NACRA's drive good w/bows down... how 'bout the H18s?

I've sailed in some good wind on deep reaches, spin or not, on NACRA 20s and Prindle 19MX.... both skippers didn't hesitate to press the bows down w/some weight and get the rears up.... those bows just sliced and pierced the waves NO PROBLEM.... I was amazed...

my experience at that point was on Hobie 14s and a little on 16s... so I was nervous of a pitchpole.....

anyway... as I get used to my 'new' H18SX... how hard can I drive the bows down... is she easily end over..

I guess somwhere between the 14s and 16s and the I-20 or P19???

thanks.

I sailed a Hobie 16 last summer for the first time, and while pushing hard to weather in big winds, in a moment of inattention the leeward bow dipped just a little, and I realized I should have panicked about the time I went flying past the tip of the mast

There is a lot more hull volume and buoyancy to the bow of a Hobie 18 than there is in the H-14's and 16's. Plus, the "rocker" shape of the hull is not quite so pronounced on the H-18.

The lip on the hull of the Hobie 18 doesn't lend itself very well to "wave piercing", but it also doesn't have the over sensitivity to "tripping" that is characteristic of the Hobie 16.
You can drive the Hobie 18 pretty dang hard.

I've buried mine all the way to the dagger boards and had it shake it off and pop back up to continue sailing.

If you go to WWW.HC18.org and look at a couple of the photo's on my "member page" you will see that we sail the bows pretty deep and the sterns pretty high.

Good luck and have a lot of fun with your "new" Hobie 18

Stephen Cooley

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If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

Yes the 16 is more sensitive to pitching, in my opinion it takes more skill to sail a 16 in high wind making it very exciting.

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Bodhisatfa

.... good to know...

checked out the h18.org and your pix... good stuff. would love to make it to panama city end of march, but will see.

i'm here on mississippi gulf coast so not too far.

gotta get my sailbox finished... glass up my hull bottoms a bit and that's it...

oh yeah my original '93 mylar sails are delaming everywhere... but that's ok... boat still goes

Hi Rob,

I have a H18mag ..... and a P19MX also. I sail on the Chesapeake Bay in light to medium breezes. In those conditions you want to keep a H18 on her bows both upwind and downwind ..... if you can hear gurgling that's your sterns dragging ... depress the bows and lift the sterns up!!!! In flat water I will run with maybe 4-6" of bow above the water, maybe alittle less. My crew spends alot of time out on the bows hanging on to the bridle wires. On a beat upwind with the bows depressed that far the flat side of the bow will act as a additional daggerboard and allow the boat to point higher.

I would recommend putting footstraps on your wings ..... if you can keep your wieght aft you can actual drive a H18 completely under water up to the rear crossbar .... ease the mainsheet and jib and the boat will surface like a submarine in a Navy recruitment video. At a regatta years ago I was beating upwind in maybe 15 knots of wind, single trapped off the wing w/ my feet in the footstraps and my crew seated between my legs. We were charging upwind, overtaking these two H16's just pounding over these 3-5 foot waves .... just as we got between the H16's a big wave hit us, maybe 8-10 high ... and we went THROUGH the wave ... we must have taken the top 5' off the top of the wave ... the boat was completely under water w/ only the windward wing above the wave and white water everywheres else .... the two H16 skippers looked over with this look of amazement on their faces ... I eased the mainsheet a foot maybe ... my babie's bows came up .... water poured off .... she gather herself up with a shake .... and took off ..... with me at the top off my lungs going WOOF, WOOF, WOOF ... GOT TO LOVE A H18!!!! All those H16's saw was a trail of smoke as we left them behind .... far behind !!! ( Actually we were leaving a trail of spray three panels high on the mainsail behind us!!!!)

You will love the H18 .... it's one tough boat !!!!!

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

I don't have a harness or wings and have had my port pontoon in up to the front cross bar, and although it was pretty nerve racking, she came up just fine. I know that I should probably have a harness and hike out when flying a hull, but I didn't seem to need it that day. We had solid 15mph winds and I was just aft of the starboard dagger and my friend was just below me laying back on the tramp with his feet on the port hiking strap. We had a very good time showing off.
Joshua
Biloxi, MS

You're in Biloxi?

I go out of OSYC..... had my H18 there last summer, the SX with wings....along with the blue 14 turbo....

are you the one with the mangnum that shows up?

Let's make some island runs man.... there's the run on 14 Mar from Singing River YC down to OSYC, w/BBQ, dinner, etc at OSYC that evening....

wobesan AT yahoo DOT com

Cheers man.