overnight trips/beach camping on a Hobie cat in 2010

I'm embarrassed to say, but I am thinking about doing a little coastal cruise on my H16.

I've seen a few mentions of overnight sailing trips here. But most of the camping threads seem to be based on kayaks! And I've read all the articles I can get my hands on from 20 to 30 years ago about people taking on these type of adventures.

Do any of you have experience with this type of trip?
Packing, planning, scheduling, safety equipment, spare parts, stowage advice?

And just to get all my crazy questions out in one thread:
Does anyone sail at night?

I know its not really what this boat is made to do, but that's part of the challenge I see in it. And I realize there are a bunch of potential dangers and necessary precautions in these activities, but I'd like to know what the forum in general thinks about them.

thanks a lot
frank

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frank pichel, H16 Veribold, #71146

People do it all the time. Search the forum for tips, but mainly use your noggin and, if you can, go with someone who has experience doing it.

The biggest problem with the 16 is the fact that you can't load it down very much. Pack very light, take only with you need.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

Frank - Where were you planning on sailing and camping? Who were you planning on taking with you on your H-16? Hopefully not kids or an inexperienced crew.
Your H-16 won't be as much fun to sail if you take along a crew and extra gear - camping; change of dry clothes, etc.
Your best bet would be to join an organized event somewhere where they have chase boats and boat safety checks, etc.
You want this trip to be safe, great sailing, and somewhat comfortable when you arrive at your destination - shower, dry towel, dry chothes, hot meal....
Good luck!!!
Rich

Hi Rich

One destination I'm considering is Fire Island National Seashore. One can camp in the dunes there, with a permit. It would be 40 miles on the ocean side of Long Island, from my marina in Brooklyn. Its a populated coast that is broken up by public beach, parks all along the way (bail-out points). The prevailing winds in the area would put me on a beam reach/broad reach all the way there.

I guess I'll load the boat with all the potential gear and take it for a day-sail and see how it handles. My potential crew and I are relatively light and relatively fit. 120 and 160lbs. (I'm taking a righting water bag.) And I think I/we can travel with very few creature comforts - part of the adventure.

thanks for the advice,
frank

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frank pichel, H16 Veribold, #71146

Frank - I was born in Brooklyn; moved to Bayonne, N.J. when I was 4½; but spent all of my adult life in southern CA - so I'm not really familiar with your Brooklyn to Fire Island trip. It sounds do-able and it sounds like fun! About 20 years ago I sailed from San Pedro to Catalina Island on our H 16 as part of an organized Hobie Cat trip - 100 Hobies total. Chase boats with our gear; Coast guard plan; insurance; food, showers and cabins at the boy scout camp at Twin Harbors; safety check of our boats before we left; compass (we didn't have GPS back then).......We couldn't see Catalina until we were about half way across. This trip was well-planned and organized! I took this trip several times with this group.
If you can plan this trip/adventure well enough, why not organize this and invite others from the surrounding states to join you. If I lived within 200 miles of your launching area, I would go. Get one or more chase boats for safety and to carry dry gear for the participants. Safer and more fun with more boats and chase boats. Figure out the costs for food, gas for the chase boats, camping fees, insurance for the event.......
If you go-it-alone it won't be as much fun, not as safe, the sailing will be slower and not as comfortable with your gear on board.
Do it right and have a fun and safe trip!
Good luck!
Rich

I say do it do it do it.

Here is what my friend and I did to our 1974? maybe 84 i forget hobie 16 to do longer trips safely.

OK, so you're already at the ideal weight (about 285lbs) with wetsuits, fleece, PFD, all the basic stuff you'd take out for a day long sailing trip to begin with. So the most important thing is to pack light. This term means so many different things to different people so to understand what light is you need to understand lightweight backpacking gear. A typical lightweight base weight for 3 seasons is about 10-12lbs. The giant frame packs people see in the store weigh about 5lbs by themselves just for comparison. My pack weighs about 18oz. Anyway, read more about light weight backpacking at bpl or some other website.

Next, the hobie. We installed some drains on the hulls which work well enough to drain them even going upwind. They work by venturi principle, the drains we installed are from a finn. They are just a precaution we installed, have not really used them out of necessity yet. We also fabricated some anti pitchpole foils that work pretty well.

Even though weight is an issue, your boat needs backup parts too. Take the minimum in tools and gear you need. We take extra bridal wire, extra shroud, extra set of hardware, extra rudder pins, and a small kit with epoxy and fiberglass mat in it, as well as some putty stuff that mixes up and "fixes" things magically. Keep in mind, this whole kit only weighs about 8lbs or so i guess if that i dunno really.

Take GPS, we also have a SPOT. The spot is sweet because you can call folks to your rescue and the GPS unit transmits your location to the authorities so they can find you. Mine works even in canyons and what not pretty well, just need a straight shot of the sky.

I dunno what else, luck I guess! Its a shame we can't prepare better on the hobie 16 due to weight restrictions but we regularly take trips to the manitou islands/sleepy bear duns or pictured rocks and just run around on a hobie. When there is no wind we drop the mast, lash it down, and the boat becomes very stable. we then just paddle the hobie along like a canoe sitting on the front pontoons. if i had a hobie 18 i'd so put big 8' oars on it, that would be awesome.

Lol just noticed how old this thread is. Its a shame more folks don't adventure on the hobie. Worst case scenario you paddle a boat home lol, so worth it.