Besides I know the heavier FX-one (150 kg) was significantly less fun to sail then my lightweight F16 because it was significantly more flighty, less forgiving and harder to drive. I put that down to its use of a cut-down Tiger F18 mast (far too stiff), use of F18 daggers (far too long and too much surface area) and hull volume too much centralized under the main beam for 1-up sailing (stern dragging or pitchpoling). As a singlehander it should have been designed noticeably different. As a versatile boat (1-up + 2-up) it should have been designed alot more clever, especially in the keel line. Overall boat weight was hardly a redeeming factor in the way this boat sails.
To be perfectly honest here, and going from the FXone to the Viper, the Viper feels almost numb to me. It probably has more to do with the fact that I've got a total of six days on the Viper and I don't know it that well, and probably close to 100 on the FXone. At this point I still like the FXone more than the Viper. For all of the reasons Wouter mentions it is a very visceral boat to sail. It requires input, and gives you a very loud response to that imput. It is quirky, and flighty, and while it definetly isn't squirrley like an A-cat, it doesn't feel like the tank that it is. Having to work at going fast, keeps me going fast. Its like my job, after a six months of going hard and working 60hr's a week I'm ok with it, when I sit around and do nothing for the same six months, its hard to build up the ambition to get back to work.
Three things pushed me away from the FXone and towards the Viper:
-No class. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I've already sailed against more F16's and Vipers than I have even seen or know of active FXones. As much as I love the boat, it will never be a popular choice in the US.
-The Viper has an extremely nice build quality, and is laid out very well, without the need to change around virtually everything. Hobie builds a nice boat, the AHPC hulls are that much better.
-Parts. HC-US & HC-EU don't seem to get along. Getting parts for the FXone can be an exercise in patience. Plus with the exchange rate/shipping, parts are rediculously expensive if they have to be sourced from Europe.
Other than that, I absolutely love my FXone. It has a killer Portsmouth number, and it is a very sexy boat. If it fit into the F16 rules I would not have looked for something else, but I never got a chance to ever race against another FXone. I really wish I could have made it to the Hobie Europeans last year on Lake Como, they had 12 or 13 on the line.
As for the telephone pole mast, well I haven't had any part failures with it. You could probably lose the main sheet, and not break it, which is probably a good thing for beginners. My mast failure wasn't AHPC's fault either, it was just a bad fitting and as far as I know was all taken care of by either Greg, or Robbie/Jill. Hopefully the new mast has the diamond wire attachment like the Cap/C2, that hole in the mast with a hook is just plain stupid in my eyes.
