A friend has the opportunity to update his hobie tiger to a hobie wildcat, the only thing he is worried about is how they sail downwind. Is the wildcat less stable than the tiger in rough weather? Personally I haven't seen one in the flesh and can't comment.

Very similar to your old capricorn down wind.

In my experience the Wildcat is okay if you are sailing in anything but mostly flat water or rolling sea conditions. In large choppy conditions the boat is a nightmare. The performance grove is also narrow and makes the boat harder to sail fast.
I owned a Wildcat for a year after owning an Infusion for 2 years and now having owned a C2 for 2. Both the infusion and C2 are much more forgiving upwind and downwind.
I had a 6'5 and 190 pound crew, we had a tough time keeping the bow out in chop.

So you wouldn't want to sail a wildcat in flat water or rolling seas, but both of them are better than chop.

What conditions does that leave?

I reckon you read his post wrong, his post said it's best in flat water and rolling sea conditions

Sorry Jeff,

I agree that is what he meant to say but it is definitely not what is said. Not really a big deal just a bit of internet baiting.

Your right, this is a very interesting thread because there is a perfectly maintained Wildcat for sale not far from here, it's interesting to hear about the inability to handle chop. Here's a good shot of him saving the boat that's for sale

Having sailed the Wildcat, Tiger, Infusion, and new Capricorn a lot, of them all the Wildcat was my least favorite. I found the Wildcat to be very nose heavy in the turn down and downwind. I was happy with the wildcat upwind but the groove was narrow as people have stated.

Volume forward is awesome in wind and chop. I need to get rid of one of my boats if you need a newer boat at a good discount.

Sorry Rich, I reckon the cost of shipping the boat back to Oz would defeat the purpose

so you are saying is more prone to nose diving that his old Tiger? he is not going to be happy to hear that.

It's a bit more prone to nose diving but I would still pick it over a Tiger since it really is a lot faster overall.
Upwind it cuts nicely though chop and waves, in medium conditions it is very fast downside.
If the price is right I think it is really nice upgrade.

Yea the shipping back to OZ would be expensive.

The Wildcat is faster up and down the track than the Tiger. It is more likely to pitchpole in a reach or while turning down. Especially in large chop.

In flat water or light to moderate wind the Wildcat goes well.

That looks like pretty flat water to me in that pic

I probably shouldn't have used that shot, it was about 17kts, off shore wind, flat as a tack except for the new guy in the rescue boat running the photographer around. He zipped ahead of boats putting a good wake in front of them that they weren't expecting. Needless to say the photographer was in the right spot to get great action shots

We are about to start to sail the Wildcat. We have heard a lot about the fact that is would be nose heavy.

I have searched the forum about how to sail this boat in heavier conditions without pitch poling. This topic came out closest.

But can anybody tell more about how to sail this boat e.g. in a reach?