"However, I don't see why Hobie would design an F16- why would you train on a Hobie F16 when the Olympics are OD in a Nacra or Viper?"


Brand loyalty and because maybe one has a Hobie dealor that one prefers over the another brand dealor because of service etc.

Assuming that a Viper F16 or Nacra F16 is chosen then a Hobie F16 would be a pretty good training vehicle all the way till a truly serious campaign to be selected is undertaken.

Apart from that, Hobie needs to cover the bases at some point just as they did with the Tiger when the Hobie 18 based formula class was being superseaded by the F18's.

Hobie must take care to not end up with only the rare FX-one as their ticket in this segment of cat sailing.

Or at least that is what I'm opinioning.