie Cat to produce another performance boat between the HC-16 and the F-18 Wild Cat. I am in your weight range, so I particularly appreciate your mini-review.
Maybe Hobie's future is 100% roto-molded? I notice that many canoe and kayak companies have moved either all expensive layup boats, or all roto-molded. Old Town, one of the largest canoe manufacturers dropped their high end boats a couple years ago. All their boats are heavy polyurethane ones -- except for the super high end legacy wooden ones.
Meanwhile other vendors fill the niche for high end glass boats, like Wenonah, who's entry level boats are over $2,000, or 2X any Old Town.
The H-16 is legacy product. But even large one-design classes come under pressure eventually. And as others have pointed out there are lots and lots of used ones out there.
Hobie has had great success with the Wave, you see them at every beach resort in the world. The Getaway too I think has been pretty successful. And now, perhaps, the T2. The AI and TI are hugely successful.
In North America that only leaves the WIldCat F18. As others have pointed out it's not a one-design boat, even, it's a box-rule. That has both advantages and disadvantages from the manufacturers point of views. I think from Hobie's point of view it's mostly bad.
* They already have had to kill off the Tiger and create the Wild Cat, so the box rule is taking the company further away from building up a second Hobie racing class to augment the 16.
* Your most skilled and committed sailors, the racers, are loyal to their Federation (F18, F16, A-cat) and not any manufacturer. Every event is a competitive sales situation. Hobie's not used to that, and maybe not as good at it as others.
* Anyone looking at the F-18 will, by the nature of the class, also be looking at NACRA's and (in Europe) others as well, and maybe F-16s, which Hobie isn't even a part of. (Because the F-18 experiment hasn't been that great).
And that's part of why I think Hobie is so into the roto-molded side of the business.
On the roto-molded side there is a lot of room to grow: from AI to TI, from Wave to T2 or Getaway. The prices work out OK. if you paid $3,700 for a Bravo or $5,800 for a wave a few years later it's easy to justify $8,300 or so for a Getaway or a T2. And, you really don't have a lot of other boats to look at as alternatives either. (RS has the 16 Cat now, so someone it trying to get in on the action. Interesting that they also chose the rotomolded part of the market). Hobie has dozens of rotomolded kayaks too, their expertise in increasing fast in this area.
NACRA has a 15, 16, 17, 18 and 20 foot glass boats. Their 17 is the Olympic class racer, their 15 is being pushed as a youth trainer. Their whole company looks to be much more racing oriented, and fiberglass boat oriented than Hobie, which has always been a lifestyle company as much as a technology company.
Having grown up around boats and beach cats I still have a strong visceral preference for fiberglass or composite boats over roto-molded. Even when shopping for a canoe or kayak that's what attracts me. Even more so in a sailboat. But that's me. I doubt my daughters would know the difference.
Maybe the market has passed by the whole idea of a high-performance one-design beach cat from Hobie as others have suggested. This is what I see when I look at their product lines.
Now that USA and Europe are re-united it will be interesting to see where they go. I suspect a lot of the boats in the European catalog will be discontinued, as has been explained it's too big and not very lucrative. Maybe the F-18 stays, maybe not. (It doesn't seem to be the dominant boat in the category, in any case, thought quite lovely and competitive by most accounts). Even if Hobie decides to build a next-gen one design racer that is modern, I think there is a good chance it will be a plastic boat, not a fiberglass one.
As much as I personally don't like that idea, it seems to make a lot of sense from what I see the company being successful with today.
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. It makes me wonder...