I'm here, sailing a Hobie 16 on an inland lake in Virginia.
Raced it in an open regatta this past Sunday. I have been really focusing on upwind performance. It worked.
We were able to go upwind with the Flying Scots and Thistles. Even blasted past a few upwind, and in their wind shadows. This boat does go upwind!
Soon we found ourselves way out in front, even ahead of a Hobie 18. It was looking like victory until .......... we chose to assist a Laser with their mast stuck in the mud. Our lead evaporated!
All in all, the day was a success, confirming that all my upwind tweaking and adjustments worked. I did not expect a Hobie 16 to outperform a Flying Scot, let alone a Thistle upwind. This is a very interesting boat indeed.
Time to work on downwind............
I race locally with Thistles and Scots taking the same start quite often.. They are a great benchmark in the absence of a large cat fleet. When the breeze is down (below 5 knts) they are VERY tough to keep up with if you can't get a hull flying. In single trap conditions and above I can usually smoke them pretty good, but I have to watch it because a few of them are pretty exceptional sailors. When it is really honking (18knots plus) They just don't stand a chance. They are massively overpowered for those conditions and just don't get it done...
Heck last Saturday I was out in 24mph gusting to 31 mph solo... I let them start and then just blew by them upwind.. Beat them to the top mark (a short leg) by over a minute and only extended the lead downwind.. They were quite fun to watch though.. On the downwind leg they didn't even deploy spinakers and were fully planing.. That had to have been quite a ride for em!
You do have to beat them pretty soundly to be ahead on the ratings though... and it is near impossible in very light breeze, then becomes easier and easier as the conditions get 'better'.
