Storm Sailing

I watched one on the radar this afternoon & called my dare devil buddy at 4pm. I jokingly told him to meet me at the dock & bring his fishing helmet (his boat does 80mph - so he wears a helmet). We did not go. I was sitting eating dinner in town when it came across just about 30 mins ago. Wind gusts reached 56 mph:
http://www.wunderground.com/history/air ... story.html

I watched shingles flying off the roof of the restaurant as the power went out. I also paid close attention to the light posts in the parking lot (they were flexing a good 2’ at the tops). There were two flagpoles across the road w/ maybe 4’ flags flying. The stars & stripes were a blur & the pole was also bending.

If I see a storm like that heading my way while on the lake.. the only sailing I’m doing is to the nearest shore. I think my initial question has been answered.. the H16 can handle more wind than can be sailed in. I like that.

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Anderson, SC
1987 Hobie 16
Learning to sail.

I figure no one is reading this post anymore, but I will put my two cents worth in anyway. Back in the early 80s I sailed a Prindle 16 out of Sarasota Bay while Hurricane Francis (I think, maybe Frederick) was crossing Florida west to east in Ft. Myers. I could not talk anyone into going with me. Went two days in a row. The first day was awesome, reefed main with jib, not much time for the waves to pick up in the gulf, fantastic colors at sunset. Wind reported on radio at 40+ steady. Second day, same wind speed, different direction, confused seas, much larger waves (swells), reefed main and jib. Still a fabulous first hour until I approached a sandbar about a mile and a half off-shore. Tramped out, went airborne off of one breaking wave nose first into the face of the next wave. Mast kept going. Someone on this post mentioned that they were concerned how dangerous dismasting would be. I was surprised at how non-violent it was. Sailed back to shore sitting on a pontoon holding the jib up to catch the wind. Not too easy to steer in this condition. Unbelievably, the wind and waves pushed me to one of my favorite watering holes. Still took two friendly beach combers to help me pull the boat out of the water.

Wow, that must have been an experience. So what caused the de-masting? Did it hit bottom in the shallow water? Were you able to recover the mast, or was it lost? What broke, the shrouds?

We are going to need more details as this is the first time I have heard of one getting de-masted!

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

I have to stand right along what srm says here.

My little adventure the other day saw us in winds that GUSTED to 30-35 knots, tops.

On the shore, with the sails down, the boat wanted to skip sideways along the beach while on the wheels. Once on the shore, I had to tie the bare boat to the trailer to stop it from taking off.

Even lowering the mast was damn hard work!

Have a quick look at some videos on YouTube. Do a quick search for 50, 60, 70 and 80 mph winds and I'm pretty sure that ANYONE will call bull$hit on sailing a Hobie in anything more than 40-50 mph. Even that's pushing it!!!

Like srm says, the flogging the rig will take with the boat pointed straight into the wind is insane. You'd be hard pressed to keep the bare boat on the ground, let alone rig it without it flipping.

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'97 Hobie 16.

Skype: rob_arnolda

Thanks ASDASC,

As I said, the wind was a pretty steady 40mph and I went completely airborne off of one wave and nose dived right into the face of the succeeding wave (waves were about 5 to 6 feet on this particular sandbar). My rudders did not kick up so I figure it was about 3 to 4 feet deep, so I am pretty sure I did not hit bottom. The windward sidestay came undone at the shackle on the pontoon, just bent it undone somehow.

It did not seem to make much noise, just pull apart, probably because there was so much wind noise in my ears. The boat had come to an abrupt stop and the mast kept going. I was trapped out so I went forward too, but land in the water ahead of the bow. The mast hit the water at about a 45 to 60 degree angle to the leeward of the bow.

As I said in my earlier post, it really did not seem that violent but now in hindsight I was in mid-flight myself when the mast hit the water. The forestay and leeward sidestay kept the mast with the boat and the boat was now being blown downwind, the sails eventually working there way to the windward side of the boat. I fairly easily made it back to the boat and secured the mast as best I could on one pontoon. Then I climbed on the front of the downwind pontoon and just held the jib up as high as I could to drift downwind to the beach (about 2 miles).

The actual damage to the boat was minimal. I completely replaced the sidestays and shackles and that was it.

Have to agree with SRM. Mid summer this year caught out solo in 35 mph solid with gusts to low 40's and could not keep the boat on it's feet. Posted the experience in this forum somewhere. Incredible experience. Stopped counting being flipped at around 8 times. 3 times it was me trying to right the boat, the others were just wave and wind action. Eventually ended up on the beach with boat on it's side, no damage to boat, just some sail repair and much humbled ego. Some will say, "He didn't know what he was doing". I started sailing Hobies 41 years ago and then switched to monohulls and have come home to Hobies again. I have been out in a 38 foot lead sled in 60 mph winds and barely survived. Definitely bare pole survival sailing. That boat weighed approximately 18000 lbs and most of that weight was in a fixed keel.
Yeah, anyone sailing a Hobie 16 in winds over 50mph is an incredible sailor that I could probably learn something from, like how to leap tall buildings in a single bound or see thru walls. Sorry, but gotta call this one.

Truely amazing!

Thanks for sharing, and glad to hear everything ended ok.

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

I just read this thread and found it interesting. We have sailed here in some pretty tuff winds.

We were out on the lake (it is 90 miles long and a couple miles wide) the winds were at 25 and it was wild as the swells were about 3 feet high and 15 to 20 feet between them. We were well down the lake, a couple miles from bas camp when we saw a Aquall coming fast. We whipped around and was making a run for camp.

We had to make one last tack to get in and just as we came about a Plow wind hit us. It literally picked up the entire boat out of the water and flipped it through the air into a turtle position. My partner a teenaged athletic individual was thrown 30 feet from the boat.

For those that do not know, a plow wind is hugely turbulent front of air that rolls across the plains/ prairies/ deserts and almost always run 50 to 70 miles an hour. Best example might be the computeer generated sandstorm in the mummy or Hildalgo.

There is no way one could sail in that wind with a hobie cat, it will lift up from under the tramp. We sat on the hulls and waited for it to pass when some friends came out in the giant ski boat to help us, but that is another story.

Two summers ago three of us, I at 210, Burt at 250, and nairn at 185 took out my hobie in 35 mile winds. Burt has sailed for 30+ years, Nairn for about 15, and myself the novice with only 5 years experience. I am here to tell you it was wilder than any E ticket ride at disneyland or any roller coaster! We almost went over two times flew throught the air often and jsut had a great time!!

After a 20 minute work out we came back totally exausted!!!! It was a blast and if we were all inexperienced we would have been upside down the whole time.

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Dale Guthormsen

Where to be, On the Edge
2008 hobie 16