Catwoman,

The 2004 H-16 Worlds boats were from Hobie USA.

If you know him, ask Doug Grant about the worlds boats - he sailed them there in the master's event and sails from your beach. He's got H-16 experience going back to the early 80's.

The late 80's / early 90's H-16's are heavy and are undoubtably more durable because of it.

It's too bad you guys don't have the Division 10 regatta there anymore. You really should see what a fully tweaked out (but still class legal) H-16 looks like these days. The rigging and sailing techniques have changed significantly in the last 10 years. A boat older than 10 years (except the lightweight '84's and '85's) and sails older than 5 years are just not competitive anymore in the top echelon.

I can't vouch for the 18SX's, but any product can have problems. That's why the boats have warranties. And that's why Matt Miller has a job (he's the warranty guy at Hobie Cat).

It sounds what you guys lack on your beach is the collective knowledge that's usually passed down in a fleet from the experts to the novices - like how to tighten up your rudders without resorting to steel plates. I'm not trying to put you guys down - it's just that nobody from Hobie Fleet 115 travels to regattas anymore, so there's no real influx of new ideas and techniques.