The Hobie 20 proposal (May 15) received mixed reviews in the comment period. The rules committee has withdrawn that proposal for further discussion and revision. A revised proposal will be published soon.
The Hobie 17 requires a different solution. We have received a lot of sailor input and the sailors are clearly interested in a new sail design from Whirlwind, however this new design differs from the IHCA approved patterns and Whirlwind has stated they will not provide the cut files to the IHCA and in fairness it’s their intellectual property.
The publication of the Hobie 17 North American’s NOR allowing the Whirlwind sails as class legal equipment with no measurement restrictions, puts the H17 class and the rules committee in an awkward place. It is the goal of the IHCA to keep Hobie sailing one design and fair. Recognizing the complexities of multiple designs when the IHCA does not hold the design patterns, the rules committee has decided to pursue an open sail design for this class. The new sail will need to comply with a set of measurements/specifications as will be detailed in the class rules, but the sail can be made by any sail maker. Sails will need to be measured. Existing sails manufactured by HCC will continue to be class legal. This appears to be the only fair and reasonable decision to maintain the Hobie class principles of one design sailing within the H17 class.