Based on what I have been told, this new youth boat is not aimed at entry-level sailors. It is for teens ages 14-18 who already have a background in sailboat racing, whether on catamarans or monohulls.

And I don't think "high-tech" would scare away any teenagers. They know how to program every electronic gadget made, so I don't think a few more strings to pull on a boat is going to faze them.

And, who knows, maybe having the ISAF "stamp of approval," both for a multihull being in the ISAF Youth Worlds and for a specific multihull, will result in yacht clubs starting catamaran fleets in their youth programs. That would be a GOOD thing and give kids an option instead of the 420 or the Laser.

But, it would take a lot of commitment (and financial sacrifice) from the U.S. builder of the boats to get that going with the yacht clubs.

I don't see why a program involving SL16's at the yacht clubs would be incompatible with what the Hobie Class is already doing with the Hobie 16's -- at least for now. Somewhere down the road the two paths might start to converge.

All just speculation, but we all need to keep an open mind about this and consider the possibilities for the future of multihull youth sailing. It certainly should not be partisan in terms of what boat is used. The whole multihull community should work together on this, regardless of what boat and what framework works best.

Something to consider is that a number of colleges now offer sports scholarships for sailing. I don't know how it works, but it seems that the kids who get the scholarships are drawn from high school racing teams and maybe also from yacht club racing teams that compete on an organized basis. If that is the case, it is another reason to get the catamaran youth sailors into the "system."

Does anybody have more information about this? Rhodysail? I just heard about this the other day.