Every once in a while we will run an article on the "super sized" beachcats that are out there. These performance oriented catamarans fill a unique niche in our sport. This article first appeared in Yachting Magazine, August, 1979.

THERE ARE, to be honest, few really new production boats, vessels of such original conception that they demand a different yardstick by which to judge them. In recent years, the first Hobie cat and the J-24 are two examples of new concepts that have succeeded, but there are far more failures--hoats with a single, brilliant idea that are lacking elsewhere, boats whose builders have just enough funds to go off half-cocked, boats that are exciting but not quite thrilling enough to cause cautious buyers to break from convention.

And if the person who builds a genuinely different boat faces these odds to begin with, the creator of a new concept in multihulls has an even greater problem making the leap to credibility, just because it's a multihull. Given this state of affairs, the early success of the 27-foot Stiletto is remarkable: Not only is it a boat that breaks ground in several directions at once, but it's a catamaran as well.

In Beach Cats, it came as no surprise that Puerto Rico's 2004 Olympic Tornado team of Enrique Figueroa and crew Jorge Fernandez aboard Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull defended their title, winning three races to clinch their four-race series and top 12 boats. This was the first year in recent history that the Beach Cats were not divided into spinnaker and non-spinnaker classes. Sailing to a Portsmouth handicap while other classes sailed to the Caribbean Sailing Association rating rule, the Beach Cats were dominated by Figueroa's Hobie Tiger, an 18 footer with spinnaker that is popular in Europe and is similar to Figueroa's Olympic Tornado. Close on his heels in second was the Hobie 16 Exodus/Ensysa, sailing without a spinnaker and skippered by another, but unrelated, Enrique Figueroa, also from Puerto Rico.

Two notable women's skippers--Rosarita Martinez (Carolina, PR) aboard the Hobie 16 Yuisa and Susan Korzeniewski (Liverpool, N.Y.), sailing the Hobie 16 WOW--competed in preparation for the Hobie 16 Worlds to be held in Cancun the first week of May. Martinez, who has sailed this event for the past five years and won her class in 2001, is the 2003 Hobie 16 Continental Women's Champion. Korzeniewski is a past Continental Women's Champion and a veteran of the grueling Worrell 1000 event for catamarans. Martinez and Korzeniewski finished fourth and eighth, respectively.

Read more for the rest of the Rolex Wrap-up and complete results. Hi Res Regatta Pictures

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ST. THOMAS, USVI (March 28, 2004)--For winners in nine classes at the three-day International Rolex Regatta 2004, life was good today. "Real good," according to Chris Curreri of St. Thomas, who--like the other class leaders--claimed a Rolex watch for his efforts in the IC-24 class. The event, in its 31st year at the St. Thomas Yacht Club in the U.S. Virgin Islands, hosted 91 boats and hundreds of sailors who were tested by a variety of wind conditions on the racecourse and never a dull party moment ashore.

In Beach Cats, it came as no surprise that Puerto Rico's 2004 Olympic Tornado team of Enrique Figueroa and crew Jorge Fernandez aboard Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull won its final race to clench a four-race series. This was the first year in recent history that the Beach Cats were not divided into spinnaker and non-spinnaker racing classes. Sailing to a Portsmouth handicap while other classes sailed to the Caribbean Sailing Association rating rule, the Beach Cats were dominated by Figueroa's Hobie Tiger, sailing with a spinnaker. Close on his heels in second was the Hobie 16 Exodus/Ensysa, sailing without a spinnaker and skippered by another, but unrelated, Enrique Figueroa, also from Puerto Rico.

ST. THOMAS, USVI (March 27, 2004) --A fresh northeasterly breeze blew out yesterday's rain squalls, providing plenty of fuel for today's Middle Passage Race at the International Rolex Regatta 2004. The distance competition is a traditional second-day sweep through the beautiful islands and Cays north of St. Thomas, USVI, where the three-day event is being hosted for its 31st year by the Thomas Yacht Club. Sailing in eight classes, the fleet of 91 boats found relatively smooth conditions inside Pillsbury Sound where they were started in 15-18 knot breezes. After two legs, the boats followed a course into more open waters where 10-12 foot waves tested the fortitude of even the best sailors.

In the Beach Cats, skipper Rosarita Martinez (Carolina, PR) was particularly pleased at her performance aboard her Hobie 16 Yuisa. She considered the waves to be "huge" but held on for the challenge and a third-place finish today for a third in overall standings. Martinez, who has sailed this event for the past five years and won her class in 2001, is the 2003 Hobie 16 Continental Women's Champion and is practicing for the Hobie 16 Worlds to be held in Cancun the first week of May. She is closely watching another woman skipper, Susan Korzeniewski of Liverpool, N.Y., who is also sailing a Hobie 16, named WOW, in preparation for the Worlds. "I was pleased she came to the regatta," said Martinez. "She had been the Women's Hobie 16 Continental Women's Champion the year before me, so I won that title from her and now I feel I did very well against her here today." Korzeniewski, who finished ninth today and sits in ninth overall, is a first-time entrant in the regatta and a veteran of the grueling Worrell 1000 event for catamarans. Enrique Figueroa's Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull still leads the Beach Cats after today.