Dang, so much meanness,
Matt is taking a beating here and he's just an employee of Hobie. Give him a break! How many other manufacturer's representatives are putting themselves out here to get hammered? Not many! That in itself should be a testament to Hobie's commitment to its customers. Matt provides accurate information, technical and otherwise all the time. And, he responds to questions on the forums usually pretty fast. There are no other manufacturers doing that what so ever. So get over the bashing, it's not his decision to discontinue the 20. Let's be a little more civil to each other. It's easy to fire off on someone on the phone or on the forums. Speak to people like you were speaking to them in person.

The Catsailor forums get a harsh sometimes and it stops the flow of useful information. We see posts all the time talking about how we can grow interest in the sport. When newbies get here, I'm afraid they might get turned off by the hardened words.

Now, basically we are having an emotional response to this decision, and not thinking it through. In my tenure as a dealer for Hobie, since 1998, I have sold 4 Hobie 20's. And here in Div 3 we have one of the largest 20 racing fleets in the world. We have the current NA champions sailing at our regattas, as well as some other top placing sailors. Typically we have 12-15 boats on the line and it's growing everyday. People have been importing new(er) boats from Washington, Texas, Iowa, SoCal and all over.

Is there anyone out there that was planning on ordering a new 20 for the NA's in Alameda? That's where I was planning on selling a few new 20's, but nothing materialized in the form of a deposit. You would figure that the largest class regatta of the year would yield one sale of a new boat, right? That tells me that interest in new 20's is not there and it was probably a good decision from a manufacturers standpoint. The newest 20 bought in our division is a 2000...it's now 7 years later. The newest 20 being sailed in our division is a 2003 imported from TX.
There you go.

Despite my harsh tone, I'm kind of bummed too. Just give Matt a break, he doesn't deserve it! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />