Zombies are 'cool' these days... so I'm fine sailing Zombie boats. :p That said, I agree with the Corkguy/Twain -- these death reports are greatly exaggerated. Sailing as a whole may not have kept pace with population growth, but that leaves a TON of great used boats out there for very modest prices, and box-rule racing keeps infusing newer boats into the purchase pool every year. I also appreciate that Hobie's support of class-racing blunts the arms race to a significant extent, and keeps even more choices in the mix... and I appreciate that the resort community, roto-mold paddlers, and lifestyle buyers are keeping Hobie profitable enough to keep making parts for older boats for us all.
KB, you've nailed the perennial question... how to compromise weight/features/robustness to offer the best balance of speed, capacity, and complexity. There's no single right answer, IMHO... even if we're all willing to build Franken-boats (I am!), each modification affects another strength. If the 21SC doesn't wind up being too much boat-weight for you, you could try a square-top, or look at a 21SE (look terrific to me, but too much boat-weight to easily singlehand/trailer).
I'd love to see the Pearl here stateside, but I need someone else to own it for a decade before it gets into my price range as a water toy. For now, I'm sailing the hulls off my winged 1983 H18 with an older all-aluminum stick, a squaretop Whirlwind main, and cascading downhaul... and trying to make time to sail the 2005 Tiger F18 that recently wound up in my driveway. The best boat for me might be somewhere between them -- Corkguy's H18 with Tiger mainsail, H18 genny, and F18 spin looks pretty great. Sure, the Tiger hulls are faster, but the H18 is a bullet-proof TANK in comparison... and my solo-sailing has meant taking some bumps and grinds on the H18 that scare me a bit for the F18.
I haven't played with the F18 spinnaker yet... but I am looking forward to it!
That said, another furling foresail for the H18 might be fun, as well. This summer, though, I'm trying to spend more time sailing and less time thinking/tinkering. :p
Randii (bring on the Zombie-cats!)