>>>Okay, what I want to know is, have these technological "advances" in hull construction and sail materials resulted in getting more people involved in sailing and racing?


Yes, in 1974 (5 years after the introduction of the H16 and large scale glass use) more people were sailing cats as every before (the timber years) and in 2004 even more people are sailing and racing catamarans.

I seem to remember Hobie cat Corp making big splashes about how the 2004 H16 Worlds was the largest ever. But even it is wasn;t that that worlds in Dubai (1996 ?) was and theirfor in the 90's the cat sailing as reflected by the worlds was bigger than the Worlds in the 70's and 80's.

Then please add to this fact that in addition to these H16 worlds we have had 155 boat F18 worlds as well, forgetting for a moment about A-cats and such, and I think you get the picture as without technological advances the F18 class (and A-cat class etc) would never have been. I think it is safe to say that not all F18 sailors and such would sail H16's or even cats at all if the only choice around were the H16's or P16's


>>If not, what's the point?

Yes, well the point is that you have a very fixed believe that everything has gone to hell due to technology. The whole way you wrote the last post breaths that. Still, if you look around I'm sure you can get enough evidence that the reality is more nuanced than that. How big is the A-cat class in USA when compared to 15 years ago, do you think that many of these sailors would RACE a H16 or P16 if no A-cats were available. Not everybody likes the same dish, so offering a menu of different dishes is garanteed to entlarge your cliental.

Therefor if OD racing like H16 has grow over the years as Hobie Corp claims AND technology has created more classes like the A's and F18's with noticeable following than the whole catamaran scene has grow as a direct result.

If your believe is that the technology driven classes have destroyed the old OD classes than we are faced with the unanswerable question of wether all sailors that moved out of the old OD classes would still be in these classes today if they were forced to eat the same meal for years on end ?

With kind regards,

Wouter