uuuuu....that's a big negative. My part of Tivo is locked on "New Yankee Workshop", anything sailing related, "Mythbusters", and "Dirty Jobs".

in europe there is nothing on travel...

I was excited to watch but then was left a little dissappointed more of the cats were not shown. My wife does have a Hobie Mirage with the unique drive. It is fun to play around with although the kayak without the drive system is a slug in the water. I paid 1200 bucks for a kayak that without the drive system could have been similarly bought at almost any outdoor shop for 350. A premium for the drive and Hobie name.

dude, don't be a hater.

OK, I know this is "Catsailor", so I understand... sort of. Typical of many posters on this site. The glass is half full.

This segment WILL be good for sailing and cat sailing. It shows Hobie and catamaran sailing in a fun and exciting light. Lots of catamaran sailing was in it even though it was primarily about the Hobie Adventure Island. It is a 15 minute segment... about Hobie's latest innovations, but still includes Hobie 14, 16, Bravo, Wave, Getaway. Most of the footage on the water is sailing cats.

Do we still build cats? Certainly, but again... this was about the Island and only 15 minutes. You take what you get when a major TV show wants to cover your company.

For review: We mold the Hobie 16 here in the US and in Australia because we can not keep up with the demand. We build all of the components here (sails as shown on the show, trampolines, aluminum and stainless). We ship components to Australia and they ship some hulls to us.

It's all good.

Hey Matt -

Glass half full, here. Fun to see Senior shaping boards and the brief footage of 14s and 18s coming off waves was seriously cool. Caught a glimpse of the stock vid of Jacques on one of the plastic boats, but missed seeing you, the Gimp or Mango. Nice piece that fits the show's theme very well. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I have to admit that the Island is a pretty bitchin' unit. I've been looking at them at our local dealer (when nobody is looking). I think any of the negative comments that arise here are spawned from dissapointment. We all want to see Hobie Cat making the beach cats that we all love so much but in todays market, a company has to make money. A few years ago while on the Reynolds 33 photo shoot, Greg Ketterman told me they had a higher profit margin in 3 kyaks than they did with one Tiger. Let's face it, American's have gotten lazy by Global standards. Everyone wants to put a key in something to make it go rather than spend the time to rig a boat and have the skill to sail it. This fact is clearly illustrated by how many boats Hobie Europe has in it's line up. Lets all be glad they (Hobie US) didn't start making PWC's. Don't get any ideas there Matt.

Lee Wicklund/Team Chums

Hi Matt

Yes, it is all good...

The question for me (and I suspect most people on this forum who belong to a cat club and race their boats as part of an organization) is...

How do you move these new sailors from the individual (family) pursuit of the past time (sailing) to the sport of catamaran sailing and future involvment with our existing clubs?

Have you guys given much thought to this?

Is it important to the buisness plan of the company?

I remember looking for my first catamaran. The Annapolis Boat Show had a Hobie 16 on display. The show also had the Prindle 16, Dart 18 and Isotope on display. To the question... Why should I buy a Hobie Cat.... Answer... LOOK AT THE HUGE FLEETS (not to mention the big photo display of hot chicks, a pair of Hobie 16's and a beautiful beach.)

Perhaps, my intial reaction is the case for most of the new sailors now. The idea of a club was not what I looked for as a first time buyer and so the marketing approach missed ...

Now, the marketing at the Annapolis Boat show is clearly directed at the indivdual recreational sailor with little or no mention of the Hobie Fleets and Hobie racing.

If most new buyers are simply not looking for a boat that is Club or Class driven, what is needed?

TIA
Mark

Very important to expose kayak buyers to sailing as we see this as a major focus of our company. I think you can see that sailing is still our primary focus when we have a sail mast mount molded into every Hobie Mirage kayak model. We sell sail kits for these things by the thousands. This is exposing thousands upon thousands of kayakers to sailing. We have already seen the upwards movement into our other products from this. Its working.

Now, the jump from there to racing? The percentage of interest has always been high for recreation and low for racing. The shear numbers back in the 70's and 80's drove the clubs.

Kayacks with a sail mount... MY NEW LITTLE RELATIVE! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Wow, This is really hard to wrap your brain around...

Well.... I won't look at all of the Kayacks at Hudson Trail and REI as competition for beach cats anymore... promise! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

This is kind of like evolution... you know... neanderthals and cro magnum inhabited the earth at the same time. Some interbreeding did occur. Unfortunately, this leads to an ugly realization! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Sorry, did not intend to come across as a hater. I love Hobie products. When I purchased the kayak, I was not intersted in performance. It was for the wife and it was what she wanted and loves it I might add. I do thouroughly enjoy the kayak myself, but it severly lacks in the performance department. It is, of course, a blast to pedal but not to paddle. Just pointing out some drawbacks.

Unfortunately Matt, this is not the case with the Hobie Mirage Classic I purchased for my wife. I would love for her to have one with the sail kit. I have thought many times if there is a way to retrofit a sail kit onto the Classic, but keep coming up empty. If you know of some way, please let me know. Thanks

BTW, not knocking the show last night. I enjoyed what little there was, I was just wanting much more. I knew going into the show that only about 15 minutes would be dedicated to Hobie. Just enough to really pique my interest in the construction of all the various Hobies.

The Classic was the first model and was pre-sail'able Mirage. All of the current models have it now. There is no production adaptation for it to sail, but I have seen some ideas out there.

GLASS 1/2 EMPTY!!!! CATAMARANS>>> MORE CATAMARANS>>>> ONLY CATAMARANS>>> NO ROOM IN MY LITTLE BRAIN FOR ANYTHING BUT CATAMARANS! CATAMARANS and CATAMARANS....

Just kidding. I was glad to see Hobie get the exposure. I have owned 2 Hobies and loved them both. I would have liked to see 2 hours about cat production but that is just me (my girlfriend calls my Murray's catalogue my porn)

Wow, thats ah interesting..... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


Somebody needs to call "How its Made" and get them over to the Hobie plant. That was one of my favorite shows.

Lee, your memory is fading, he said they had a higher profit in 1 kayak than they did with 3 tigers . . . hah!














. . . . FWIW, I do own a Hobie (and enjoy it).