That follows the same reasoning used to defend monohull sailing. Why do you need another hull, wingmasts, full battened sails to double your speed, when everyone else's boat also drags lead and leans at 4.38 or 4.39 Knots?

Besides, races in slow motion are more "tactical"...

Although you may feel safer in a heavier boat, if you keep all other things equal, the lighter boat will be safer in heavy weather. It will, however, need to depower earlier due to the lower righting moment.

Why you feel safer? Most beach cats can't be reefed, so the later you have to depower, the safer you feel. But it is a dangerously false safety feeling: the heavy boat is submitted to higher loads and, as a consequence, is more likely to break something (compared to the lighter/depowered boat).

The answers are outside the water:
1) From a reliable source: a folding tri is exposed to higher loads when trailered than in a squall.
2) User abuse, as already posted here.

And heavier boats sink faster.

I am an engineer and in some of the weather and wave conditions I've sailed in, I've been amazed that our 400lb boats hold together. No doubt that the boats can be made lighter, but I really think that there is a point, right at about 400lbs, where a boat can be made with common inexpensive materials, and survive user abuse and pretty severe conditions. As time, technology, and processes evolve, this weight comes down - we can probably build a 320lb boat to the same durability as 400lb boats were built 15-20 years ago. However, I take comfort in the fact that I can take my overweight F18 or N20 out in steep 3 to 4 footers with 20 knots and not worry that the boat will hold together.

The sail we used when we tore our main (which happened because the outhaul broke- chafe point, since corrected-, not from sheet tension alone) has a reef point, the only time I have ever seen a reef on a cat. I think Smyth developed it for this boat but my sail was made by Sabre.

With you 100%
Do not understand the F18: Why build a boat supposedly economy minded to sail predominantly windward-leward races with a jib (and spin)?
And I dont think it is p c to say it is to give the wife something to do upwind.
If it is to be user friendly,and equality not speed is the goal, I for one think centerboards (prindle 19 and 18-2) or keels are a better deal. Lots of people struggle with Daggerboards.
Explain the attraction to me. What is better about a F18 that made them sell like supposed hotcakes, while the P19MX dissapeared, and no one bought the Bim HT (AS A BOAT OR CLASS)?

I think a poorly maintained/made 400lb boat won't hold together in crazy conditions, just like a poorly maintained lighter boat won't. Although I haven't been there yet, I am interested in seeinghow the HT does in those conditions. Mark Murray has been through a LOT on his HT and hasn't had any significant failures.

p.s. Dave- still waiting to hear about any other HTs that have had their transoms ripped out. That statement irritated the heck out of me because it is something that people will remember but is a rare occurence.

Speaking of Mark Murray,
I was the crew of his ht when we participated in the ICCT and logged hundreds of hours on the boat and in the class. I Own an I20(which I love) and have sailed most types of beach cats. The HT is one of the best sailing boats out there. It is incredbly fine tuned. We were able to sail the boat using the downhaul as the only control. Let it out fly a hull, pull it in, hull comes down. I know though, and would agree, that many people found the boat difficult to sail. It takes a lot of technique and I think many good sailors were put off by the rear beam slamming and the relatively narrow "groove" that one finds when used to sailing an N20 , which is a wonderful and relatively forgiving boat. Crewing the boat was extremely athletic and kinetic compared to the heavier boats with more volume. Essentially, you have to sail the boat a lot differently than what most people are used too and when there are already more events/boats/participants in f18 and n20 events why relearn something? Though I have to say, once you do,the boat is sweet! An I20 has better straight line speed on a honking reach, but the Jav, in my opinion, has a greater grin factor in the most common conditions that we see here in NA.
However, witness the amount of work and money that went into every jav still sailing in the US. Lets take Peter Johnstones boat (where is that thing?) as one extreme of what can be done to make the boat better. He put, carbon beams, raised the rear beam, canted the hulls, three inch toe rails, awlgrip paint job, marstrom snuffer and tens of thousands of dollars into that boat, and it was AWESOME! Everyone else had to deal with flimsy daggerboards and rudders, leaky boats, and that darn rear beam slamming all the time unless your crew was an acrobat darting fore and aft on every wave. There was a lot of work to do to get those boats ready out of the box. Not like a new F18 where its ready to go the day you get it.

