New Sails

Mbounds
Correct, it is not class legal and you can put it on anything, like a square top sail that out performs the stock sail and will most likely out last it. I got only 4 seasons out of my stock sail before it started to delaminate and tear along the luff. I sailed with the repair for another season while researching sails. Since Hobie refuses to update their sail design and materials (probabily due to the single class racing), I had to go aftermarket to get the performance I desired and leave the class racers in my wake.

The Hobie 17 is an ISAF International Class. Hobie does not control the sail design or the materials. The class, with oversight approval from ISAF does. It's not going to change anytime soon.

Ya, I figured it was something like that. Too bad.

Fastcat:

If you nail your starts, you WILL do real good. 17 has real good PN numbers.

Doug

Well I've had the Whirlwind square top for a couple of seasons now with about 60 outings and it appears to be holding up well and keeping its shape. I really like the way the square top twists off during puffs. The only modification I’ve done is to replace the bottom baton that came with the sail with a stock Hobie baton which is a bit stiffer and longer. The original baton stopped about 4 inches short of the luff and put a slight cup in the bottom of the luff when tensioned. I removed the last rivet from the 3 hole plate that hooks the sail to the boomlet and use the resulting rivet hole to secure the baton.