Oh--here I sound like I HATE Hobies! Not at all!

I LOVE my H16, especially in big waves (I wouldnt take my Nacra 5.8na out in this). My 9-year old H16 never really had many problems, except that the mast snapped in half (like a piece of straw) during its maiden voyage in gusty SW winds. This, of course ripped the sail when we managed to take it off the mast. Hobie gave me a new mast right away and, ffter a bit of a reluctance, Hobie agreed to replace the sail, rather than just mending the old one. After that, I only had a minor problem with loose rudders but we fixed that by putting reinforcing steel plates to where the rudders attach.

The boat is still great, is light & fast and fun to ride.

H14s are fun but they like to pitchpole if you're not watching. We also found the H14 much harder to right than a H16 because the hulls are so short and they are hard to balance. We once capsized w/our old 14 (may I say this was a 14 sailed by Hobie Alter himself in one of the early regattas!!) near the shore break, and it was IMPOSSIBLE to right, even w/us 2 on it. I had to swim in, and my friend "windsurfed" the boat in, and then righted it on the beach.