$80K!!! Hhhmmmmm! I could have a top of the line Fox with plenty left over for drinks.

I have two boats, sail in a consistently windy area on inland lakes.

Recreational boat: cheap, durable, plenty of parts available, plenty of tuning experience available, was designed for reaching (it's fastest point of sail), can invite a third person if it's really windy, newbies can sail the same boat for a low cost commitment. Hobie 16

Racing boat: big local (divisional) racing fleet, reasonable price and used availibilty, plenty of tuning experience available, fast in light air, other than these reasons I would not own this boat, I'm addicted to racing <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> Hobie 20

Mary, you have a superb memory..it was at Osoyoos, BC and yes, they still sail them in the North Americans...one year in the US and the next in BC...or. My last SS race had 27 of them show up in Chico, Ca. So you don't subscribe to the moniker "SLB's" eh.. lol

Like this?

Or, they can also race. Harrison Hot Springs Hobie Reattta 2007, also site of Hobie North American's 2008 for the Tiger, H-18 and H-17's;
Picture attached. Peter Nelson H-16A 1st, Will Nelson, Wave 1st, Dan Tarleton, Wave 2nd, Caleb Tarleton, H-17 3rd.

I wanted to go up against the toughest competition I could find, and I wanted to be in the largest fleet possible. I would rather be 5th in a 20-boat, competitive fleet than 1st in a 3-5 boat fleet. Plus, my body weight (170#) is pretty ideal for the Hobie 16.

1983 Nacra 5.0 is what i sail and here are the reasons...
Solid glass construction...had a hobie that suffered from delam so after that i made up my mind that if i was to get a used boat in my price range it would have to be glass with no foam core. Not to mention my neighbor does fiberglass repair for a living. Budget was low and i ended up picking the boat up for 1K(have alot more than that in it now). The boat fit my budget at the time and after reveiwing the new nacra 500 i saw they were still the same hull shape for the most part but the old boat was a fraction of the cost. No side rails up top...My prindle and hobie both had the lip on the top edge of the hull and i didnt really like that because it was loud while sailing. After sailing with a freind on a Nacra i decided that i liked the silence of the hull with no top edge and that the spray didnt really bother me. The next reason would probably be that the guy that has tought me to sail sails a Nacra and alot of the other club members sail them also. The last reason would have to be the look of the boat. I prefer the look of the nacra type hull to the traditional Hobie/prindle hull and had always heard the saying "I sold the Hobie and upgraded to a Nacra" which i now know is total crap...I get beat by guys on Hobies all the time!

Those are my reasons...Long live the 5.0!

Wanted a boat in production. Wanted to class race one design but still be able to be multi hull racing competive. Wanted a spin and wanted speed. Wanted a proven platform. Got a Hobie Tiger last year and love it.