My first Hobie was an 18 and I always loved it inspite of its rather hefty weight compared to today's cats. It always felt so stable and fast, even in heavy air and seas. Jim McCann sold me the first Hobie 17 received in Florida and I was an eager buyer after watching him sail it in the first regatta. The sail was huge and baggy, but, hey, it had wings and could take my 185 pounds without falling over in the sea like the H-14's.

We actually had a small fleet of them for awhile at almost every regatta. I always kept an 18 for those regattas where I could scare up crew and much preferred it to sailing the H-17 solo. As Mary recalls, we had some huge cat regattas in those days here in Florida. I remember over 500 boats at one LobsterFest, and it was not uncommon to see over 300 Hobies for the Midwinter's East.

Where did they all go?

Jon Hamlet
Taipan 4.9 #217