rehmbo wrote:
The guys at N***a are trying to do it with the new 17 olympic boat. I'm in the market to upgrade from my H18, but am not heading that route.
Again, the problem (ok, not necessarily a "problem") with the NACRA 17 is that it's designed for the highest level of performance. It's not the boat for most weekend warriors. I suspect it will be along the lines of the Tornado- constant upgrades, sailed exclusively by the highest caliber racers, very expensive to maintain, fragile, etc.
The issue with the Tiger is that it really isn't a one-design. It tried to be, but it isn't anymore. What are you going to do when you show up at a Tiger "one-design" event and your boat has the old style pin head mainsail, non-self tacking jib, older design spinnaker, daggerboards, etc and someone else shows up with all the latest gizmos? Yes you can all race, but it's not true one-design and so at that point, you might as well just invite all the F18 guys to come and play (which is basically where the class is now). Plus, it's unlikely that you can get a new Tiger now that the Wildcat has come along, so anyone that wants to join in with a new boat is S.O.L.
The boat that I keep coming back to is the Pearl. It seems like a very good offering as a slightly de-tuned F18 style boat with modern features, robust design, easy handling third sail. It looks like it would be a very fun platform for true one-design spinnaker racing. Basically an updated version of the H18. But the sailors, HCA, and Hobie would have to really get behind the class if they wanted it to succeed.
sm