Long Distance Cruising

I know that Hobie has stopped making the 14T but I would like to say that it is a great little boat. A friend and I both have mid 80's 14T and just love them.

I have a few other posts on here and am pretty new at the whole hobie thing but I want to tell about my recent trip on my 14. I know you all will think I am crazy but it was a blast.

My friend and I both rigged up a net in front of the mast that attached to the tramp supports and attached to the furler. We put a tent and enough food for a week in water proof bags along with a water proof GPS and some flares, etc... We drove down to Corpus Christi and launched from there. Over the next week we sailed along the coast heading north east and sailed all the way to Galveston. It was great, waking up every morning and heading out. I definently got to know my boat alot better. We could have done it faster but we really wanted to take our time and with all the equipment flipping because we were rushing would have been bad.

We were never forced to use any of the emergency equipment, so I guess the trip went well. The worst part was that it wasn't longer!! I know that there are alot of people that don't think that a hobbie can be used to cruise like that because of the lack of dry storage but ours did well, the only thing that really cuased a problem was the tiny gas stove that we took to heat our meals with. It had an auto lighter and it would not work with the tiniest bit of moisture on it. We camped out most nights but one we did stay in a motel with our boats pulled up at a friends beach house.

I will try and post some pictures of our rigs and the trip once I get them back from processing.

It was about 150 miles straight line but I think we easily covered about 200 to 250.

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

Please, lets see those picks! I've wanted to do something like this on my H16. Was it difficult to find decent camping spots? With weight forward of the mast, did you have trouble with boat trim?

As for the pictures, I have tried to post them but I have been busy and have not had time to figure it out.

As for the net up front and the weight, it was no big deal. To make the net I used one of those net truck bed covers that are square and just folded it to make it triangle. To attach the sides I used zip ties. It all held up great, I am sure that the 16 would be a better boat to do this on, it would have more room and just in general be able to handle more weight.

When it came to camping spots, it was no big deal, on night the local sheriff saw our campfire and drove over to talk to us, he informed us that the land we were on was not public and we should move. This was about 10 at night and after so talking he realized that we couldn't really sail anywhere in the dark and that we were not hurting anything so he let us stay.

I will try and get around to posting those pictures sometime soon, but I am going to school and OU and working alot, other than that my time is occupied by spending time at the lake getting to know my boat better.

This winter me and my friend are both repainting and fixing up our boats, we already are planning a much longer trip next summer. I will keep you all posted on the developments.

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!