@ Mike:
Yes, you are right it is a hell of a boat to learn.
I compare it to to learn driving on a Ferrari. Because of this the decision was not easy.
But again: The Hobie club has 5 Tigers owned by experienced skippers and a number of others racing the 16.
Without that experience I would never even have thought to buy the Tiger! My key message to other necomers in this board: If you are on your own: Forget about the Tiger.
Really attempting was the good bargain: The guy selling me the boat imports Hobies directly. Some of the boats he uses for a kind of promotion, sails them himself in races and then changes again to another boat. He now will change to the FX One because this would be the first in town and he can race without crew. This was basically thereason for the good price. He sails like hell and is very helpful to share his knowledge and experience to the other club members. If somebody has a problem with his boat - he is the guy to fix it or the guy who knows who can fix it at reasonable price.
My key message here is: Even if it was a good bargain, but you have to look at the maintenance cost. I think I'm able to afford even major repairs and I have really good suppliers on hand. We have really good sailmakers in town. Otherwise it would have been a no-go.
So, you can see: I still convince myself that it was the right decision to buy the Tiger, but the uncertainty and the risk remains: If you learn driving on the Ferrari, you have to be really careful.
Ralf