Hobie rookie, weekend #3 First racing win & First flip

I'm pretty good sailor, been doing it for years on an off since I was a little kid. This skill has kept me from flipping my new hobie this long! But this weekend it finally happened.

The wind was pretty gusty, long story longer, I pushed a bad position and it flipped it over. I'm on the trapeze and I get shot into the mainsail. As an old windsufer who used the harness a lot, I'm used to this ride. It happened pretty fast, yet it was in slow motion if you know what I mean... So there I am on my hands and knees on the main in the water and the world suddenly speeds back to real time. Hurry get around and over onto that pontoon!!! Part of me is glad it finally happened so I can see if I can right this boat alone.. and the other part of me is scared (censored) that its gonna turtle and im going to need a rescue, or wreck my mast.... so here we go...

Like a cat im off the mainsail and onto the pontoon. The boat came with a righting line!! Big elastic rope that runs from rudder to rudder around each pilon. Ive been starring at this thing for weeks, now if i can only reach it! I'm 6'2" 235" Ex athlete yada yada so turing this thing should be fairly easy.... so I do the blind grab and I get that righting cable UNDER THE PONTOON. Note.. I ran mine INSIDE the stays so i couldnt get it with an over the pontoon grab! I pulled it between the pontoon and the tramp and out toward me. I stand slightly aft raising the bow out of the water a bit and i PULL!!!! the cord stretches to its end... im on a good 45 degrees ... and nothin. OK I've watched the videos on youtube.. Ive read the posts... they say just wait and it will come up.... hmmmm nothing. IF i wasnt so worried, I'd be bored now. I'm not gonna turtle now, but this boat anit moving one inch. Does my mast leak???? Who knows?? Its never been over before. These are my thoughts. OK move back some more. I slip the righting line behind my back and i lean against it hoping for movement,, and catching a breath.... I think.. whats wrong? The main must be cleated!!!! I dive off the pontoon to check.. nope. (censored)! (but in hindsight.. the main traveler was...) Wind direction!... the tramp is acting as a sail! Spin the boat into the wind!! Again (like a cat) im in the water I grab the mast and I start swimmin... (getting tired now, a fliped hobie doesnt move that fast when its flipped..) I turn the boat a bit and I'm back onto the pontoon.. pretty tired now... grab that rope and again PUUUUULLLLL!!!!!! Nothing. Now this is getting ridicolous. I look to see if Ashton Kucher is sitting on the end of the mast laughin at me.. nope DAMMIT!!!! What is wrong.??? So i move way down on the pontoon aft.. and now we get some movement! The bows go balistic so fast I fall off the pontoon as the boat spins in the water and is now competely on its rudders! The aft of both pontoon are in the water and the bows and pointing STRAIGHT UP like 2 rockets at Cape Kennedy! Man i must look like an idiot.... I know im entertaining many a viewer on shore by now.

So there I am, tangled in main sheet, the righting line under me holding me up, and the pontoons shooting skyway like the SRB's on Endeavour. The mast doesnt appear to be sinking... this is good news I guess. So somehow I pull on the righting line and I get her off the launchpad and back on her side to standard flipped Hobie position and with that.. a rescue boat arrives. "Hey how ya doin blah blah..." (I now endure all the standard dumb questions from the rescue boat.. but you gotta take it cause this guy did come to your aid afterall.) I ask him to just lift my mast a bit and i get back on the pontoon. I get on the pontoon again and grab that righting line... the guy's 12 year old son reaches out from the front of their boat and lifts the mast tip with one hand a mear 2 feet.. and the frigging Hobie pops out of the water and back on its hulls like in every Youtube video ever seen! I grab the striker on the way down, avoid the return of the skyway hull and again (like a cat) im up and over that front pontoon and back on the tramp playing "Lets find the main sheet". I wave and yell "thanks" as the Hobie sails way. The tramp is great at this point becasue is a perfect place to collapse and rest. After righting a Hobie I think you need this rest. Maybe that's why they put a tramp into the design? Anyway im about dead, and I'm a big strong guy. I cant imagine doiing this and being smaller. I sail home with my tail between my legs....

So what the heck did I do wrong? I do know now.. the jib was fully cleated!!! That didnt help.

I was hoping people might chime in with your top tip, or top tips on righting a hobie single handed. I moved the righting line OUTSIDE of the stays so its easier to grab and will pull OVER the pontoon, not under it. I hope this helps next time. On my next calm day.. I plan on towing out to a deep spot and flipping it over and figuring this out. I also plan on turtleing it, and trying to get out of that situation. I love my new Hobie.. . and I look forward to the freedom one must feel when they know they can right the boat alone, whenever they want.

