Wild Cat: Initial impressions that I had wile racing against them in Europe earlier this summer were good. I think the overall performance of the boat is good, considering that its just our of the box. With some more development it will gain some more pace I'm sure. We have some of the best sailors competing on these things at the moment in EU and this will just aid the sail makers to tweak it a bit more.
When I was sailing on the Tiger at the Worlds in Belgium we thought that it was still very quick in trapezing conditions, but maybe was a touch off the pace in lighter winds. Greg and I sail at 330 lbs so we always do well on the Tiger, but Taylor and I were nearly 30 lbs heavier so we struggled in the lighter wind races.
Wild Cat teams were always a bit better off the wind, the hull shape is much fuller and flatter across the bottom which seems to give it an advantage over the Tiger. Upwind the boats are similar in performance, but in lighter winds we would have trouble keeping pace.
The Tiger is still a fabulous one design boat with boats being sailed all around the world - and it's an ISAF official class on its own. (I understand that F18 boats all now are considered ISAF class - though I am not sure how that is possible since several designs don't meet their requirement for distribution on their own - so its kind of a puzzle to me how this can be) but I digress.
Will the Wildcat replace the Tiger? I say NO. they are two different animals. The Tiger is going to continue on, and it is set - and all boats are able to race F18 - or in Hobie only one design events. The Wildcat is not really going to be a Hobie Class as it is currently, since its going to continue to evolve and change - that is the name of the game in F18 racing.
Why will sailors 'Dig' the new boat? It has some really nice features - and is rigged with high end tapers lines, everything is pre-run into the beams and has slick systems right from the factory. The deck has a nice EVS type traction on it which is very easy on your backside. It grips well and looks awesome too.
I think anyone who is looking for a great class to go racing in the F18 is where it is at. At the Worlds we typically have over 160 teams competing (this year we had 180!) So the competition is fierce.
Whether the Hobie is the boat of choice depends on the sailor, I think guys who have been part of the Hobie family will naturally gravitate over to the new boat - and hopefully some other non Hobie guys will migrate over as well, as the results will continue to improve I'm sure more teams will try the Wildcat.
We already had over 30 boats on the line at the first Worlds in BEL - next year I'd expect even more.
Tiger is still a great boat. We are also expecting to have over 30 teams competing at the HaveaMega Nationals Championships Lake Havasu Nevada in November (
http://havamega.com/ ) - and Greg and I plan to race that regatta as well!
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