Just curious Wouter how many T4.9's have been built? How many are in the US, and Europe? Just wondering.

It appears some of you sail with your wife and kids; I think many of us want boats that can be fun and great for our wives or girl friends, or sail with our husbands or boy friends, etc. My wife informed me last month that she wants to sail in the 2004 H16 worlds in Mexico, which was a surprise to me as she never seemed interested in the BIG ONE! I think what changed her perspective on racing was during a regattas last year. During this regatta, I put no pressure on her, and we just went out and had fun. In this pivotal regatta the wind was so strong that most people were heading for the beach but we stayed out and on the reach to the weather mark we had our first capsize and I thought oh boy she will never want to do this again. Well to my surprised she was laughing after the capsize and asked if we could do that again. Well we did it four more times and she has been hooked ever sense, she still talks about that regatta to all her friends when sailing discussed. I should add that we used Gary solo-right system so righting the boat was quite easy. If I had been concerned with winning during this regatta she would never had had this experience and probably would still be un-interested in bigger regattas to this day.

For my kids and us the H16 has been perfect with active racing almost everywhere, my wife likes it because it is easy to set up and to move around on the beach, etc., etc. We go out to my old stomping grounds a lot on the Wash. coast and sail in the harbors, lots of oyster beds and a dagger boards would not last very long, or when you did get done you would not have very long dagger boards left. There surfing is awesome there as well. For us the H16 has been the most versatile boat with great durability. I do sail it solo a lot with the Trapseats, which makes it even easier to sail solo, plus when I am not racing I use my roller furling jib. So it's quite versatile.

I am ordering the new Hobie snuffer spinnaker soon, which is called the mid pole "trumpet" design. Some of you may know something about this spinnaker design already but for those of you who do not go to the catsailor H16 forum. Go to the thread called "There here spinnakers for H16's." You'll find a post by Matt Miller of Hobie USA with the picture of one on a Tiger.

I do have to admit I ordered a Hobie Bravo as the idea of car-top-able cat, with the design features of a monohull and multihull did appeal to me. Heck I can buy a new Bravo and used H16 in great shape for half the price of any HT boat. I know the Bravo and H16 are not techy enough for some of you, but there are boats for everyone.

Thanks for the great responses!