You broke the first rule about racing boat selection: "What boats ARE BEING RACED in my target area". I am sorry that someone sold you a bill of goods about the current market penetration of the Tiger, but you should have known better than to believe a salesman.

But more Tigers are being sold all the time. All of the new Tiger owners I have spoken to(seven) love the boat. It has an excellent history of success in EU too. I am sure that it will have a national presence one day, just not today.

You have a choice of finding where the other Tigers will be racing (they try to meet at certain regattas) and travel with them or going to more local races and trying to build local interest. You would definitely attract a lot of attention as the only Tiger.

On classes.

The Tiger actually qualifies under three different Class organizations.

1) The IHCA Tiger mfg. one-design class. Open to only Hobie Class Rule compliant Tigers. At most Hobie Fleet regattas they will score the Tiger as a Class. The Tiger is the only F18 that is allowed to race at the Hobie midwinters and the NAs (Mega-Event) in Ft. Walton in October.

2) The International F18 Class. Supposedly, all Tigers are built at the factory to fit this rule. BUT, all IF18 rules are not legal Hobie Class rules. You could make IF18 legal changes to a Tiger that are not Hobie Class legal(new sails, etc.), but IHCA is trying to follow some of the IF18 changes.

3) NorthAmericanF18 Class. This is a Class that uses its own set of rules which is similar to the IF18 Class.

It has numerous modifications. These modifications allow US Inter18s to race despite the fact that they have a larger sail area.



So if you keep your boat Hobie Class legal you will be able to race all three classes.