The Hinckley Picnic Boat and the daysailers that followed were spawned during the excesses of the 90's, after all, when lots of people had way more money than they knew what to do with... An astonishing percentage of these types of boats were sold to nouveau wannabes as their first-ever boat, a simple compliment to their other toys, the sort of people who will pay at an auction $40K for something like Bernie Madoff's Mets jacket... If this is indeed the target audience for boatbuilders today, heaven help us all... Hinckley is in danger of becoming just another BRAND, to be sold to some venture capitalist who will build the Hinckleys of the future in a place like Brazil.... (grin)

OK, that's overstating it, of course - but I still think it's a bit early to tell whether boats like the Friendship are truly the boats of the future... Lots of Hummers still out on the roads today, but are they really here to stay?

Not sure exactly what you're getting at with your description, though, Tom... Boats have been made "simpler to sail" for some time, now - that's what leading everything aft, and stuff like Leisure-Furls; and of course all the fancy interfaced electronics are all about... But, I still think "sailing" is pretty far down the list of priorities for most boat buyers today, J-Boats are one of the very few builders who seem to target that audience with boats that sail well, and feature relatively simple interiors, are light on "systems", and yet dedicate a reasonable amount of interior volume to gear stowage... Few things are simpler, and more fun to use, than an asymetrical spinnaker - and yet it continues to amaze me how rare it is (at least for me) to see cruisers out there flying them... They are a staple for a builder like J-boats, but from what I can see, the overwhelming focus of both the industry, and the consumer, is on accommodations, comforts, and amenities like sugar-scoop transoms and dedicated bulkheads for plasma TVs...

I'd be interested to hear more about what your "Hybrid" of the future would be like, but if it's anything remotely like that stoopid "Hybrid Power Sailer" than Shannon showed at Annapolis this year, you can count me out.... (grin)