The problem seems to be to this newbie with open minded eyes is simple, MONEY. Hobie supports the racing circuit with financing at the national and international level with raffle prizes and maybe insurance at the local level, not to mention the support of the local dealers for regattas. Hobie wants to recoup that money as well as maybe become a monopoly along the way which any good capitalistic company does. As a consumer, we want competition. So maybe the problem isn’t Hobie. Maybe the problem is Performance Cats or the other manufacturers. Where is their support? Why isn’t their racing circuit much stronger? I’m new to all of this, but I haven’t seen much from Hobie’s competitors. As I understand it, even when there is an open event, the overwhelming majority of boats are Hobies. As I see it there are 2 ways to go.

1. Go entirely Hobie and say goodbye to competitive manufacturing. This is not necessarily negative. There simply may not be enough of a marketplace to support more than 1 manufacturer in the field of beach cat racing in today’s world.

Or

2. Organize completely independent from the manufacturers. NASCAR races with the support of all major car manufacturers without excluding any. For large boat regattas they are often supported by several manufacturers. My guess is that Hobie US and the local dealers will continue to support the regattas without the moniker HOBIE on the NOR, albeit maybe not as strongly, but this would also open the door to the other manufacturers to fill the gap. As far as I can tell, most regattas would survive without the Hobie name and the loss of their points which don’t really seem to matter too much anyways. With a strong national combined circuit, points would matter. This would make the strong racing enthusiast happy and still provide the openness that fosters growth in the sport. Exclusivity never grew anything but resentment. Yes, I know there already are some independent organizations, but they certainly don’t compare to the strength of the Hobie racing circuit. Maybe this is the time for those independents to soak up the fleets that Hobie is willing to lose to create this strong circuit. A strong independent circuit would put the consumer back in a position of power forcing the manufacturers to compete to be a part of the circuit and not in the position of handing down edicts from above.

I don’t mean to sound like a Hobie heretic. I am a proud new Tiger owner and have an appreciation for the original inventor of a product, but I also would like to see competition from manufacturers to keep costs down and see continued refinements in the boats which is of course against the idea of single class racing which really isn’t single class racing because the boats change a little each year but are still single class... ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!. Do any of you old time racers know how ridiculous some of this stuff seems to a new person? Why can’t we just get the fastest boats racing on the water? Am I the only one who wants to race on a carbon fiber boat like Lance Armstrong’s BICYCLE? I don’t want to hear about how single class racing makes the best racing because the boats are the same. Bullogna! The best racers buy new sails every year at a cost of $3000 for a Tiger and upgrade to new boats every other year. That’s not the same as competing with a person with a 5 year old boat with 5 year old sails!?! I guess I’m just going to just drink a couple shots, try to clear my head, and try to remember I just got into racing to become a better sailor anyways.

Sorry, just the ramblings of a newbie.