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PostPosted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:42 am 
Sitnsail.com is closing. One of the partners has medical issues. They have reduced the price of existing inventory 20%.

This is a bummer as I bought mine 3 years ago and love them. I hate to see a good company go under.


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:54 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:15 pm
Posts: 1199
Location: Oakland, CA
I've communicated with Sitnsail and they have one set left in stock, which they plan to list on eBay this Friday if no one takes it.


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:40 am 
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Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:03 pm
Posts: 3
Location: West Michigan
Does anyone know why they are discontinuing this product?


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:45 am 
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Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:56 pm
Posts: 740
Location: Los Angeles
Went sailing this past Saturday with the partner (I crewed for him) that has the medical problem. I've known him for a little more than a year. Before this voyage, I had a very dismal opinion of the wing concept for the H16. I must say that after 2 1/2 hours on a H16 w/wings, I was quite impressed. I mean, I could never put them on my boat because I've already become addicted to the more radical side of cat sailing (and I'm sure I'll have some comments from Doughobie if he reads this :lol: ) but anything short of that, they're a real winner.

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Had a great time . . . .

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Happy Sailing,

David


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:49 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 10:02 pm
Posts: 7
Thanks Dave,

Great picture of Patrick. His new H16 looks great too.

Btw, I heard (from a little French bird) that I was banned from the beach for a failure-to-appear a couple of Saturdays ago. Um...you wouldn't know anything about that would you?! ;-)

All kidding aside, Patrick and I decided it was time to hang up the Sitnsail gloves. He was going through a health crisis, and had little time for SitnSail and I have a new full time job with little extra time.

Basically, it was a good idea that started out as one of Patrick's personal challenges, and which ultimately became the SitnSail wings. It was great product, but, unfortunately, a very small, niche market. That said, we still sold quite a few units; many more than expected. And we've never had a single complaint from our customers either.

There were obstacles to overcome along the way. One Hobie enthusiast suggested that trapezeing from our wings creates too much drive on the leeward hull tip while under full power. And that this could, theoretically, cause the lee tip to dive resulting in a pitch-pole. However, I believe that this is the case even without the wings. Let's face it, the H16 does have some inherent design flaws with the hulls ;-)

Another customer informed us that Hobie might void the warranty if our wings were installed, although I've never verified this with Hobie. Odd, because our wings are 100% bolt on with no modification. So why the void? We believed that the rewards our wings offered have far outweighed any miniscule potential for pitch-poling. Our customers seemed to echo this belief as well.

In any case, we had decided that we no longer wished to paddle upstream, and if we couldn't sell our product patent then we would liquidate our inventory and cash out. Too much effort, too little gain.

As it stands, we still have 5 units left. When they're gone, they're gone. We do not plan to resurrect SitnSail. To expedite sales, we are offering a 20% discount on our remaining 5 sets. Lastly, our website will go offline in December.

To those that have supported SitnSail, we thank you.

Regards,

Raymond
sitnsail.com
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:46 am 
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Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:56 pm
Posts: 740
Location: Los Angeles
Hey Ray,

I do have a bone to pick with you for your absence at the beach about two weeks ago but I'm over it now. Sailing with Frenchie was a long time coming and I knew it was eventually going to happen. Say, send me your e-mail address so I can put you on the local sailing mailing list. I have a few things I'd like to share. Maybe I can talk you into bringing your boat out this week-end. :lol:

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Happy Sailing,

David


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