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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:44 am 
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Location: Lake Gaston, NC
rattle 'n hum wrote:
Tom King wrote:
In the meantime, tell his Mom to buy him a Laser. There is no better base to start with than hundreds of hours in a Laser, and racing them.


Now that's funny! I don't think anyone on earth could convince a 15 year old who's passionate about sailing his brand new Hobie 16 that he needs to spend hundreds of hours in a Laser! Just sayin'....


Worked for me. Especially when there is no one else around to go out on the 16 with, and the wind is up. He's also competing in 420s. It sounds like the kid wants to be good in competitive sailing. I don't know anyone who is a great helmsman (as well as a lot of top crew members) in multiple classes, and can jump in any boat to be fast quickly, that didn't put time in a Laser. Ed Baird comes to mind, as do quite a number of others who were young in the '70s. Ask Ed how he thinks his competitive career would have been if he had not sailed Lasers.
Google "Ed Baird sailing" and you will find all sorts of stuff like this:
http://www.quantumsails.com/News/index.php/archives/28
If you can find his email, email him and ask his opinion. Tell him Tom King said to ask him. Ed barely beat Carlton Tucker to get second place in the '88 Prosail Series in Hobie 21's behind Pete Melvin. I don't think he had ever sailed cats to amount to anything before that.

There was a good while when all the top sailors were members of the first "Laser generation". Of course there are a lot of older ones who did good in sit down classes who didn't put in dinghy time, but the best I know of paid their dues in a Laser. I don't think there is a better boat for learning how to sail with your eyes off the boat than a Laser.

We have a 16 and a 21 here on the lake where we live, along with some other kids dinghys, and a bunch of windsurfing stuff, but no matter what else, we'll always have a couple of Lasers too.

It depends on how good of a sailor one wants to be.......just saying.


Last edited by Tom King on Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:52 am 
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I think you are right Tom,just not sure it has to be a Laser,could be Sunfish,Force 5, Hobie 14 any number of small single handed boats will do.I know sailing my Laser has made me a better Hobie 16 Sailor.I sail the 16 a whole lot like the Laser.
Talking with Tim Shuwalow,(multipe time Australian 16 Champion) ,he grew up as a top Laser sailor and came to Hobies later.He also uses a lot of Laser technique on the Hobie.


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:01 pm 
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mmadge wrote:
I think you are right Tom,just not sure it has to be a Laser,could be Sunfish,Force 5, Hobie 14 any number of small single handed boats will do.I know sailing my Laser has made me a better Hobie 16 Sailor.I sail the 16 a whole lot like the Laser.
Talking with Tim Shuwalow,(multipe time Australian 16 Champion) ,he grew up as a top Laser sailor and came to Hobies later.He also uses a lot of Laser technique on the Hobie.


I dont' think there is a good subsitute. There used to be good competitive stuff in Sunfish, but I don't know any more. It sails different on each tack upwind because of the rig. It was good for teaching 11 to 13 year olds to sail at Boy Scout camp, but leaves a lot to be desired as far as developing top feel on the helm. Force 5 is a good boat for a heavy sailor, but with 16 more sq. ft. of sail than the Laser (which itself is plenty powerful in a breeze), it requires a bigger person to handle it. Also you can't pop it back up as easy as the Laser. 14 is a fun boat too, but it's still a cat which requires different stuff than a high strung planing hull dinghy.

To get to be really good, you have to sail against really good people. The talent will always be deep in the Laser.


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:20 pm 
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I am Max's mom and I think Jerome has it figured out. This generation of kids want any experience that can rival a Playstation or xBox. Consequently, I bought Max a Hobie 16. He is now crewing on a 420 as well. I would love for Max to get involved in Lasers, but without a trapeze that may be a long shot. When I/we finish the Hobie 16 NA's on Friday in Fort Walton, we will be moving over to Pensacola for Max to participate in the Club 420 Gulf Coast Championships in Pensacola on Saturday and Sunday. I wonder if Max will get confused and try to backwind the jib on the 420 when they tack?


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 6:01 am 
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It is not so much about the boat as it is the Class when it comes to getting good at racing.The point you bring out about the Laser is very true,lots of boats deep in talent.The laser (even though I own two of them) is not neccessarily the best single handed boat for sailing,but it is for racing.
Very similar scenario in the Hobie 16's case,are there better more high performance Cat's, definitly.But how many of the other designs put so many of them on the line at any given event.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:36 am 
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cocohudson wrote:
When I/we finish the Hobie 16 NA's on Friday in Fort Walton, we will be moving over to Pensacola for Max to participate in the Club 420 Gulf Coast Championships in Pensacola on Saturday and Sunday.


Hope y'all have a great time, Coco....I'm not going to be able to do the NAs. I have forwarded Mark's message to some gulf coast contacts....hope Max finds a way to race the 16s.

BTW...Will you adopt me?

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:35 pm 
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Jerome,

You'll have to get in line behind me.

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Mark Van Doren
H16 Seabreeze #112205 (Richard Petty Signature Edition)
H14T Fantasia #47787
San Juan 28


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 4:13 am 
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Here's an update. Max Hudson is going to crew at the NACs with Mike Madge. Mike, you've got a great crew, you guys will have a blast. They're going to sail a brand spanking new boat that Max's mom, Coco, chartered from Jim Sohn. I'm going to show up down there on the last day and buy the charter boat from Jim. Coco is going to bring her new 16 down and she will crew on it with Gordo Bagley skippering.

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Mark Van Doren
H16 Seabreeze #112205 (Richard Petty Signature Edition)
H14T Fantasia #47787
San Juan 28


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:33 am 
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Plan on taking good care of Max and your soon to be new boat.Very much looking forward to it.Thanks to Coco and Chris Wessels for helping to make this possible.


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:17 am 
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So glad that everything worked out. Since Coco wouldn't adopt me, I'm pulling for Mike and Max! :D

Have fun, all!

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:29 pm 
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Mike, the boat's insured, just sail fast (but please use the beach wheels). Hope y'all have a blast. I'll be following on the web and cheering for you.

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Mark Van Doren
H16 Seabreeze #112205 (Richard Petty Signature Edition)
H14T Fantasia #47787
San Juan 28


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:38 am 
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No worries,I have a 2006 hobie that has been sailed lots but still looks new,pretty much zero scratches.I will treat it like my own.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 8:19 pm 
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Location: Storm Lake, IA
mmadge wrote:
No worries,I have a 2006 hobie that has been sailed lots but still looks new,pretty much zero scratches.I will treat it like my own.

Ya well you can only sail like 2 months out of the year up there! of course its going to look like new ya crazy Canadian :lol:


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 5:34 am 
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Two months,more like 6 weeks,then it is iceboating time :)

I see one Larson on the entry list,where is the rest of the clan?


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 3:04 pm 
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As a conclusion to this post,Max. and I had a great time.Max came as advertised a great young man ,with excellent sailing skills.I am sure down the road he will become one of the top Hobie sailors.


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