Have to agree with Scooby here, in SA we have to import french H16`s, they are NOT affordable boats in light of the currency difference. New H16 retails for the price of an entry-level car. To say that lots of them are available is like saying you can buy a used Formula 1 car from 1979 and compete internationally. NOT. You won`t find that the top US teams that just sailed H16 WOrlds were training on boats with brightly coloured sails, aah, the 70`s were so cool. (NOT, again.)
Guys, stop bickering, we are all catsailors. ISAF has criteria which ONLY Hobie can satisfy from a financial perspective. This is unfortunate, but the truth, and is testimony to the Hobie`s marketing strategy, which NO-ONE else has been able to replicate. If competitors had to bring their own boats it would make events totally unaffordable, especially for youth.
If the purpose of ISAF youth Worlds is as a feeder class to the Tornado (current Olympic class), they wouldn`t be able to find a better boat than the Mosquito if they tried, but of course this is a class run by amateurs and has no capacity to produce 100 boats to be used at a Worlds. While some opinions state that the spinnaker is too much for youth sailors, here`s a thought :
Miles Webb & Darren vd Merwe - age 16, 2nd at Mosquito Nationals, 1st at the Triple Crown (beating Sean Ferry, Blaine Dodds and all other pre-H16 Worlds sailors) on line and Handicap(Mosquito gives H16 time). So is the kite too much for them?
From the regatta report : "With 6 of the 7 teams representing South Africa in the upcoming Hobie 16 Worlds sailing here today the competition was tough and I saw William and Lucinda Edwards beating Shaun Ferry and Michelle Le Sueur by about 1 meter, this after more than 2 hours of racing. Young Miles Webb and Darren vd Merwe made the most of the flat conditions on the downwind side of the course. Winning this regatta by more than 3 minutes after the handicap was applied is a very noteworthy occurrence. "

Here`s a real eye-opener : Daniel Snyman is 12. He sails Mosquito WITH SPI SINGLE-HANDED . Sure, he runs into trouble at 15knots, but the more he perseveres the less he will struggle, and when it`s less than 15knots he is quick enough to hassle the mid-fleet and surprise the front-runners sometimes.
I think the mindset of the spinnaker being unmanageable comes from a select group of One-minded, one-class sailors who`se boat was not designed to carry a spinnaker and is just not up to it from a bouyancy placement viewpoint. Hobie only added the kite to keep their foot in with ISAF Youth events, which once again, is good marketing.
I wish the rest of us were capable of learning something.
Last comment : Miles & Darren look to be having a whole lot of fun while the H16 they just flew past is just doing time downwind.