Yet another post that has me scared for flipping my boat... LOL... I'm going to have to take it to a swimming area and do it there cause I just don't feel like "choosing" to get slimed in a random area of the lake.

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1982 H16 (C:\Worthy)
Yellow/White Prism type sails

I had fun, and im sure its easy when you know what your doing... and that is what i hope to discover!

I am NO expert at this currently but I can tell you the experience was similar I had last week. You can read about it here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=12952 I will be sailing solo most of the time so I installed A bob for the top of the mast. After flipping it for the first time and only the 3rd time out I can tell you it saved my butt. I know, I'm a dork! But I can't afford to have it turtle on me alone and there was noone around to help until I washed up on shore. I watched it closely as I began to pull on the line with the tip of the mast suspended out of the water by the bob maiking the kintetic tension of the main sail on the water's surface easier to break. It was blowing at a sustained 20-25 with gusts to 32. The wind getting under the sails popped it right up. I can't imagine trying it with no wind.

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"Liquid Plumber's Edition Wave" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z78PozP9dc0

These first few points are basically Rick White's "Power Righting" method with some comment added. This method is reprinted in the Hobie and Murray's catalogs if I'm not mistaken.

Make sure both main and jib sheets are uncleated. Travelling both out is good, too. You want the sails to shed water, and you don't want the boat to sail away once you're up.

Rather than swimming the mast, use that tramp that's acting like a sail to your advantage. Weight forward, burying the bow will usually turn the boat into the wind. Move forward slowly and concentrate on your balance. You have to bury it hard, but not too much or you'll roll it forward and fall off. Wind half way between mast and bows is optimal.

Leaning out 45 regrees won't cut it. You need to be just above the water. As the mast rises and you go in the water, it neutralizes your weight....climb the righting line. A few strategically placed knots in the righting line will help you hold it. I even hook my trap harness on othe line so the harness carries most of my weight instead of my arms.

If mast leaks, seal it.

All that said, it is doubtful that you will be able to right in all conditions. If you're a very big guy and have some wind, you can do it solo. Otherwise, you need a righting aid (bag, pole, etc.). I'm about 180, and need lots of wind to right solo without an aid. Find an aid that suits you and practice in controlled conditions so that you can do it effectively even without wind assistance. Then go sail hard in those knock down conditions.

Hope this helps.

Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi

Haha nice story! I flipped mine for the first time this weekend. It went turtle A LOT faster than I thought. The mast probably leaks so I'll look into that sometime. I thought I had a righting line but it was too short so we let the park rangers help since they offered.

I kinda had the same problem a few weeks back. My daughter and I flipped and with a combined weight of around 300, we could not make it budge a bit. Sheets were uncleated, mast was close to being pointed into the wind and not taking on water and we were leaned waaaaayyyy back on my new Easy Rite line. All seemed to be right but it just would not come up. I want to try again to make sure we are doing everything just right. I wish you luck and if we keep practicing, I am sure it will come to us eventually.

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'88 Nationals Blue
Hobie Alter Signature Model
Sail #11

Hobie Mirage Classic

so how would one know if the mast leaks? will water pour out at the same rate it entered?
how long should the mast float?
i hear part of the mast is sealed and the other part not?
I heard drilling holes for rivets for additional pulleys etc is frowned upon as it breaks the masts boyancy? true? makes sence..

can you fill a mast with foam to make it a massive boyant aid? vs a flooding death sentence.

if i flip my boat on a calm morning and let it sit there... how long until it turtles? or will it not if the mast is sound?

can you take the mast off and sink it? and if you see bubbles conclude you have a leaky mast?

Yep.

I've turtled a 16 and 18 a few times and it's not a big deal if you don't get stuck in the mud. The silver lining to turtling is being able to bring the boat to a capsize position with the mast pointed into the wind. The way I recover from a turtle is to stand on the lee hull and pull on the righting line until the mast comes up, and I've never had a problem, especially when the wind gets under the tramp and helps.

Yesterday I turtled the 16 and got the mast stuck in the mud, but freed the mast on my first try using what I wrote above, and righted the boat solo. I weigh 225 lbs. There was mud stuck to the sail and mast so I went ashore, cleaned it off, then got my wife on board as ballast for the rest of the day. She's been terrified of the boat for years, and she saw my whole turtle routine, but she managed to overcome her fear and she even got on the trapeze for the first time and is now hooked on it. (I'm sure she'll be back to fearing the boat after we pitchpole while she's on the the wire.)

lmao!!!