H16's Competion . . .

in those imortal words... "can't we all just get along?"

YES! this is a Hobie forum. BUT a little thing here and there about other cat boats shouldn't hurt as long as it supports the catamaran sailing as a whole. Attack the monohull people

But Hobies RULE!!!!!

my 1/2 cent for all you Canadian brothers north of the border

I think the point Big Jib is trying to deliver is that this is the Hobie forum.If you want to do some hobie bashing then the cat sailor forum is pretty good at that.I don,t think the intention of the poster was to bash the 16 but if you look at the title of the post it does raise some hairs with the 16 community.I think everyone likes to think the boat they sail is the best,and it is nice to tune into a forum like this where people share the same passion for your boat.
I am pretty sure if you posted this discussion on the cat sailor forum,it would have went in a whole different direction.So Trey no one is trying to drive you away from sailing the 16,it is just a few of us old timers getting our backs up to defend our beloved 16.
By the way I hope your Sweet 16 regatta turns out to be a great success.

I've got 15 Hobie 16's signed up already!

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Trey Brown
www.velocitysailing.com
2006 N20 1017
1998 H16 102698
www.sunjammers.com ftw!

I am not bashing on the Hobie 16 at all! I am pretty sure I said that they are the classic beachcat and that they will be around for years to come.

Also, as trey pointed out, I do own a Hobie and love the boat, I mean it is 40 years old this years, I know my 5.2 won't be sailing when it is 40.

I think that if we want this sport to survive for years to come we can't divide ourselves over what brand boats we sail. It shouldn't matter if it is a Hobie, Nacra,Prindle, or an Aquacat if the owner is getting out there and sailing it then he is part of our group.

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

Wow, it's funny how quickly we jump to blame ONE thing, or ONE person for the down turn in support for our cherished brand. This has been happening for a while, and is caused by a number of things.

My 13 year old son was one of six youths from the Northwest that particapated in last years US Sailing Nationals on the SL16.

As a basis for my opinion I'll say that I race a Tiger, and I helped assemble many of the 10 SL16's at the 2006 Youth event at ABYC.

I went to the event with my guard up, and Hobie in my blood. I came away a little disapointed in the lack of support from Hobie.

I believe that Hobie declined to supply any boats to the event. Correct me if that wasn't entirely true.
Performance ponied up 10 brand new boats. So it's no surprise that Art talked them up. They were the sponsor.

The SL16 does not cost the same as a Tiger, and is no where nearly as complex. In fact it's a rather simple boat.
If I owned one I would upgrade some of the systems, and tweak things for personal preference. I even tweaked my sons Wave.

And funny too that nobody brings up the Dragoon. Now that boat is as complex as a Tiger. And it looks exactly like a Wave made of fiberglass.
Like I said, just my 2 cents worth.

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2003 Tiger - Don Atchley

I have to concur w/ gree. I see brand bashing on too many other forums (i.e. trucks, just visit any Toyota, GMC, or Doge forum, and you will see what I mean, ugly.) It really does not belong here. Sailing in general, should almost be a brotherhood. Especially in this world of instant gratification. Gas it and go, and he who has the loudest, biggest, and badest, wins. Regardless of 'carbon footprint'.

Sailing is not about that. And WE prefer cats, and that should be cats in general, (yes Hobies rock, but that is just our preference) and even mono's are ok too. (they make good reference markers on the water ) We should not bash other brands, espcially if they introducing new craft to the sport. I admit I am guilty of it here, calling the SL ugly, but that was just my take on the crazy hull colors.

Heathy competetion is good, and only adds to the awareness and fun of the sport. Which we need.

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Jim

2007 Hobie Wave

All I need is one person sailing to enjoy it... ME! I agree to a certain extent that we should layback with the brand bashing, but if everybody sailed a Hobie that wouldn't be an issue now would it? But this is a Hobie forum therefore the promotion of non-Hobie products should be a closely guarded endevour, and one should expect a certain amount of flak.

or. I'm just an A-hole.

That wasn't true. Since the ISAF Youth Worlds (catamaran class) will be held in the SL16 next year, US SAILING wanted the US Youth Championship held in the same boat.

The reason the SL16 has not been used sooner is that it's not an ISAF International Class (a requirement for equipment to be used in the Youth Worlds). The French mfg (Sirena) and it's licensee (Performance) used this opportunity to bolster the SL16's position to be annointed an ISAF International Class by producing boats in the US.

There'a a lot of politics and $ involved in this and it's not as simple as "Hobie didn't provide support".

Thanks for filling in some of the gaps.
I knew there would be more to it than just word on the street. The "spin" is usually the way things are not. And it always leaves me wondering what the rest of the story is going to be.

I know the politics and money are a big part of it all these days.

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2003 Tiger - Don Atchley

I'm almost afraid to say anything. I'm sorry if my post caused any discontent. I was only expressing an opinion. "Old School 18," I probably saw you at ABYC because that's where I first saw the boat. As usual, the community surrounding this event was very "catamaran like." All the kids and team leaders were very warn and social. The designer and another guy from France were there (know that I have nothing against the French . . . well, there is this one guy that gets on my nerves at the beach ) that told us all about the boat and were very heplful.

The comments I made on this post were an opinion, which I do have a right to, by the way. Although I love my boat, I haven't been sailing long enough (3 years) to have developed any predjudices except for in two areas . . . complexity and slowfulness. If you were to ask me about the Nacra 500, I would say "Wow," great looking boat. The boat impresses me, even though I have never sailed one. I do have to say that the SL16 was more attractive in person but my original assessment was based on performance. Although the H16 is a great boat, if all I knew was a Tiger, would I think the H16 to be as great? I don't think so, and they're both Hobies. You guys know you have opinions about certain boats (etched in iron) until some sailor with more experience than you comes along with one and smokes you. And don't act like it hasn't happened. There are days I can do no wrong and there are other days I get smoked by a monohull. Well, maybe that's never happened but you know what I mean. It's all relative. Love what you have, no matter what the opinions of others are, and go sail it.

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Happy Sailing,

David

Well, said Davidbell47.

I agree that there are always going to be people who like some boats more than others. Their reasons, I am sure, are as diverse as their boats.

I had kind of forgotten the Dragoon, I suppose it is very similiar to the SL. Both look like they could be fun.

How do the SL and the Dragoon compare performance wise?

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!