Wouter, looks like you deleted a whole paragraph to make your point. Seems like you are into the Hershey Bar thing. Well, I'm not.

Anyway, my point was that through hard work you can improve. Doesn't matter whether your boat weighs 240lb's or 315!! As a matter of fact, when we used to do those long practice runs, I out weighed the Master Uni Fad guy by 15 to 20 pounds plus my boat was a bit older and heavier.(no carbo blocks, etc)But on light wind days, I could stay with him. When the wind came up, I couldn't.

As far as what letter is in front of the number 17, I'm not sure if that makes any difference. People are usually wanting to know what type of Hobie I sail anyway. And when I say NACRA, they are like what??. So I just say that I'm thinking about getting another catamaran.

Another thing, Wouter's 5 page rants on sail theory etc are not really that helpful as some folks keep saying. It appears to do nothing more than confuse an already confused group. You actually have to learn a bit at the time, and not just in the "classroom!" That's why they have labs at most colleges. Yes, you have to get out on the water. Plus, if a new sailor were told everything at once, he wouldn't be able to grasp it all anyway.

Here is the sad part, everytime we get close to becoming a solid group someone gets mad. People shouldn't take offense so easily. I think most people like to celebrate when they win. Anybody ever watch football, baseball, golf or tennis? All these folks celebrate sometimes for something as simple as a good catch or volley.

Hey, I haven't heard a whole lot about boat weight lately until I brought it up. Interesting. You mean sailing may actually have something to do with THE DUDE driving the boat?

One other thing, it's not magic. Bob didn't win all the races at Nationals so don't get to thinking it's just the one guy that's fast on the F17.

Tom