Big boat

I purchased a 21SE about 4 months ago and am having the most fun sailing!

The 21SE is the biggest Hobie and is almost 10 feet wide and[u]with[/u] wings is 14' wide. This allows me to take 3- 6 adults sailing and with this amount of deck room it never feels crowded. With more than 3 adults on board the boat becomes much wetter as it sits lower in the water and just pierces waves instead of going over waves. The only problem that I have found so far with the large boat is having 2-3 experienced people to go sailing when I want to go. The up side is, I am able to take 3-5 either in-experienced or beginner sailors out for what I have been told "the most fun sailing that they ever had". The wings are also the best item on a beach cat and I am not sure why they aren't on all boats. They make sailing drier and much more comfortable for all riders versus crawling around on a tramp. My Tornado is less than half as comfortable as the 21SE with wings.

I have also found that I am able to sail faster than most every sailiboat on the water with exception of a few very light weight tigers or formula boats with crews of two. Even with 5-6 people on board, a 600 pound boat and a lot of gear, I am able to catch every 14, 16 or 18 on the water that I have seen so far. With 3 trapeze wires even beginner sailors and the kids have been having a great time hanging on the side of the boat.

I write all of this for a couple of reasons. Why doesn't everyone sail catamarans??? Why aren't the 21SE's the most sought after boats???? I think I have created about 10 new devoted sailors in my short time, by taking them sailing, and don't understand why there aren't HUGE fleets everywhere? Also, it seems most every motor boater I sail by it appears they all wish they were sailing instead because everyone on my boat has the biggest smiles of anyone on the water. Let me know your thoughts on why there aren't more cat sailors? I wish I convert all boaters to cat sailors.

So does Hobie Cat, and Hobie Cat wishes you'd discovered the 21SE much sooner.

I suppose folks want their water sports craft to be as easy as driving a car - turn it on and go. Yesterday I had on board a newbie and she remarked she was amazed I could sail the boat myself - what with all the confusing lines and tiller and such. I almost fell overboard when she doubted the wind was all that was moving the boat, she thought my main sheet adjustments had something to do with it (no, I wasn't pumping the main, it was just a windy day and I didn't want to terrify her with a life-shortening reach so I had to dump wind occasionally).

I've never heard anyone speak of beachcat sailing and staying dry in the same sentence.

How do you tow a 10 foot wide boat? I think over 8 foot 6 inch, you need a wide load permit (or something like that).

The 21SE was designed for 8' trailering width. The crossbars are sleeved and the boat expanded to the max width for sailing. Trailers typically had rollers bulit into the crossbars to allow the expansion process on the trailer.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I did say drier not dry. On Saturday the air temperature was 85 degrees with water temperature around 74 and with 5 people on board, I allowed everyone to sit on the wing and they mostly stayed dry with minor splashing while I (trying not to overload the wing) sat on the hull and was very very wet. I even put on my shorty wetsuit to warm up as I don't think I ever dried off in 6 hours of sailing.


I have been trailering from the house to the lake which is about 20 miles of mostly highway driving full width. I know sooner or later I will be caught. I have even had police pass me though and have not been pulled over.

I hope my luck will continue......