Righting Device

Crush it, maybe not. But break it, yes. The load on the surface of the hull that's in the water (the outside of the hull) is dispersed across the whole area of the side of the hull so that side would be fine, but the load on the surface of the hull that you're standing on (the inside of the hull) is concentrated to an area the size of your foot print so there's potential for point loading the hull. If you weigh a lot, standing on the broad section of the hull or deck is not a good idea as it will cause that area to deflect and could ultimately lead to delamination or hull failure. If you're a big person, I'd recommend that whenever you step on the hull or deck, that you place your feet out towards the edges where the hull is much stronger. There have been times when righting a boat that I've felt the hull deflecting under my feet (I'm about 215 lbs).

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I found another video of this elusive device! The owner still stands on the hulls to deploy it, but that should be easy enough to work around. This is a modified version of the first one I spotted. The first one used tension cables to form the X.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5FIkmx8Ao&feature=related[/youtube]

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Anderson, SC
1987 Hobie 16
Learning to sail.

Wow, very interesting to say the least. Thanks for sharing.

Even with that contraption, it was a little tough to get it over.

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Steve
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795
1985 & 1973? Hobie 14 "Sea & Ski"

I believe you still have to:
(1) position your boat so that the mast is still pointing in the general direction of the wind
(2) unsheet both your main and jib
(3) return this device to it's original storage place after you right your boat so that it's ready to use again the next time you capsize.

I believe there's a better, quicker, and less epensive way to get the job done - especially for a 265 lb. man.

That's a lotta junk to be carried underneath a boat. It didn't look to be all that effective in righting the boat and the time to deploy and return to stored position took a lot of time.

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Annacat - I know exactly what you're talking about! This January (2011), I helped two Italian sailors get their custom carbon catamaran ready for its third (!) Atlantic crossing (Tullio Picciolini and Matteo Miceli on Biondina Nera). This was at my local club (Yacht Club Dakar), and they were going for the Dakar-Guadeloupe record. One of them (Matteo) had set this record originally, with another crew, on the same boat. But then a French team beat the Italian record. So these Italian guys were going for full-out speed to reclaim the record from the French. I'm saying this because minimal weight was their top priority and strategy for going fast, in addition to having installed a taller mast and a lot more sail area.

These Italian guys had a square, swing-out frame with X-braces, just like you describe. I observed them using it multiple times for practice, while they were waiting for the Trade Winds to pick up for their crossing. It's the most amazing righting device I have ever seen used! Once they capsized (intentionally for practice), they just had to loosen the bungees, open the frame, get up on the frame (one standing, the other sitting), and their giant carbon beast was back upright in less than two minutes! Truly amazing.

The righting device effectively saved their a**es after they capsized during the second or third day of their crossing. Unfortunately, they capsized a second time on the sixth day for their crossing -- in the middle of the night, smack in the middle of the Atlantic, in 3-5m (9-15ft waves) and 30 knots of wind. And this time, they weren't so lucky. Their mast broke. And because of the tangled mess of mast segments, wires, and sails, they were unable to right their cat, and had to abandon.

In terms of the concern raised above about the weight of the system, their frame was made of carbon tubing, with very thin Spectra or Kevlar bracing lines. The safety aspect of being able to right their cat -- big and heavy compared to an H16 -- quickly and easily clearly outweighed (no pun intended) the added weight of the device.

When I get back to the States, I'm hoping to get myself a used 18 ft cat (Hobie 18 or Tiger). And when I do, I will definitely rig up exactly such a "box" righting system. That way I'll be able to sail solo with relative piece of mind.

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-Roland
Sailing vintage Hobie Cats in West Africa.

Roland,

Thank you for identifying the device, boat & crew. I expected that someone reading these boards would be familiar. However, I did not expect someone with first hand knowledge of the device. I did some searching on the Biondina Nera. Thats the one!

From what I can tell using google translation, the abandoned cat was recovered by a Captain Ronald of Barbados on March 11 (53 days later). The Italians were able to recover their missing cat.

I found a photo taken from the rescue boat (a merchant ship). You can see the mast laid across the inverted hulls, those Italian guys & their righting device.

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Anderson, SC
1987 Hobie 16
Learning to sail.

Yup! That's Matteo and Tullio ready to be rescued, after 12+ hours of trying to right their boat without success. Although the pole laying across the overturned hulls is the spinnaker pole, not the mast.

I still can't believe they were able to retrieve their boat in the Caribbean after abandoning it in the middle of the Atlantic!

Let me see if I can dig up some shots of the complete boat. I took a whole bunch myself, including at the starting line, but I don't currently have a place to host them.

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-Roland
Sailing vintage Hobie Cats in West Africa.

Not sure what you mean by not effective. For a 175 lb guy to solo right an f18, isn't that effective. We could watch a 20 minute video of this guy wishing he had that "lotta junk" underneath his boat, waiting to be rescued by the coast guard.

As far as Anna goes and the 16. I'm 6'1 225 and I know what you mean by crushing your hulls, because that is what it sounds like. I really thought I was going go through my hulls many times. Keeping my heels closer to the bottom of the hull helped with preventing that crunching sound. At 265, a proper fitted righting line and correct boat positioning will be all you wil need to right a 16. If you turtle simply go to one rear hull by the rudder, have all your weight as far back as possible and the hulls will point up and go back to the side position. I think that righting contraption would be great for people that single hand an 18 or a 20. I would just be concerned that it would flop around when not in use, especially in the surf.

As a kid i weighed 180lbs. Today (30 years later) I'm pushing 210. At either weight, I've never had any trouble righting my Hobie 16 (solo) with anything more than a simple righting line. I don't know what the magic number is for getting that mast tip out of the water. It would be interesting to know the exact counter weight that would be required, but I can tell you its definitely less than 210lbs.

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Stayin' Thirsty...
2011 Hobie 16SE
Atlanta, GA

I agree. I was able to right my 16 solo at 172 lbs., a weight I'll probably never see again.

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motivated and hobie1616:

Not trying to argue....just help us all figure out the eternal, mysterious solo righting issue. I weigh 180 lbs, have had a reasonably light '98 model H-16, use proper technique, and don't stand a chance of righting solo without a STIFF breeze. I am short (~5'7") and know that's working against me. I have righted solo without an aid twice, but the wind was really kicking and did most of the work.

For the edification of others reading here, especially newer folks, my direct question to you two is, when you weighed 172, 180, or whatever, could you right solo without significant wind assistance?

Before eveyone jumps in and questions why I'm going over with no wind, I'll explain. I sail on an inland lake and sail aggresively. When we do get higher winds, they are almost always shifty and gusty. One can easily get knocked over by a shifty gust, then not have the wind blow that hard again for the rest of the day (or at least before drifting into a rocky shore). I don't subscribe to unproven, universal responses I've seen in other threads like "if there's enough wind to knock you down, there's enough to get you back up". Further, I don't want any newbies here getting themselves in serious trouble by relying on such advice.

FYI...Using the big Murray's bag with tackle I can right with little wind.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16