Yo Damnit

Cheap boats will not get any more people out racing. You want a cheap boat do like Timbo says and look in the classifieds. There are pleanty of low dollar rides that can still win races.

These forums are great - everyone wants the new high tech ride. Give me a spin and a square top on a light weight platform, oh by the way throw in some carbon cause it sounds cool and I want it for no more than one of those roto molded jobbies. I want to move it around with 1 finger and have it be bullet proof too - geez.

I applaud Hobie for comming out with a new F18 at around 20K. The amount of technology and componets in that boat along with the expense they had to design, tool and test it - they can not be making much. Look at a performance mono-hull similarly constructed and equiped - they will be on the order of 2 times the cost. If you took a glass boat and dummied it down completely, made it with inexpensive fabrics, took away all the finished seams, removed all the sail controls yata a yata it still would never be less than the roto boats. Look at the cost of an H16 which is about as dumbed down as you can get and has its tooling and development long ago paid for, but is still more than a getaway.

You want people to come and race start having events where people want to come to. Hobie did not sell racing they sold a life style. The class association made the racing. They were lucky in their timing that the factory was able to sell enough to provide support back.

Now you have to make your own events. Dont go bitching about the factories making "expensive boats" and killing racing. That excuse does not stand up.