As luck would have it

That's me after my 1st day with my new AI!

I collected it at 16:00 yesterday, but had a work party last night, so could not even take it out of the bag, lat night. So it was up at 06:00 and with the help of a friendly neighbour had assembled it, disassembled it, packed it on the roof carrier, took it to the Yacht Club and had it ready to launch by 12:00. the 0-5 knot SE had freshened to 5-10 knots by then. Easy launch from the ramp and off I went. I spent a fantastic 2 hours on the water, keeping to the protected waters of the harbour, as the swell in the open was still running at +4 meters.

A couple of things come to mind:

My dealer forgot to pack the daggerboard ...... I suppose this was the reason for the excessive weather helm ?

The standard telltales are pretty useless

I have real trouble getting the Miracle drive to lock into place ..... my documentation did not shed any light how to do this properly. I still don't know why it sometimes locks and at other times just does not want to do it. Is there a link to a discussion on this? It also does not mention how to adjust the drive for my long legs.

My sailing skills are mighty rusty, so I suppose I will get better at sailing her downwind? A reach is a pleasure and without the daggerboard, I suppose not too much can be said for her performance to windward, but I had a real hard time keeping up any sort of speed downwind. Just as I thought I was getting it right she would just suddenly slow down!

I decided to beach her, as the ramp was very busy at the time and this went well. Did not try the trick of inserting the wheels in the water, as kindly neighbour was waiting to assist. I am going to have to work out a few issues before I will be able to say that I can do verything on my own.

I can't wait for next weekend!

Coen

Hi Coen,
The daggerboard actually makes the weather helm worse! If you are getting excessive weather helm at wind speeds up to about 10 knots, the trick is to ease the sheet a bit. At higher wind speeds, you also need to furl the sail a bit. You can eliminate weather helm by sailing without the drive, but that is a whole different story.

Yeah, get some Black Beauty telltales from the Hobie dealer.

Here's a thread on getting the drive to click in: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=12836. If you look down at the drive, you can see numbers from 1 to 7. You need to set the pedal shafts adjacent to a higher number to suit the length of your legs. You can release the pin which holds the pedal shaft in position by squeezing at the base of the shaft.

Lacking a boom, the AI is not a great performer straight downwind. Some people rig up a barber hauler to pull the sail sideways to catch more wind, or you can just "tack" downwind - in a series of broad reaches, rather than trying to run directly downwind.

Glad you had a great first sail

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Thanks for the reply, Chris.

Monday morning, I am back at work and all I can think of is getting back into the AI!!!!!! But I still have that smile on my face......

Will look at the link on the drive

regards,

Coen

Leaving the cart underneath is very useful for building powerful leg muscles, and for those extra windy days - keeps you from having to furl your sail. Also very useful for harvesting tasty seaweed!