'Interesting to see how the theme of this topic changed to what is essentially a discussion of business models.
There is clearly a market for both original class legal sails and more recent developments that include square tops and fancy fabrics. It appears that Hobie gives little support to the latter, and that is their choice.
But neglecting the market for the sake of purity or nostalgia has risks which can lead to the demise of a market. Perhaps the foothold of the Nacra was made easier by Hobie's apparent reluctance (in the US) to follow the hi-tech trail.
There was a boat designed in 1958 in Seattle by Ben Seaborn, the Thunderbird.
http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=269 Sponsored by the Plywood Association, he designed a tank-tested 26' hard chine keel boat that was light, easy to build and well suited to inland waters. Like the Hobie it had good, sensible class rules, and there are still fleets in several parts of the world. Fabulous boat, but in Oz where it really took off, it was brought down by it's long-held refusal to adopt emerging technologies such as metal spars and GRP construction.
Eventually in Oz at least glass and aluminum spars prevailed, but by that time too many other choices had emerged, and the class has gradually lost much of its following, despite remaining (IMHO) one of the best family boats ever designed. There are still active fleets in the US, 50 years after the first boats were built.
Perhaps the same outcome awaits Hobie sail boats as they branch increasingly into strange little plastic canoes etc. Ironically, these new boats show some great creative design and innovation, and perhaps it is time Hobie applied more creative energy to it's affordable range of sailboats.