F18 NA's - Where are the Tigers?

I was surprised to see there were only 6 Tigers entered out of 33 boats at Pensacola. I know there are a lot of Tigers out there and most of them race.

Entry list and first days results.
http://www.thebeachcats.com/Article310.html

There are not many nicer places to sail than Pensacola Beach, FL (the whole Gulf Coast is pretty much the same).

Pictures (364 so far)
http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?module=pictures&g2_itemId=52110

So where are the Tigers? How could there be 6 Tigers, 21 Infusions, 6 Capricorns at a US event? Am I wrong that there are more Tigers out there by a factor of ??

_________________
Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
www.MemphisGuru.com
www.Catsailor.com
www.TheBeachcats.com

There are only 43 Tigers that race in the US. Many of them would not even consider going to a North Americans.

There are 4 major groups:

Of the Tigers in Detroit:
I just sold mine.
John Bauldry just got back from the 40th Anniversary Regatta.
Paul Krutty didn't have the time from work.
Gregg Kittinger has a 6 month old baby.

Of the Syracuse Tigers:
Bob O and Steph just had a baby on Saturday
Vaillancourts are trying to sell theirs
Rob & Darcy Jerry - ?
Kevin Wilson - ?
Mike & Karen Grisco have a small child, too.

The Pacific NW Tigers just had the Tiger NA's in their backyard - and it's a really long haul to Pensacola Beach from Seattle.

The Southern CA guys have the same issue - a super long drive.

People have had to pick and choose which events they went to this year - a lot of them have chosen not to travel. They're lucky to have six there.

More important questions:
WTF is Enrique doing on an Infusion?
How can Eileen be both Dan's and Sandra's crew?
What happened to Moyra & Cabot?

Tomko (former Tiger sailor) already has his throw
Eileen must be "just that good"
Too bad Ian's climbing out of such a hole (he won the Alter Cup Q in Long Beach)
GO Dan and Kelly!!! Let's see some numbered scores!

Wonder what the wind/weather conditions are? edit= duh...look at the pictures! it's cappin'

_________________
Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

That's interesting, is there a common reason? I was under the impression that most Tigers race in F18 class events. Are there a lot that stick to Hobie only?

_________________
Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
www.MemphisGuru.com
www.Catsailor.com
www.TheBeachcats.com

There are a lot that stick to Tiger One-Design - especially the upstate New York group.

Probably 1/2 of the people that race Tigers "don't think they're good enough" to race in a North Americans - certainly not good enough to blow a few $1,000 to find out. So that cuts the number down to 22.

Of that 22, a lot of people just don't have the time, money or inclination to travel across the country to race for a week - especially if they've already gone to another week-long event.

Dan Delave is Mr. West Coast F18, so you got him.
Moyra & Cabot have been racing their brains out this year and didn't go to the Tiger NA's, so this is their big event.
Dan & Kelly Krueger also couldn't go to the Tiger NA's so they came to the F18's
Kenny Boudreaux is relatively local.
Steve Titus is the only one in his HCA Division with a Tiger - this is his big event.
I don't know Barry Robinson.

For the people that own Caps and Infusions - this is the ONLY major event that they can sail in, so of course they came out in droves.

I don't even think there is a "Hobie Factory Team" there. Jaque and Greg Didn't make it.

_________________
Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
[email protected]
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

Matt,

So are there many owners of Tigers who don't race? If so, do they just use them for recreational sailing?

From the little I know Tigers they seem like a lot of works to setup and sail. Plus given their light-weight racing design I didn't think they were nearly as durable as something like an H16.

Even without considering cost therefore they don't seem like an ideal recreational boat. Is that correct?

_________________
Michael
'86 H16 #91487

I should be good enough to race at an F18 or even a HC sanctioned event. Between work and an active 14 year old son and family committments, I barely have enough time to sail. Did someone say I have to get my priorities right?

That said, I did get around to sailing a Tiger (recreationally) this summer. Awesome. Ever since Hobie stopped production of the H18, I knew that when my H18 died, we would need to get another cat. I looked at H20's, too delicate for our stoney beach. Getaway is great, but does not have the performance we like. The Tiger is much tougher the the H20, it has the performance WITH the control, and is in my headlights for our next upgrade. Yes, a lot of folks use them for club racing (five here on the Ottawa, between LDSC and NSC), and also for recreation. The only mod I would add would be the Euro wings, expensive as they are. And a padded bag velro'd to the boom to hold my cold beverage.

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

I would have loved to support the Tiger and F18 NA's this year. I agree that a lot of the top Tiger sailors are not traveling or doing the NA's. It all comes down to time (distance) and money. Matt hit the nail on the head when saying people pick and choose their events. My big events for the year were the Alter Cup in Tampa, FL in April after receiving an invitation and the recent 40th Anniversary Regatta in Dana Point, CA (the latter was a no-brainer ). Other than that I opted to stay local (NE US - S. Ontario) and support the division points regattas. I did do a couple of non Hobie F18 events with CRAM. But again it was local.

