Sailing passport 12

Just some feedback from long time sailor on sailing a passport 12. As a life long sailor who owns an old Bluewater pocket cruiser I thought I'd provide some feedback to folks thinking about getting a sail for their passport. I believe the furler kit should be sold with all sail kits. There are no halyards and having a means to lower or reduce sail is a safety must especially in open waters. I sail out of Oxnard and take the passport out to oil platform gina. 4 miles out.

On the passport you cant mount the furler without purchasing a hatch for the bow to provide access to tighten bolts that come with furler kit.

The passport rudder is not deep enough to provide steerage in choppy conditions. If you are heeling you can loose steerage. Hobie needs to provide a larger rudder in my opinion. The rudder for sailing they do offer will NOT fit in a passport. There are some other solutions in you tube.

That being said...sailing a passport is a blast. The 34 inch beam and boyant sides provide more stability than I thought. The mirage ST fins are sufficient in my opinion. And it's a revelation to this old sailor that light pedaling provides excellent tracking. You can surf swells pretty easily..it looks like the bow will pearl but it does rise up and scoots along pretty good. Old sailors at first will be turning the tiller like a sailboat at first and sitting facing forward is always interesting...of course you will capsize on occasion. Part of the fun. I had no problem righting the kayak but you may want to try it first in a harbor.

My Passport 12 was purchased in 2022 with the primary intention of sailing, then a secondary of fishing.

For the sailing side I made sure I had the longer or larger rudder upgrade: Part No.77800097, plus the turbo fin upgrade: Part No.72067032. These two upgrades keep more fin and rudder in the water, allowing better control of direction and less sideways drift. I agree with the posts comments that sailing this kayak is fun, but then I am also an ex-dingy sailor.

Yes I did invest in the furler kit, being pleasantly surprised after I drilled all the holes required, that the sail furler worked perfectly. I did read-up and listen to the video, plus carefully reading the instructions that came with the kit. If you don’t rush this job it will work out fine.
I also had to move my round hatch from the middle to the front, replacing the middle one with a rectangular kit: Part No.77701801. That allowed me access from the front hatch to tighten nuts to bolts as mentioned on the other sailing post.

On February 1st 2025 in Cockburn Sound, near Garden Island in Western Australia, I capsized while sailing in some 38kmh/24mph gusts, when I should have wrapped the sail around the mast and peddled instead. Water was 50m deep and the swell was often pouring over the deck, before quickly draining back out again. After 2hrs of sailing, I was tacking back and forward, often luffing the sail by pointing the kayak into the wind, when the bigger gusts hit. Finally when a big swell and a sudden gust hit and I was too tired to react fast enough I capsized.

Now I had practiced capsizing (see separate post under Passport12), but never with a mast and sail up. Also never in such rough sea conditions - the current was sucking me away from all beaches. I swam around the now totally upside-down kayak to find my 8ft/2.5m rope bundled in a side pocket of the cabin area and threw it over the kayak. I then swam back to grab the rope and start using my body weight, with my feet on the side of the hull, to try and drag the whole rig 180° so I could get back in. The force of the water on the mast and sail meant that I was suspended for nearly a minute before everything surfaced, and I tried to get back in. Unfortunately the kayak could not be brought around to point into the wind and waves, so it went upside down again. The second attempt also failed as I got tangled in the essential tethering cords of the paddle and seat.

With total exhaustion I dragged myself on to the upturned hull, and activated my PLB. Even though I white strobe light was flashing at me, I did not know for sure when the coastguard boat or chopper would rescue me, or if I was going to be rescued! After a ten minute break I decided on a third attempt to turn the kayak 180° over, swimming or climbing into it, before it was fully righted and to my amazement it worked, Then I pulled in my tethered seat and tethered paddle, but found my mast had a bend near the bottom. Because of the orange colour in the flapping sail, the sea rescue boat managed to find me, although they said I had drifted a long way from where I set off my PLB. Being too exhausted to paddle the huge distance back to shore, they held my kayak front and back while I took down the sail, took out the mast, the rudder and the mirage drive, and then they pulled the whole kayak onboard. It took three quarters of an hour motoring to get me back to the beach I had launched from.

My new mast will have a very hard red ball, firmly attached to the top, stopping it from submerging if I ever capsize again. A highly recommended extra.

P.S. I believe the sail or mast got some floating mass of seaweed caught in or around it, causing it to bend under the weight, the third time I righted the Passport. It certainly was not damaged when it previously surfaced. I really appreciated the rescue and donate money to their volunteer organisation. Very lucky at 74 years young to have survived!