fusioneng wrote:
Bob:
The old AI design was basically a conversion from a standard kayak, of an old model kayak design from circa 2006. When hobie came out with the TI in 2010 they included all they learned from previous experience from the AI. Everyone is pretty happy with the TI design, and as an all around boat it's hard to beat. In order to get a little better low wind performance some added there own jibs and such, but most like it right out of the box. Once the TI came out and became popular the floor kind of dropped out of the AI sales. Hobie for 2015 is simply adding all the stuff that makes the TI popular to the AI (like you said a major upgrade). This will make the AI as desirable as the TI (a good thing IMO).
The only upgrades needed on the TI for 2015 are the new and better seats and upgraded mirage drive.
These boats are already pretty much the most popular boats on the market with nothing on the market that is comparable. They do exactly what they are advertised to do, and are easily modified by end users who want even more (ie... Jibs, motors, fishing gadgets, tramps, HAKA's, etc). Best yet they are very capable right out of the box, so you don't really need to do anything to have great fun, plus they are easy and fast to rig from a trailer (faster and easier than pretty much anything else out there ( a huge plus)), plus they fit in your garage (+++).
I'm not seeing them doing much more on the design (they already sell more than they can make).
Hobie has created a whole generation of new sailers with these boats, as a family boat there is nothing like it especially with the kayak and fishing crowd, not so much with the hard core Hobie cat crowd with a need for speed, I think Hobie likes it this way (nobody is going to trade in their wildcat for a TI).
I see Hobie continuing this line for the foreseeable future, why stop, the demand is there with this whole new generation of sailers. Just ask any kayaker and they will say they want one of those next (lol).
I do however see Hobie coming out with a more capable tri in the future though, something for the more advanced sailers to graduate to with a CE 'C' rating for offshore, and much more technical, but I expect that to be a new design, much more complex, and of course much mo expensive, for example a WETA costs around $13k, something like that with mirage drives, jib and screacher would be the obvious upgrade for the guys who want more from Hobie, but they will not be cheap, and don't expect the TI to graduate to that, it would be a whole new design.
Of course I have no crystal ball, and nobody knows what Hobie is working on, but it makes perfect sense for them to come out with something for us guys who love the TI's to step up into, but have no desire whatsoever to go buy an H16 or a wildcat. It's a whole new world out there that Hobie invented, the funny part about it is most of this new generation has no interest whatsoever in stuffy sailing clubs, sailing around little bouys in one design boats that were designed in the 60's and cannot be modified at all from the original 60's design. They are called adventure boats for a good reason, and people are just beginning to realize their true potential.
Of course all of my options are my own personal opinions.
My two cents
Bob
Thank you Bob for the informative post. Looks like I would be safe getting a 2015 model and not be surprised with a MAJOR upgrade coming out shortly thereafter. Sounds like that is becoming my plan. Bob
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