Hobie Fans, Where are you?

Have all the Hobie sailors left this forum for other pastures?

It does seem a bit slow here, lately.

Is the Hobie Company bulletin board the only site left discussing Hobies on a regular basis?

I am still here. Hiding. Quietly.

Hi There:

Does Minnesota still have a Hobie regatta? I lost track, after it left Big Marine Lake. I imagine Iowa is still going strong, but I haven't heard much about that, either. Heck, I don't even know if there are still local folks racing on Bald Eagle.

Yes, its in Spicer in July (I am not sure of the precise dates) and we have a deal set up in Wisconsin now, at the Madison CRAW event on Sept 14-15 with a 16 and 17 start. Ted Jagger would have more info on the Spicer race, cool place. I can help if decide to come to Madison.

Wow,they've been at Green Lake for a long time. Do they get good attendance? I bet the wind there is a lot more predictable than it was on Big Marine. I seem to remember the regatta was at Lake Waconia for two(?) years before moving to Green Lake. I think I remember hearing about the Green Lake regatta for the first two years, then never heard about it again. I've really been out of the loop for a long time. (I'm just a big fish in a little pond, now.)

Anyone else still here???

I'm in

I've been lurking mostly on this site. Interesting conversations but never anything that I feel that I have anything useful to add. We are starting up a catamaran fleet in Indianapolis at Eagle Creek Reservoir so I try to keep up to speed on the national catamaran news and discussions.

I'm here, sailing a Hobie 16 on an inland lake in Virginia.

Raced it in an open regatta this past Sunday. I have been really focusing on upwind performance. It worked.

We were able to go upwind with the Flying Scots and Thistles. Even blasted past a few upwind, and in their wind shadows. This boat does go upwind!

Soon we found ourselves way out in front, even ahead of a Hobie 18. It was looking like victory until .......... we chose to assist a Laser with their mast stuck in the mud. Our lead evaporated!

All in all, the day was a success, confirming that all my upwind tweaking and adjustments worked. I did not expect a Hobie 16 to outperform a Flying Scot, let alone a Thistle upwind. This is a very interesting boat indeed.

Time to work on downwind............

I'm here infrequently. Looking forward to the Whiskeytown Regatta, Memorial day weekend. Whiskeytown Lake, just west of Redding California (northern end of the state). One of the prettest lakes in the world. (And for "On the Wire" fans, PWC's are BANNED, so you won't need the Sidewinders).

I race locally with Thistles and Scots taking the same start quite often.. They are a great benchmark in the absence of a large cat fleet. When the breeze is down (below 5 knts) they are VERY tough to keep up with if you can't get a hull flying. In single trap conditions and above I can usually smoke them pretty good, but I have to watch it because a few of them are pretty exceptional sailors. When it is really honking (18knots plus) They just don't stand a chance. They are massively overpowered for those conditions and just don't get it done...

Heck last Saturday I was out in 24mph gusting to 31 mph solo... I let them start and then just blew by them upwind.. Beat them to the top mark (a short leg) by over a minute and only extended the lead downwind.. They were quite fun to watch though.. On the downwind leg they didn't even deploy spinakers and were fully planing.. That had to have been quite a ride for em!


You do have to beat them pretty soundly to be ahead on the ratings though... and it is near impossible in very light breeze, then becomes easier and easier as the conditions get 'better'.

I haven't raced against Thistles in light air, although I have been able to get the Hobie to ghost along really nicely so I wonder.

The comments before the race were "too bad Hobie's don't point". That is certainly an outdated statement now.

I am hoping to get down the VA Beach for the H16 race this weekend, but things are a little up in the air. It would be refreshing to see the class move to the European spinnaker setup.

Are these the same thistles? they don't look very fast to me!

I would consider Thistles a bit of a benchmark for upwind and light wind performance. Until recently I could never get my 16 to point as high as I wanted. I don't consider the Thistles my competition but racing against them in a mixed fleet confirmed my upwind settings are correct.

Still sailing H16 a lot in Europe / the Netherlands
However new cat sailors seems to fancy sophisticated cats (Foiling ...) more than good old H16's nowadays...

Have a lot (>10 ?) H16's on our club - majority seldom used. Probably same problem in USA: only approx 20% of our members are regular sailors.

However - as my H16 is 1992 built - I'm often asked what cat I would buy when I needed another/new one: I still found no answer. It's all about fun & sailing. I don't want to spent much time adjusting repairing (daggerboards) just need a reliable cat. [broke a bow tang recently - the first damage in many years !]

Just stopped back in to see what was happening. I sail an 18 In NM with Hobie Fleet 48. We have become a family fun outing fleet that sails about 10 weekends a season. There are probably 14 active Hobie sailors in the fleet.

NM hobie Fleet 48