Rob. Is there a fleet of one design racers in your driving area? Do they go racing in sufficient numbers and often enough for you to want to join them? If the answer is yes and yes... great.
If not, Your 5.2 looks like its in great shape and its a very nice sailing boat. You may not need to change rides... Perhaps a charter or loan from a friend will get you to the Midwinters.
With proper racing sails, your boat should be equal to a Hobie 18 on the water and much faster then a Hobie 16. Now if your sails are as old as the boat...
Rob:
That is what I do with the 17. With changes I made it is not class legal. Will have to do the same with the Mystere 4.3. May be moving to the Tampa Area. Is that close to you?
Doug Snell
What you need is a garage.....
You'd face the same issues if you were racing an H-16 against other H-16s in this area. I routinely race against H-16s that vary from late 70's to 2005 models, and there's a significant difference in the boats. In addition, there are H-16s/sailors who do better upwind vs. down, heavy wind vs. light, etc.
And what Jake said about the one-design hot-shots definiely applies to the Hobie MWE.....those guys from MI, NY, DE, etc. don't drive all the way to the FL panhandle just to fool around. (Please don't look at my results!)
I guess my point is that in this area you're not likely to be racing with a ton of other boats just like yours, even on an H-16. But you are likely to improve your skills (and have fun!) at the regattas, so just do it!
P.S. Both my son and daughter started racing with me when they were about 10 years old.
Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mi'sippi
Wow, you guys are just full of good news. I really didn't want to sell it anyway. I just did a bottom job on it, so it would hurt to trade it. So... since I am not selling it, I need to start looking for some decent sails. My jib is good, but I have two mains that are fair condition at best. Any ideas on an economic way of getting some decent used sails without sitting around waiting for one to pop up on ebay?
-Rob V.
Look in the classifieds here on catsailor and post here:
http:/
You can also post and look in the classified section on www.thebeachcats.com
Doug