The upgrade to which I referred was from older to newer equipment. My old boat was a 1981 vintage and about 40# heavy. The move to the 18 was to accomidate my size. At 6'4", I would never be light enough to compete in the 16 class.



I probably painted a darker picture than was real concerning the 18 class. Last year there were 2 brand new 18's on the water at our regatta that were delivered just one week earlier. This year, we are expecting a couple of 18's from division 12. There is also another new 18 in our club parking lot this spring though it may be an SX.



I and my fleet put forth a great effort to host a division regatta. We do this because we love one design racing and want to see it survive. We need about 50 boats to break even and run an open class to help get enough boats on the water. It would enhance the experience to have those boats in the one design fleets but we are realists. Most hobie regattas run open races. I may be mistaken but I do not believe that Nacra, Prindle, or Inter fleets run regattas where the hobies are welcome.



In a perfect world there would be 20+ boats in every class at every division regatta. The hobie versus non hobie discussion would be moot then. Maybe we should be asking the question, "How do we grow the sport"