I had seen the posting but delayed my reply to it.

I completely agree with the advice given earlier.

Get a demo sail on all three boats and compare them directly. This shouldn't be a problem here in the Netherlands. I know that we have a Vectorworks marine demo boat overhere, although it is in winter storage right now. I'm sure that our competition would offer a test ride on their boats. Currently 2 interested parties have test sailed the Blade and our succes rate is currently at 100 %. If you know what I mean So yes, by all means test sail all the available boats, but don't make any commitments before having sailed the Blade !

Actually this demo boat is available at a discounted price too. See here



Principally, all named boats will be a significant step up from the Hobie 17, so in that sense you can't go wrong.

But lets me supply a few quick answers to your questions :


>>There are no FX One/F17/F16 sailors in my club and I am not (yet) into regattas.

Where are you actually sailing ?

What would you recommend? Are there any other cats that I overlook?

Not really : M18 = too expensive considering your earlier comments. Spitfire is more focussed on double handed sailing, A-cat is without a spinnaker. You may consider looking at a Shadow (swell catamarans) but at 115 kg you will really load up that boat and not attentain comparable performance to the FX-one/I-17/F16 boats as a result.


>>I enjoy the "simplicity" of the H17, how are these three boats different in terms of handling.


In the controls there isn't that much difference between the 3 newer boats. There is some but not enough to really seal the decision. The difference to the H17 will be significant. Biggest difference will be the overal boatweight. F16 = 107 kg; FX-one = 145 kg; I-17 = 152 kg H-17 = 165 kg. The smaller differences you should really experience yourself during test rides.


>>Which of the three is the easiest/most tricky (sensitive to trim, most diffficult to get to speed) boat to deal with.

I would venture to say that all boats are comparable in acquiring their respective (handicap predicted) speeds. Which still leaves a clear picking order in absolute speeds.

I personally have a very clear favourite with respect to rigs and tunability/ease of trim, but I suspect that this is due to personal taste as well.


>>What are differenes in behaviour light vs heavy wind/wave conditions.

Difficult to write down in a few short sentences. None is bad. The rest could well be solely dependent on personal likes and dislikes.


>>With my own weight what would be the best boat for taking crew along ?


I don't know the I-17 well enough to comment on it in this respect but both FX-one and Blade should handle this extra weight well.


>>Does the low weight of the Blade mean it is a less robust boat, or does it have a totally different structure?


Best example I can give is that the Taipan 4.9 and Taipan F16's have been around for 15 years and weight ONLY 102 KG's there has truly not been any more damages with these boat than with 50 kg heavier alternative designs. So lwo weight in itself really doesn't have to mean "less robust". Moreso as most robustness is quantified to have easily you can make a dent in a hull. I was surprised at how easily one could dent a 150 kg singlehander. Hulls are normally heavily overdimensioned in the way of strength as a result of preventing easy denting or damage under point loads like shells under your keelline while beeching.


>>Maybe a more general question, how can I judge the robustness of a cat?


This is difficult to easily establish. Looking at the history of a particular design is often best. In the case of the Blade look at the Taipan design as the Blade design uses alot of components that have been used 15 years on the Taipans.


Wouter