average sailing time query

heloa.
it would take me one hour off work to get home, transport (pull) ai to waters edge half rigged, and another hour after beaching, to load, transport (pull up hill) to home and clean up. thats 2 hours.
my question is, to warrant a decent sailtime, how many hours extra should i consider for a realistically short sail?

i do expect some 'all day' comments, serves me right. but for the effort, how many hours of sailtime is a 'quickie'?

gary

If it's been a while, or conditions are just great, even a 1 hour run on the water can be worth it!

I prefer 4-5 hours or about 25 miles, but conditions and others with you may dictate shorter.

Here's a log of my sails starting a couple of months after my first sail in my AI's: http://www.kayakingbob.com/sailing-log

Best is if you have others to sail with, but that also can complicate when you can get out together.

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

I agree. It takes me about an hour from the time I decide to go for a sail, to the time I lower the rudder in the water. And another hour from when I lift the rudder, to when I tuck the AI in for a rest. So if I can't get at least 2 hours on the water I don't usually bother. I am trying though to get this time down and have now got a trailer that should save me about 20-30 minutes total. Another way of saving time is to not talk to passers by who want to know all about the AI. There always seems to be someone waiting

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

thanks guys. im sure i would love to spend 4 to 5 hours on the water, so that being the ideal, 2 hours would be my minimum sailtime, dependant on 1000s of things.

now its off to work i go, for i owe, i owe, i owe.

Loading and set up takes way longer than the time to drive to the launch. 2 hours is def a minimum for me. If i had a trailer things would be different but doubt it will ever happen and I have bought these roof racks. I like full day runs best. Wish I knew another AI but have never seen another one.

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2010 Hibiscus Adventure Island

I know the feeling. Takes about 45 minutes to load up from the backyard, drive to where I'm going then 30-40 minutes setting up.

Return is longer because I like to do a washdown before loading onto the car. I'm slowly working on better ways to sort everything out.

I think the best launch area was up at Rathmines. Could drive on the grass right up to the water's edge then spread out on the grass when we got back. Only downside was it was dark when we were packing up and had to use headlights from the cars to help us.

I think they need daylight savings all year round.

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Great Question. Short answer 1.5 hours sail time, would be worth it.

I also have to trailer to the lake, so I often look at my watch, look at the wind, and decide. If you are not trailering your AI, I strongly recommend it. I modified an old small boat trailer, to carry my two AI's. Whole thing cost me about $500 and some manhours. I leave them on the trailer, so I can hitch up, and go. I leave all the AI necessities right next to the boat, so I can be on my way within 5 minutes from backing the truck up to the trailer.

Get to the lake, put the mast in, and back down the ramp....simple and sweet.

Same thing in reverse. I am 50 minutes from office to shoving off. The problem now is, I want to leave work every afternoon!

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'08 Hobie Wave, Hobie Adventure Islands

Thats a problem????????

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“Remember life is short- eat dessert first.”
The world is 70% water – So that means we should spend 70% more time sailing than mowing lawns!
Larry

I had the same problem of the above responders about having to drag my AI to the beach and then launch it. It took at least an hour and the first 50 feet were out through shallow water. Then I bought a house on a canal on Sarasota Bay and the fun began. At first I kept the AI in the water after sailing but then I noticed an ad on Craigslist.org for a EZdock and 1/5 the original cost. It is 8 feet by 4 feet and floats up and down on two plastic pilings that are over galvinized 2" fence pipes. This way I can pull the Hobie AI up on the plastic dock with the amas folded and have it out of the water. Launching takes 15 minutes. After venturing out three times without all the required equipment I devised a simple check list. I leave the dagger board in the cockpit dry compartment but I have learned to put a leash on it because it can slip back in the compartment. I also use a shop vac to dry out the compartments after each sail. So the check list is SS PP. Safety Sail, Peddle and Paddle. It was really inconvenient to have to return to get the paddle. I needed to back up so I just turned the Mirage drive around as nothing else would work. I was out in the bay once and realized I did not have a life jacket. This may sound mundane but as a new owner the excitement was so great that all I could think of was getting out on the bay.
So, sailing times. My first adventures were with just the AI kayak an mirage drive. it was 3 hours and it was easy to keep up with my companion who used to leave me in the dust.
Then I started sailing. One early trip took me out into the bay in 3 foot waves. On the way out through our narrow channel a 21' grady white passed me. When I finally got out I had severe weather helm but was so nervous I did not think to reef the jib. Also I had an old style rudder and had not tightened the rudder set screw. So I was out for a total of 30 minutes but my time in the bay was only 7 fun filled minutes. Before I went back in the Grady White returned. Dick at Economy Tackly later told me that the kayak can function in conditions that are too severe for power boats. Later sails ranged from 1 hour to 5 hours. My sailing speed is aroun 4 knots with a top speed recorded on the GPS as 9 knots. I must admit that the 9 knot speeds are very rare. I got the new style rudder and used the set screw to hold it down. This created quite a problem one evening when I ran into shallow water and had the rudder kick up. Of course it was easy to get out of the kayak and work on the rudder since I had gotten into such shallow water. It is obvious to me now that I need to upgrade my 2006 AI rudder up and down mechanism with the up and down controls that my dealer will do. This will enable me to put the rudder down without having to use the set screw. By the way, it is a little harrowing to be out at twilight in heavy seas and not have rudder control. I was able to use the paddle for limited steering.