I was just reading on the US Sailing website and found this: MULTIHULLS While traditional sailing is fun, there is nothing like the thrill and excitement of sailing a multihull, big or small. Multihulls come in quite a variety – there are catamarans (those with two hulls) and trimarans (those with three hulls). They also come in many sizes. For example, catamarans can be as small as 9 feet in length and have been built to over 100 feet. Most smaller cats are referred to as beach cats, running in size from about 13 feet to around 21 feet. There are a great many designs and manufacturers of these exciting craft, but most folks just call them all Hobies – sort of like we all used to call our refrigerators "Frigidaires." You might have seen them blasting along shore lines at awesome speeds with the sailors suspended on trapeze wires from the mast. They are small, fast, exciting and very light.
I was just wondering, do most of you who own NACRA's, marstroms, Prindles, Trac, Inter etc. etc. call them hobies?
I own a solcat 18 and a NACRA 5.7 and I dont call either of them a Hobie.
Maby the multihull council could have them change that and compare the monohulls to Frigidaire's.
It's late and i'm probably a little on edge since I havn't gotten the 5.7 wet yet.
By "most folks," I think they are referring to the nonsailing public and to sailors who are not familiar with catamarans. Hobie really has become a generic household word for "beach cat." If I am trying to explain to someone what kind of boats we sail, I don't bother with brands, I just say, "You know, like Hobie Cats," and then they get the picture.
What is more annoying to me is when they pronounce it "hobby" cat. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
Re: US Sailing/Multihulls
[Re: AzCat]
#126407 12/16/0710:44 AM12/16/0710:44 AM
Therein lies part of the problem with the mentality with mainstream US SAILING -- multihull sailing IS traditional sailing. It was just as traditional for the Pacific Islanders as monoslug sailing was for the Europeans.
Time Warp Racing Hobie 14, 16, & 17, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45.2
Hi Guys, I have a Hobie 18 mag and a Prindle 19mx, also I've been crewing on a 43' Tri and I loudly and with pride say that I'm a MULTIHULLER. None of those slow leaning monomorans for me. But most of the time non sailors only know the name "Hobie Cat". It's like saying "can you make me a Zerox copy???" I just take the time to educate them and explain that the proper term is "beach cat". And since Hobie has been doing their HOBIE ONLY crap I am even more vigulent in using the term Beach Catter/Multihuller and do not call myself a Hobie Catter even though I have and still do compete in many Hobie Regettas per year with my TheMightyHobie18. I believe in being inclusive, not exclusive. And as a sidenote, this Hobie Only crap also helped with losing the multihull slot in the Olympics. "Divide and Conquer" that what happened to us, we did not promote a united group for our classification of boats and now we have nothing. So first we have to promote the fact that we are sailors who sail and are MULTIHULLERS!!! All of us no matter what brand of boat we sail, because in the final analysis we all have the same basic issues and need to help each other
Re: US Sailing/Multihulls
[Re: HMurphey]
#126412 12/16/0712:25 PM12/16/0712:25 PM
If you look carefully at that photo Mike you will see that in NZ its called a big canoe with a sail and supposidly thats how their nation was foundered. Someone should point out to their national sailing body that all of the old, unfit people who sailed that one are now dead, the modern ones are called beachcats and there are a couple of young and fit sailors there.
Jeff Southall Current boats Nacra 5.8 1703 Animal Scanning Services Nacra 5.8 1667 Ram Raider Nacra 18 Square Arrow 1576
Re: US Sailing/Multihulls
[Re: JeffS]
#126415 12/16/0704:31 PM12/16/0704:31 PM
Thanks Don A for understanding where I was going with that comment. I think "HOBIE" corp needs to understand that to get a "Hobie" in the Olympics, first you need to have a Olympic Multihull class. To me this is simple basic logic. And it is basic military theory, concentrate your resources, focus them on single goal and bring them to bear on your opponate. Now does "Hobie Only" sound like we multihullers are concentrating our political muscle in the sailing community for our goal of keeping multihull boats in the Olympic Games???
"He who does not study history is destined to repeat it"
Re: US Sailing/Multihulls
[Re: HMurphey]
#126417 12/16/0711:33 PM12/16/0711:33 PM