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Jeezuz, this record setting thread is looping.
Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and kill the sucker.

"Maybe Round Texel should exclude all Hobies ? Why would that organisation accept sailors that don't by their open class format?"

If that organization built boats it might be a proper choice for them to limit their event to the boats they built. I didn't know the organizers of Texel built boats? You're comparing apples to oranges.

DavidN
H20 781

From the January/February Sailing World

Top 10 classes in 2005

1) US Optimist Dingy Class (2950)
2) Lightning Class (2529)
3) Laser Class (2400)
4) Club 420 (1850)
5) Thistle (1754)
6) Flying Scott (1650)
7) J/24 (1500)
8) Sunfish (1500)
9) Catalina (1120)
10) Hobie Class Assn. (1010)

At 1010 members we have seen growth from last year and the previous year.

The next multihull class association comes in at #43 with 100 members

He's comparing factions that do not embrace the same "goal" being exclusionary - be it selling more boats or rating boats effectively. Texel could simply refuse to give Hobie a rating because they want to promote one design within Hobie built boats instead of supporting a system where many breeds of boats could race together (open class). Never happen, but he was trying to draw the analogy.

Question - all of the others (except for Catalina) are one design class membership counts, whereby Catalina and Hobie are class associations - meaning for Hobie that would role up at least H-16, H-20, and Tiger, meaning at least three classes counting as one? What was the next multihull class, and would it beat one of the individual classes of Hobies? Just curious...

You guys that want to kick Hobies out of events may want to look at some numbers. Spring Fever which is located in the "Hot Bed" of open class sailing had 114 Hobies(about70%) out of 159 boats in 2001 if I counted correctly. Last year about half(30) of the boats were Hobie. The success of the Hobie company and the HCA-NA is a good thing for all of cat sailing in the USA and probably everywhere else. Is it better to lose half the boats at a regatta?
Be careful not to cut off your nose to spite your face.

Top 20 one design classes in North America (by S.A.)

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/general/2006/onedesigndurvey_06.htm

Hobie 16 at #7 and the only multihull on the list

None of it's truly "apples to apples" when the Lighting Class requires all three crew members on the boat to be members of the class (not required in Hobie Classes); and the Laser classes also include all versions of the Laser (Radial). There are other inconsistencies between the membership policies and what drives their numbers.

Of the Hobie Classes, about 70% is Hobie 16. Hobie 17/18/20 make up about 25% and Tigers and everything else make up the other 5%.

The other catamaran class association that was listed as #43 with 100 members was the NACRA class assn.

Overhere (Netherlands) we can kicked out all and any OD hobies and not notice much difference. Of the Hobies that are active 80 % is Tiger F18 = not to be mistaken by Tiger OD.

Hobie 16 attendence is a joke. In 100 to 200 boats we typically see less then 10 Hobie 16's. Only Texel sees large turn-out in Hobie 16's, although large here still means being 4rd of 5th biggest class. 95 % of them are tour sailors and not racers.

One could say that Hobie OD decision backfired overhere. It was already on the decline but this decision pretty much assured its fate.

Mind you the Hobie sailors that are now without a real home are welcomed in to the open class fleets and we appreciate having them here. The more the marrier. Just don't mention IHCA decision to go at it alone. Sense of humour only foes so far, you know.

Wouter

Check out the 2005 rankings and it's easy to figure out the breakdown.
http://www.hcana.hobieclass.com/default.asp?Page=3124&MenuID=Rankings%2F10818%2F0

Wouter: The Hobie desicion was made to address the exact situations you mentioned. More non-Hobie than Hobie.
To say it backfired after one year of results is very premature at best. The people involved in the desicion fully expected to lose some regattas, fleets and maybe whole divisions in an effort to strengthen the Hobie class for the future. The fact is the class membership was up last year and memberships from renewals and first timers are coming in at a steady pace. I would say it's going better than expected.
Lets see where things are five years from now and then determine how well it worked or didn't.

How long would Ferrari remain viable if they only raced other Ferraris? How credible would a Ferrari only F-1 race be?

The decision has been made, time will tell how shrewd it was as a business move. Yet, on another thread there are legions of sage advice on how to repair these boats. Hobie is asking the consumer to continue supporting a product with known obsolescence. Personally, I don't think that will fly!

The 2005 F1 race at Indy answered that question. F1 in the US may never recover.

You have to wonder how the 16 remains so popular. It’s definitely right up there with the Sunfish and Laser.

Hobie has figured out they’ve got a limited customer base. To make sales in that market they come up with either an upgraded boat (18 to 18 Magnum to 18 SX, 17 to 17 Sport, 21 to 21 Recreation Vehicle) or offer new ones that will entice current owners to move up and newbies to buy for the first time. On the high end, we’ve seen the 20 replace the 18. Now it looks like the shift is to the Tiger.

Then there’s the rotomolds. The Wave probably really surprised Hobie with its popularity.

What Hobie, and all the other multihull manufacturers need, is another cover on a nationally known magazine, another cool catch line (Have A Hobie Day!) and the price of oil to drop. At least we’re only faced with the cost of gas to and from events. The stinkpots also look at a $500 weekend to fuel their boats.

Well Robi, there is your answer. Not too many people interested in on racing sailing. I am, used to be and always will be a Jolly Roger. There is nothing better than dropping the mast at sundown and firing up a grill and burning some mojo pollo and corn. Let's try to get out and do some non racing at Hobie Beach this summer.

My guess is that's exactly where Hobie is headed.

I agree I had the oportunity to do this alot with my hobie 16. Seems like this time around its extremely hard with the blade. Dunno, maybe I got struck with bad luck. Every time I try to go out, something happens. Either the boat breaks, or my NEW TO ME suv (1989 Jeep Cherokee) I am definatley trying to get all the kinks fixed to head out to Hobie Beach.

Seems like every time I used to go out, in the h16 there were alteast two or three folks out there sailing around. I always mentioned the CABB races to them, they were all UNITERESTED. Hmm, maybe I need another H16 just to bounce around the bay and keep the f16 for serious races only.


Im definatley up for that plan though Erick. Head out, sail, come back and fire up the grill and even have a few brews.

What do you mean? That IHCA will incorporate the Wave in the racing family?

It already did, quite a while ago.

I'd say so. For Hobie, they're cheaper to make so they can drop retail prices and attract more customers. The local Hobie dealer made it very clear to me that they don't want to sell any fiberglass sailboats.