water skiing off of hobie 16?

Has anyone tried water skiing off of a hobie 16? Do you have any suggestions?

I know it's possible, because I saw a video of someone doing it. I attempted to do it in 10-15mph winds, but couldnt get it going really, it just seemed we could keep going while towing the person. I think to do this, you need to already be moving and then get in the water, ski while holding onto the boat directly, then slowly let out line etc? Any ideas?

Your last sentence sounds like the right idea. I know the previous owner of my Hobie 14 used to take his daughters waterskiing when they were under 100lbs. I think the biggest problem your going to have with anyone over that weight (even with the larger boat and sail area) is that in order to get the wind you need, your probably going to have waves and waterskiing+_waves doesn't work very well. I'd bet the person in the film you saw was skinny and under 120lbs. If it doesn't work (personally I think its more of a fun thing just so you can say you can waterskii of the back of my sailboat), get out a powerboat! I'm also 100% positive an Aussie 18 could pull a waterskier, but that doesn't mean its very practical!

Here are a couple of examples, (links), of people skiing, (wakeboarding) behind cats. I believe it would be easier to wakeboard than to use skis. I talked to a guy one time that told me that back in the 80's they used one ski to ski behind their Hobies.

This is the Hobie Cat Europe Website, it has the Hobie skiing video from the 80's. It doesn't look like there is too much wind.
http://www.hobie-cat.net/site_gb/index. ... que,videos


check out this website, the spitfire promotional video, located toward the bottom of the list), shows wakeboarding behind a spitfire, please note the pitchpole at the end!
http://www.thebeachcats.com/videos.html ... de8d5e7805


John

Hey Johnny,

I don't know if it makes a difference but none of the boats I saw in the videos are H16s.

Happy Sailing,

David

You need a small skier, big twin skis, a surfboard (long), and a lot of wind with flat water. Your skier will sit on the surfboard with skis on either side, and slowly stand up as allowed. You will need a friend to chase the surfboard. It is more fun to just use the surfboard to freeboard behind the boat.

I did pull a someone on a wake board behind my H16 a few years ago. It can be done, but the factors mentioned above need to be heeded.

It is best to do it right when the wind picks up. This way lots of wind, no waves (on a lake this usually happens... not so much with the ocean).

I was able to pull a 160lb person.

Start on the boat while moving.

It was about 20 kts steady.

Watch out for gusts and sheet in slowly. The 16 likes to heel in gusts before it goes forward. Remember, you have something dragging behind you trying to slow you down.

If the person wants a big waterskiing thrill, this is not the way to do it. This is definitly a "showboating" thing to do. But, it does look really cool if you can pull it off.

_________________
Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

you sould tie the rope on the leeward side, so the hobie, being draged by the skiier wont tend to head up wind

Hahaha! You should make all sheets verry long and a long tiller so you can steer and sheet in from the skies behind the boat. THAT would be a nice achivment.

I have pulled both of my two sons on skis behind my H16 (one at a time).

The trick is that you need to have skiers who are good at low speed skiiing.

The way that I found works the best is to loop the rope around the forward pylons such that it comes out the rear amidships. If you attach the rope near the stern, it is difficult to steer. I set the jib for a beam reach and throw the crew overboard with skis on and the rope in his hand. The tricky part here is to exit the boat without catching the skies or rope on anything. Sail as slow as possible on a broad reach with the sail way out and the jib backwinding the main badly. The skier needs to be ready to go before the rope gets tight. Just before you reach the end of your rope, head up and sheet like mad to a beam reach and jump out on the trap wire. As the jib and main begin to flow well, the boat will accelerate strongly and you will be pointing 30 - 40 degrees upwind from parallel to the rope. This angle reduces the jerk on the rope and allows the boat to accelerate before pulling the skier straight on. It also allows for a smoother acceleration of the skier which does not slow down the boat as much.

It's a lot of fun to trap out single handed while pulling a skier.

My grandmother was an excellent skier (she even had her skis painted to match her bathing suit) that never learned to swim. In order to start she would sit on the dock, then we would pretty much just yank her off. When she tired she would slide out of the wake and slide into shallow water. I was always amazed how she managed to water ski without really getting wet (must protect the beehive at all cost!).

I think this would be the way to do it. Assume point A to point C with B directly in the middle. Starting from stopped would give you B to C whereas a "dry launch" would give you A to C. Assuming you don't want to start skiing while in motion.