Hobibrat1, To say that,

"Hobie cat racing is the purest and largest one design racing class in the world. There is none like it. Is it any wonder that the most competitive and most successful competitors come from this class?"

Is taking on a fairly large weight to carry on your shoulders, isn’t it?
I am quite sure that many/most of the best/top, international catamaran sailors over the last forty or so years DIDN’T come from out of the Hobie ranks. Although there are some very prominent examples of good/top international sailors, over that time span who started their careers in Hobies, there are just as many, (more) who never competed once on any Hobie cat.
I am sure that we could all get into a “naming” competition of top INTERNATIONAL sailors who did and those who didn’t, which would become just a slagging match (mine is bigger than yours type thing), and by replying to your post in this way, I am risking exactly the theme of you post, but I found that I have been unable to resist replying to such a statement as that which you have made.