I think this is great news for the multihull scene, especially for the US Market.

Junior sailors coming up the ranks of Opti's. Laser's and 420's now have some options to get into High Performance sailing.

The Hobie 16 is widely available and modestly priced boat that many juniors already race. Indeed, we are expecting a good turnout of juniors at the Junior Olympics at Rock Hall YC in July on the Chesapeake.

The Viper Club 16 will prove the ultimate swiss army knife of catamrans for the clubs and families that make the jump.

Sailing the boat cat rigged, or sloop rigged with small sails and then finally adding the small spinaker should right size the boat for a huge number of juniors of any size or number. Moreover, Mom and Dad can grab the boat and put the standard F16 sails on and go racing when they pry the boat from their kid's hands. Juniors who are aiming for ISAF international competition will be quite comfortable in jumping to the ISAF youth only boats.

Great solution!

(One more reason for scorekeepers to thank god for flexible handicap rating systems and computers)