The focus of the club from the beginning, has been the creation of a single strong fleet. The Hobie 16 was chosen as the primary class, and that has been phenomenally successful.
It was also felt that eventually, another class would develop on its own, which would find its own niche.
There are 2 perceived niches, the bottom of the market- like an opti, and the top of the market- like a class of fast big cats.
As of this writing, the development of a second one design class hasn’t completely happened yet, but there are classes that are slowly developing. These classes seem to fall into 2 categories, “Homebuilts”, and new “easy to sail” designs produced by Hobie.
PHBYC
TLYC is proud to be the venue for the PHBYC, or the Philippine Home Builders Yacht Club.
The PHBYC is an amazing group with considerable talent, and it surprises me when I come to see the creations. On one hand, we have a group of people eager to teach others how to build simple boats out of simple materials, and they even have classes for the public. On the other hand, the craftsmanship on some of the boats is superb, and the boats that the active members produce, are getting bigger and bigger.
New classes are being built, and as 2011, the most successful of these, was the CR13.
Although off to a good start, it bogged down after a couple of years. The class is salvageable, especially if they can get better masts locally.
I had hopes for the W17, a nice Homebuilt tri… but Its not going to be an upgrade over the Hobie 16, which still remains an icon of durability, and simplicity, and able to deliver speed and international class competition. The W17 is fun, but it has issues. I can’t see much migration from the 16 fleet to the W17.
The Coresound 17 has so far been the best boat I’ve seen, produced by this group. Quite an unusual certreboard ketch, it has proven to be quite versatile and has been a great family cruiser for such a small boat. It takes a lot of people for such a small boat.
Enter Michael Storer and the OZ Goose. Michael has had a big effect on the class and has added a lot to Roy Espiritu’s ceaseless (and sometimes a bit insane) efforts that have produced great results. “It looks like a barge” I said of the OZ Goose., “It’s my Grandmother’s aparador, that someone knocked over and turned into a boat”! I muttered. “It will never sail”, I was certain.
I was wrong.
The OZ Goose is easy to build, its inexpensive, and it is surprisingly versatile. So far, its been a good, safe, training boat, that can take a very wide range of students. Its designed and built on the Optimist concept, but its a much better boat, I think. A very good boat for the bottom end of the market.
Good luck guys!
HOBIE
The Hobie fleet has been lucky enough to have had Hobie dealers who are passionate about the sport, and have dedicated themselves to growing the sport, rather than trying to sponge off the existing fleet. Monchu Garcia is the current dealer, and he has pushed for the easier to sail varirties of sailboats, which is a tactic the club supports. The Hobie lineup now has groeing classes of Hobie Getaways, and Hobie Bravos. Both are excellent introductory boats, with a strong dealer commitment for parts and maintenance.
So far, the review analysis is that the Getaway has been amazing, and the Bravo, a dismal failure.
As an entry level boat, I cant say enough good things in my review of the Hobie Getaway. We only have one, and it’s a rental. If you haven’t tried the Getaway, come and rent it. Its the top rental we have. It takes 4 in its 16 ft compared to 2, for the H16.
TLYC supports all other sailing clubs, and any resorts that want to add sailing to their line of activities. We highly recommend the Getaway as a boat for crewed charters, or beginners- and that’s most people. Other clubs and resorts have taken our advice, and I can say they are happy.
I can’t say the same in my review of the Hobie Bravo. The Bravo suffers from the same problem as every other plastic rotomolded boat (Getaway excepted) that we’ve had in this hot, sunny, high UV environment. It cracks. Covering it doesn’t help much, if at all. Combine that with the occasional slamming capsize and expect cracks that you cant fix.
The mast float cracks too. If that fills with water, you’re screwed. Take it off, the mast fills with water. Same result. Multihulls are extremely stable when they are upside down.
Another problem is, they do tip over. after a certain angle of heel, they don’t recover. Even with a mast float that works, they are hard for kids under 100 lbs, to right.
MORE TRADITIONAL CLASSES THAT YOU WOULD EXPECT TO SEE
I would have to include classes like the Optimist, Laser, 420, 470, etc. Very few, with little or no class support. The laser class is growing albeit very slowly.
OTHER CATAMARAN CLASSES
You would think that we would have development classes, or larger cats, but other than the odd boat here and there, we don’t.