I started racing in the Prindle 16 class back in the mid 70s, (I could really go back to the early 60s racing the 12' Alcort Catfish), but the Prindle 16 (or Hobie 16) was as good as it ever got in one design cat racing. It was a simple, light, strong boat, easy to set up in 15 minutes, fast enough to be interesting, and the race was won or lost on tactics, straight forward tuning, and relative boatspeed.

Then the Gee Whiz kicked in, and we started the move to bigger boats, faster boats, more complex boats seeming only to be first across the finish line. Nevermind that the boats took an hour or more to set up and take down or that there were only three or four boats to a class, we were cool and fast. We spent 2 or three times as much for a boat that was 1-3 knots faster while getting less and less concerned with the fine points of reading the conditions and more time spent figuring a way to get a chute up or down a few seconds quicker.

The addiction kept us from going back to where the most fun and learning was to be had and the most important aspects of yacht racing was to be learned, and that was in the larger fleets of identical boats.

The great progress, if you want to claim it, was that we as a smaller group of elite racers alienated another very large group of sailors who just wanted a reasonably priced platform with which to become a better sailor and have fun. It no longer was fun to try and keep up with the expense of buying into the group of very talented sailors we raced against who had moved up to the next state of the art class. It wasn't fun to feel the disdain the ultra boaters occasionally exhibited towared the 14s and 16s as they slowly made it to the finish line, holding up the next start. Of course some dropped out because of other reasons like starting families but too many left for reasons I have stated.

I have written this mostly from what I felt or from what I heard from the sailors who dropped out of the scene during the late 80s and early 90s. I was guilty of a part of that mad dash to technologically advanced catamarans for a while.

We reap what we sow. Now attendance at most of the area regattas are more often measured in the teens or 20s rather than dozens or hundreds as it was in the 70s and 80s. That is progress! We and the manufacturers have made it too expensive and complex to attract the new young sailors in any significant numbers. Catamaran racing is getting close to becoming a geriatric sport, although those still doing it are in far better condition than our fathers and mothers were at the same age, and that is a good thing. We used to get lots of sailors to regattas who were just learning to sail a new Hobie 16 or Prindle 16 and the learning curve the youngsters exhibited was often spectacular. They were having a great time and the seasoned sailor took pride in helping others get up to speed. I don't see that much anymore. Then again, I don't race much anymore for the reasons stated and because I just hurt a lot more after a few races on these big powerful boats.