Spinnaker?

Anyone put an asymmetric 'chute on an H16? Worth it? Would it even be manageable with that much sail and a 350lb beachcat? I'm sailing on a lake with notoriously light winds.

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'68 O'Day Widgeon
'82 Hobie 16
'82 Siren 17
'81 Catalina 22

I think it would be great to try with a snuffer tube. I've always wanted to do it but have had trouble finding much info about it. Seems pretty pricey too but man, what a kick it woudl be!

What would be cool is if we could get a legal 16Spi class here in the US. I would definately buy one then.

Hobie Europe sells a spinnaker kit for the 16 that is used for one-design youth events only - most notably the ISAF World Youth Games.



It's very pricey ($1,500+)

The Hobie Class Association in North America is vehemently opposed to introducing it as a one-deisgn racing class in the US for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it would split the existing Hobie 16 class in two, further diluting fleet sizes at regattas.

Think of past history:

Hobie 14 > 14 Turbo
Hobie 18 > 18 Magnum > 18 SX > 18 Formula
Hobie 17 > 17 Sport

With the exception of the 17 (which never allowed a 17 Sport racing class), all of these derivative classes have failed.

The Hobie 16 is the most active, most competitive one-design catamaran class in the world. You want a spinnaker to race one-design? Get a Tiger or a Dragoon.

A Tiger would be sweet, but it's all about modding your 16!

G

The euro spinnaker kit for the 16 including the snuffer is in the 2005 Hobie Parts catalog. Page 23...

http://static.hobiecat.com/2010_archive/support/pdfs/22_25.pdf

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I still think having a spinnaker class for the 16 would be cool!

Further dilute the 16 class? I doubt it!, in fact it might even keep 16 racers from moving to more high performance designs, and while we are on the topic of youth sailing.. I would had allways wished when I was in Junior sailinng that there was a multi hull option for me.

However I do not know of ANY youth multihull lacing fleet's / racing classes in southern california.. At least not in the California Yacht Clubs.

The fleet's are primarilly made up of Sabots, Lasers, CFJ's, and now at least the San Diego Yacht Club has 420's...

If I had the opportunity to have grown up on a Wave instead of a Sabot or Laser, my childhood would have been perfect, and a Hobie 16SPI Youth fleet would have been the bomb!