If work and the economy improves in 2009...I am planning on traveling a bit more...specifically to the MWE and the HAVAMEGA. But only time will tell.

mb87 - The Tiger is as robust and bulletproof as the 16...it is not a delicate boat and was designed for high wind sailing. Take a ride on one sometime in the hands of an expert. It'll get your game on.

John Bauldry
Hobie Tiger #1704
Commerce, MI

Th tiger is not that much more difficult than the 20 or 18 to rig. Somewhere inbetween on the durability. Its a great fun platform as for the the north americans. 6 tigers (18,26,27,30,31,33) , 6 capricorns (1,2,9,12,20,22) , and 21 infusions. filling out the field. The tiger was a verry competitive boat , and some would say dominate for a few years. However the capricorn and infusion has cought up and maybe surpassed in the last year or two. The difference is the tiger maintains a smod status as well as a f-18 status and is one of the few boats that follows this formula. If you want to race hobie and f-18 its a great boat, maybe the new f-18 from hobie will re-establish some f-18 dominance for hobie. Till then if your not in the top 10 learn and practice on the tiger. Then upgrade when the new boat is available

_________________
Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
[email protected]
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

Hobie18rich...

I disagree with your assessment of the Tiger vs the Infusion or Capricorn. All three platforms are competitive. It all depends on the conditions and who's driving. The Tiger excels in heavy, rough conditions while the Caps and Infusion prefer flat water. I'll bet if you put Robbie Daniels on a Tiger...he'd still be in first place.

John Bauldry
Hobie Tiger #1704
Commerce, MI

John
I agree that the tiger is still a very competitive platform. The worlds proved that this year but the other manufactures are catching up and making stride to close the gap hobie had for several years. Even HCe has said to be competitive and keep winning its time to update the platform. I believe the new boat will be what we see at the major f-18 events. Even if the new boat were available today I' d stay on my tiger.
I enjoy the smod racing and ability to go f-18 racing if i choose. And like a few others i chose the 40th over florida or canada this year. But im already commited to the mega next year and may do the f-18 na's depending on the economy.
Btw congrats Dan and Eileen for top Tiger finish. 18th overall .
on a 2003 platform

_________________
Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
[email protected]
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

I think I can speak for the Div 4 Tigers (Washington and BC) - we had 14 Hobie Class/Open events and 7 F18 events on the PNW calendar this year and to get to the F18 NAs we needed to get a minimum of a triple stack to get the transportation numbers to work. We may have been suffering a little race fatigue as we only had 2 Tigers ready to roll to FL.

I think our primary fleet goal this year was to drive great racing and gain exposure for the fleet - Div 4 grew our Tiger fleet from 4 boats to 17 by the end of the season with an average of about 10 boats on the line for any event. In addition to the Hobie events we pushed for F18 starts at the Seattle NOODs, the WAVES Olympic Can/Am event, Alter Cup Eliminations and the CYC Seattle Fleet Championships, four events that we felt were critical to drive YC/cross fleet visibility and youth exposure.

I know that I had 92 race starts in the Tiger this year and an additional 68 monohull starts between the Melges 32 and 24 – this is by far the most tired I have been near the end of a season in several years. I think next year you will see several of the Div 4 Tigers traveling more to OR and CA as we will probably have a much more integrated race schedule vs. trying to do two full racing schedules.

My impressions on the Tiger vs. other F18s is that the Tiger gives a bit away in under 12 knots and is a more controlled boat in 15 and up. When we jumped into the Tiger in March the Infusions were winning every race, by mid- season there were several Tigers that could beat them, so I still think it is the sailors and conditions.

My primary reason for the purchase of the tiger was to be able to compete in both class OD events and F18 events and I still think it is the best platform to do this and will be for at least two to three more years. As far as mods we will have a F18 class specific set of sails and possibly some new F18 specific foils to try to gain a little more light wind speed but that is it.

Paul Andrepont - USA2477 (aka DHFiend)

I don't wish to hurt anyones feelings here but to compare the H16 & 18 to the Tiger in regards to durability is ludicrous. Comparing it to the 20 is more realistic. The Tiger could be used recreationally but it was never designed for that application, it is a race boat. The Tiger is not a beachcat in the sense the H16 & 18 are. The keel isn't solid glass and wearing thru the outer skin compromises the integrity of the hull and daggerwell, trust me on this one. A H16 or 18 can be sailed with holes worn thru the keels without compromising the integrity of the boat.
The Tiger platform is every bit as competitive as any F18 out there. The differences between the manufacturers are very minimal and still not proven to be faster.
It all comes down to the driver in most applications. A good skipper on a Wave can win open class races every time, a bad skipper on an Infusion will lose every time.

Cough Cough.....

I disagree - its the Crew & Skipper combo - if you don't mind me saying.

Long live the Crew Union!

Have a Hobie Day!