Hi Sam,
You are right,I have only seen the newer Hobie cat products from a distance. I am flattered when one of the beach cat companies copies one of my ideas and puts it into production. It does rub me the wrong way a little when a boat company copies one of my ideas and calls it theirs and claims it is an advancement in the state of the art and it was on a production SC or ARC product 10, 20, 30 years ago. When it comes to safety items, I wish they would all copy all of them.
Many of the safety appointments I designed into the original SC product line came from problems sailors were having with the H14s and 16s back in the 1960s and 70s.
Example: The first Hobies had no connection between the mast base and mast step to aid in raising and lowering the mast. The technique used at that time was for the crew to hold down on the base of the mast at the step while the other sailor, usually larger and stronger, raised the mast while standing at the back of the trampoline and them walking it up to a position where the forestay could be connected. This worked fine at the local boat ramp until one day when a sailor was taking his girl friend sailing and she was holding bottom of the mast at the step, the lifter raised the mast with a jerk from his waist to his shoulder. This also caused a sudden jerk at the base of the mast and the mast slipped between her hands. The mast hit her in the face knocking out some teeth, splitting her upper lip and breaking her nose. I rushed her to the emergency room at the local hospital. That experience, Sam, is the scar tissue I had at the time, 1976, I designed the captive mast step and ball for the SC product line. Several other beachcat companies have now copied the design and I am glad they have.
Bill