Just as production materials and techniques eventually switched from wooden boats to fiberglass, some day we will probably see carbon fiber become the new material of choice. It already is for the A cats, most racing mono masts are now also carbon, and rudders, boards, etc. When that happens the weights will come down.

The only thing keeping the F18's heavy now is their rule book. They could all be built 50-100 lbs. lighter today even without using carbon in the hulls, but their rules won't allow it. When they come out with a 300lb. F18, then the F16's will have to worry, but I doubt we will ever see that. Until then, the F16 is only 230lbs., not carbon, and just as fast as an F18. Even faster with the right crew! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

PTP,

I think you'll find several people from that years' tybee that can tell you about the issues they had with the HT's.

Most significantly, one team who spent the night on a Georgian Coast Mudflat because of issues with their boat.

I understand there were likely problems, but it isn't like the HTs are the only boats with similar problems. What about the F18 at Tradewinds that broke a mast? Trey's boat during last year's Tybee? Didn't Cat in the Hat take on a lot of water which required a stop on the beach? Both N20s

All boats break. Certainly ours did, however it was our fault as we hadn't double welded an area that was known to be a point of failure.

I think you have to look at the overall failures, the frequency of such, and how they occurred. Point being I don't have any personal experience with the HT, but I have spoken to many that do, and almost universally they have given unfavorable accounts of it.

Of course, I'm only one ancedotal jackass <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Everyone I have talked to about it loves it.. and this is no amateur crowd- Murray, Lambert, Bill Vining and although I haven't talked to him personally about it, Jamie Diamond also has one.

Well then its horses for courses...

hope you're happy with your boat man. I certainly am with mine.

I am new to sailing (and loving it!) and don't know about all the boats you are talking about. BUT I do know that a 450lb boat is TOO heavy for us (265lbs crew wt) Moving it on land is difficult (even w/cat trax) and righting it is impossible. That is one main reason we are moving to the F16.

Didn't a lot of the guys that were going to do the worrell in the HT do a lot of reinforcing of the boat?

I for one do not think the 18HT experience says anything about how weight is valued by owners and customers.

First of all, the 18HT's were the third lightest doublehanded sailboats on the USA market when they were launched there. The 3rd and 2nd lightest doublehanders are gone and lightest design is still is still here and growing.

Secondly, the 18HT failed for other reasons that had nothing to do with it being lightish at 135 kg. I personally think it failed for much the same reasons the Taipan 5.7 failed, its predeccesor on the US market. Combined with some specific issues related to the only HT make to ever reach the US market.

Thirdly, I know from a fact that being light weight is important enough to be a critical issue in the class grow of the F16's. If we had been 150 kg or over then we would never had gotten were we are now.

The F18 class succes wasn't hampered by it being 180 kg but that weight certainly wasn't the reason why the F18 class became succesful. Meaning when it had been 150 kg its would still have been a succes maybe even more easily so.

Wouter

I think it was only Randy's boat that did that, and subsequent Bim Ht's were reinforced in that area, so I havent heard of any other transom failures.

I've run over plenty of stuff and my transom's are fine.

I agree with i20 completely. The HT is hard to sail well, and too few good sailors bothered to learn how to sail the HT well. So too few good sailors embraced it. The Worrell didnt help either.

I love the HT in medium winds on a flat day. A Newport summer day, mid week, with no powerboat chop and a nice 12 knot seabreeze, the boat just sings. I love it singlehanded in 5-12 knots, especially downwind, its one of the sweetest experiences around, and I wouldnt trade it for anything.

In 18knts and gusty its a handful, and its not very forgiving. In gusty winds over 18kts takes two people who know what they are doing to make the boat go fast. WF and Matt Struble were a perfect example, they were fast, but they were BOTH good sailors.

I've had mine out in 30knts plus -sustained - and the boat was fine, its solid, the mast is solid, and hulls are solid. The daggers and rudders are the weak points. I've also had the rudders fail the first time I sailed it, so some of what is said about the rudders and leaky daggers is true.

The main reason the HT and the HT class failed in my opinion was the Worrell. If the class had grown organically and done mainly windward leeward racing it would still be in existance today. The HT wasnt designed for the Worrell and should have never been selected for that race.

Bill

By the way, there's not reason we can get all the HT owners together do some racing.

PTP why not get some races organized?