I agree this debate is off point. It is in larger measure off point because each of the points of view as to the standing of the Hobie 16, its suitability as a junior boat into the future, in the US or in the world or the merits of a new junior cat are coming from different parts of the world where the sailing scene is quite different. Mary has summed it up perfectly.


US Sailing and the Regional Sailing authorities and Yacht Clubs in the USA have done VIRTUALY NOTHING to develop a pipeline for candidates to be able to compete at the world level of catamaran racing. Consequently, ISAF's selection of a boat post 2007 is irrelevant to the overwhelming majority of the country. There is no program that will be upset by a change because there are no programs.

As far as I can tell. Hobie USA builds Hobie 16's and has made them available for a youth nationals, at least for the last couple of years. That in itself is a lot .... but that is the total extent of the US Program. (I guess their support may be affected after 2007 since they don’t make the new boat) Young cat sailors cannot compete in the regional junior Olympic festivals because our Yacht clubs don't want to deal! The very very few junior cat sailors race their parents at our old fart regattas.... It's NOT the same as competing against their peers. If they continue to race while in college they don't have an option of racing on a skiff or any other high performance boat much less a cat, so their skills are 4 years behind the rest of the world. The sad bottom line in 2005 is that the US Olympic pipeline has one great team who have been at it for 12 years and two beginning teams who have just started. They all pay for their own coaching. The fact of the matter is that it took 12 years of training beyond college to get to a medal. The French and Brits appear to have a huge pipeline of good sailors racing cats at all levels due to their working pipelines… sooner or later they will dominate the top rungs of the sport.
Bob’s comments concerning competion, Olympics, and the pipeline are worth a separate thread.


For the time being (read 5 years), the US program will be ad hoc on whatever boat is available. It will be supported by individual parents who probably put their kids on Hobie 16's with out chutes because that is the only small cat that is sailed in the USA. (The US Class and Hobie USA have no interest in using a chute) They will race in our standard weekend cat regatta circuit. (The level of competition is uneven across the country so that will be one more hurdle to overcome) Once they get big enough they will probably sail an F18. They will have a tough time landing a spot in a high profile sailing program with a resume based on cat sailing success They will have to switch to a displacement dinghy in college to get any coaching at all and then they will hope that they can forget all of that and then get up to speed for a campaign after that (If they can afford the coaching).. US Sailing probably believes that they can catch lighting in a bottle again with this non program For the past 12 years the US had three legit teams competing on the world stage… two teams had college experience and no cat experience as juniors, the other team were cat sailors without college coaching. Based on this, they believe that sailing is sailing and you can develop a world class performance boat sailor through this pipeline…

This non program will not be affected one bit by what happens in europe and the rest of the world and the results will likely be pretty lousy as well. Why would ISAF base ANY decision on what the impact of a boat choice would be in the USA... There is no program to upset. (The skiff pipeline is not much better. They have tried for years to get a 29ner program going in Annapolis and it’s gone absolutely nowhere)

The only solution will be for cat sailors to band together and join yacht clubs with a track record of supporting junior sailing and then put up the bucks for boats,coaching, energy to run a program, and passion to keep it going through the tough times.

The questions should not be directed at individual parents… It has to be directed at the national sailing authorities and the clubs that make junior racing happen, and ourselves and willingness to build a junior program. The parents and kids will have to follow that lead. If we are leaderless… then oh well!

What is the pipeline for other countries? Once you know this information… then have at it about where the Hobie 16 or Wave or the new boat fits into the pipeline of getting juniors up to tornado’s at the international level.

Mark Schneider